Crime is not ‘inevitable’
(CNS): The Cayman Islands cannot and must not concede that rising violent crime is an inevitable by-product of progress in a growing nation, Premier Alden McLaughlin has said in the face of another surge in gun-related crimes on Grand Cayman. With daily headlines regarding home invasions, door-step robberies and even car-jacking, McLaughlin said he was not prepared to accept that more crime was the norm when societies grow, and more must be done to stop the flow of guns into the islands. He promised to maintain the investment in the police and to finance the increasing use of technology to fill the evidence gap.
“The recent spate of armed robberies is a matter of gravest concern for the government,” he told an audience of business owners and Chamber of Commerce members, many of whom know only too well the problems that the islands arecurrently facing when it comes to burglaries, break-ins and robberies.
Speaking at the Chamber of Commerce Legislative Lunch yesterday about the gun-related crime wave the premier said, “Although the use of guns to commit crimes is becoming far too common, I have told my friend, the Commissioner of Police, … that we cannot and must not concede that this is an inevitable by-product of progress in a growing nation. We must aim to stamp it out, do more to stem the inflow of unlicensed firearms to Cayman and create an environment in which all criminals believe that they will be caught if they commit offences and that they will be put away for a very long time. I am happy to say he agrees with me.”
He acknowledged that there was a direct link between unemployment and crime, and as his government worked on creating more jobs for Caymanians in the long term, the new administration was committed to supporting the efforts of the RCIPS within the constraints of the budget, and giving them as much technical resources as possible to allow them to continue the crime fight.
With witnesses still reluctant to come forward for a variety of reasons, McLaughlin said technology could help the police secure more convictions without the need for eye witness.
“We have stepped up our game to ensure that technology and specialized equipment fill the evidence gap which so often exists when we try to detect and prosecute serious crimes, especially gun-related crimes,” he added. “The police have spent significant resources on training to improve the skill sets of officers in key areas, such as report writing and evidence gathering.”
Pointing to the high profile success recently for the RCIPS through the use of the police helicopter and the National CCTV system, when four young men were arrested after reportedly robbing a grocery store in North Side and an alleged carjacker cornered after a high speed attempted escape, he said the Air Operations Unit had not only helped to make the arrests but had reduced the risk to the the community by eliminating the need for a dangerous pursuit on the road.
McLaughlin also talked briefly about the new custody suites which are now under construction at Fairbanks. They will replace the old police lock-up, with segregated cells, allowing officers to keep suspects separate so that they can’t collaborate stories which should “improve our chances of cracking these serious cases”.
However, the premier warned that some new resources and technological crime fighting equipment, such as the CCTV, was driving criminals to seek out new victims, as he advised people to take counter measures to emerging criminal trends to thwart their success.
“The truth is that the criminal element continues to change its modus operandi in ways that reap rewards for it. So that when there is a concerted effort to increase surveillance as a deterrent to robberies for instance, the criminals shift their focus away from businesses that can afford this equipment to smaller operators, who either cannot afford the camera systems or who they believe travel home with the days takings and are vulnerable to attack on leaving their businesses or entering their homes,” he said.
Category: Crime
Crime and the unemployment issues do not hold hamds. This is a cop out and more scare mongoring. Whle there are some crimes being committed for lack of work, most are because of a lack of work ethic. You could have jobs open for them and them would choose to steal. What goes to the root of this is the broken homes and lack of quality role models.. The amount of adultery in marriage is just down right sickening. The amount of baby mommas opening their stuff for anything with a pulse is just gross. Attack the social issues and the crime will fall. As for the present criminals your going to have to stop the lipservice and accept that Baines is being outsmarted by tugs eith a primary school education and less than 600.00 to their name. Time for a real crime fighting force that is active in crime fighting not PR. The police need to walk on their legs and our gang lovely rude boy takers need to keep theirs closed. Jokes aside the country is morally bankruptcy where a normal family unit means so little. Then the exuse of tolerance comes in.
I thought Westbay and George town had their town hall meetings with the police?
Dear Alden please call your "friend" da coomissioner and find out wah de hell is going with over 500 police officers the highest per captiva in the entire world also the highest paid from every place else but Cayman and more assets than Quakers have Oats and oh you idiots talking about they can't be every place at every time Where do they exactly have to go on this little island. This is unacceptable by any standards yet we can divert forces to catch four jamaicans with with185lbs 185lbs wow big load there boys???? while the gun men roam the capital shooting and injuring kids now!
You have a good point. I'm afraid I do NOT seea large police presence so WHERE are these cops every day? I never see them driving down Prospect Drive and questioning the men wandering about walking or riding bikes at 10AM (casing the houses and clearly unemployed.)
I do not see the Immigration enforcement team out speaking to men hanging out on the corners looking to pick up odd jobs. (Guess what? If you are here on a permit, but not actually working- then Enforcement should do their jobs and start shipping people back!)
It is time to push our police and Immigration into ACTION! WE have the numbers now do your job!!!
I dont think these crimes are being comitted by people who are hungry but rather a small criminal element that have crept into our society. Most of them either dont want to work or are hooked on drugs. Some may be able to be rehabilited but some should be locked up and the key thrown away.
These crimes are being committed by criminals, imported or homegrown period. There are reasons for the crime wave continue to ignore it and the outcome will be very sorrowful for all of us. We had better shut this down now far too many idle hands running around in Cayman these days. Get rid of the social service mentality and get people jobs so that they don't rob. When people had jobs they did not rob.
Tell it to the mother of the 6 year old injured in front of the WB police station.
We owe it to our "At Risk" Youth to compensate for our short-sighted politicians and errors of our ways. We ALLOWEDa sub-standard school system to thrive and only now, when we see the results of our misguided pride and judgements, do we want to act.
This CRIME is homegrown, period. Blame the schools, blame the greed and bling, and yes, DO blame the families, but we are now going on second and third generation of hoods and gangs so we must break this social lower economic (nanny state) cycle. Our politicians spent money on everything EXCEPT better education (!?!) and kept us dumb for a decade while our youth's chances of success in this global world slipped away (2 party system working great huh?) and now it is time to demand action.
The only way to do this is to offer a better path. We must instantly offer vocational training for any and all between the ages of 16 and 25.
If we had 500 locals doing our electrician and A/C jobs, the crime rate would fall, if we had 500 work permits replaced with local women doing beauty salons, the crime rate would fall.
Do not sneer with my simple solution. We have over 3,000 work permits in the lucrative trade and skills employment area. These jobs pay over CI$40,000 per year and would make the difference between making a living or being on social services with our parents and becoming baby mamma & gansters.
You want lower crime? Then offer a better future.
Dear Mr. Alden,
If you were to hire Derek Haines as an advisor in the war on crime, you would do really well.
Derek is incorruptible and would tell you exactly who the bad boys are. Perhaps this is something you are afraid of finding out? They may be closer to home than you think.
I need a pay rise, a gated community and a 24 guard at the gate.
Know the perfect place for you Northward prison.
People blame the police, people blame politicians, people blame the courts, people blame government and people blame unemployment as the cause of crime. However, the root cause of crime is youngsters not being raised to know right from wrong and have not been taught a basic value system that honours respect for themselves and others.
In the days gone by when there was little government involvement in the lives of people, everyone was responsible for their survival. People farmed and fished, traded and bartered amongst themselves; they shared but they never stole from, or robbed each other. They respected each others property.
You could offer these little criminals all the work in the world, they aren't going to show up for a whole week, I can guarantee you. They just don't want to work. They will blame it on enconomic cirstances and a lack of jobs, but believe me, they don't really want to work. Try them and you will see.
Society allowed it to happen, because no one wanted those rude lil kids. Everyone knew they were going to turn out to be Northwardites from they were little. Society knew they weren't getting the training they needed, and what attention they did get was not enough to correct the worng influences they were getting from home.
The criminals of today are here for the next 30 to 40 years until time takes a toll on them. The answer is to give significant intervention today in the lives of the at risk 3 to 10 year olds in our society whose parents are neglecting them. We will change tomorrow, but there isn't much hope for today except to take those who perpetrate the violence off the street and out of society for a few decades.
Thank you for a very simple and accurate summary of our situation.
Putting in place a revoke system should slow down the crime along with more job opportunities etc! Gt
Sounds like the Premeir knows what to say but does not know what to do.
Not inevitable? Tell that to the daily crime reporters. It’s here. And now, we need solutions to curb this. Not bs talk! I am sure McKeeva glad this isn’t his headache. PPM. Unna wanted it? Now deal with it? Get off the planes and get to the streets and help! Unna not had one bit of problem canvassing these rough areas during election. So get back in there are talk to the people. Hear their concerns. Stop being a bunch of voter users! Help Cayman!!!
Reading the comments, it's amazing to see how people think politicians can solve all their problems. Give me a job, kick out the foreigners, stop the crime! Exactly what laws would our politicians pass that would stop criminals?
I am no fan of the PPM, buts lets put the blame where it should be. The RCIPS has more manpower and resources than any other police agency in the world. How many cops did you see today? I saw one, and he was on lunch.
Please somebody! Tell these people that Cayman is not a "NATION". It's a lovely little island in the western caribbean south of Cuba with approximately fifty thousand inhabitants. It has the greatest number of police per capita of any place in the world, something like one police officer for every eighty five residents. We also have more unsolved mysteries {criminal cases} than the TV show of the same name. We spend more per capita on our police and our Judiciary than any country in the region, and yet crime keeps growing & growing & growing. Why?
Let me suggest something here, {and it's my opinion only} but I do believe that more than likely the major cause of the escalating crime we are now witnessing on Our Island today. Is due to the rapidly growing rate of povertyamong our people.
Let us take a look at some of the major factors that have contributed annually to this seemingly uncontrollable social decay. Let us think back to a time {1960s,70s & 80s] when every person who resided on this island was able to provide and maintain a reasonably good standard of living for themselves and/or their family. A time when the majority of our population were middle class. A time when that middle class provided a buffer between those who seemed to have everything and those who had very little. A time when every Hotel maintained an annual occupancy rate of 60% or more, there were no layoffs and workers were happy because the wages were good. Everyone worked who wanted to, and those who didn't did not become a burden on Government, because they were taken care of by their family members who worked! Unemployment was unheard of and inflation was virtually non existent. People were paid a livable wage and were able to put aside some savings in a bank. Crime was so minimal that if someone stole a bike that was considered a major crime. No! We were not perfect, but we were pretty darn close to being!
Now let us look at why, there existed at this time what can only be described as an almost perfect existence! As stated, there was no lack of employment and 90% of the work force were locals, this included everyone, even those who were from another country who might have decided to stay here, because when they came here they were welcomed and treated as one of us, and these people lived here for many, and I mean many years without making any demands for permanent residence and/or status. They had become one of us by just being here. Status came automatically after one had lived among us for an extended period, while adhering to the norms of our social protocol. All personnel of the Hotels, Restaurants, Retail, Government and other businesses were locals. Work permits were unheard of in the earlier years.
Now let us look at what brought us to the dilemma we're in today. It all started when we let others come here and TELL US what THEY were going to do for us. But unlike our leaders of times past, no one told THEM that WE would let THEM know when we were ready for further development. Back then our Leaders were not swayed by the promises of growth and prosperity, they wanted to maintain as long as possible that ambiance that caused us to be known throughout the world for our Beautiful Beaches, the Best Diving in the hemisphere and a People who endeared every visitor to such an extent that those visitors came back again and again because they felt "as someone once said to me" As if they were family and were coming back home. What a compliment!!
Unfortunately, the leaders of late, got this ridiculous idea that growth was prosperity! And so began the diminishing returns on money invested to bring visitors back after we chased them away by trying to emulate Miami Beach on Seven Mile Beach. Leaving half empty Hotels and Condominiums which were unable to pay a livable wage to those who should have been working there, but instead were given permission by Government to import cheap foreign labor and thus we now have all of the unemployed workers who are not only wards of the state, but to survive some are doing what most desperate people would do. They take from those who have, those who flaunt their lavish lifestyle in the faces of these poor souls. Yes! They are forced to commit crimes to survive and they could care less because at some point they know they will be caught and convicted and sent to Northward Prison. And there they'll stay for some years in Hotel Northward costing the rest of us another $50,000.00 annually, and further depleting the meager coffers of Government who then will tax the rest of us who are working and who can ill afford to be taxed anymore by those who are trying replace our finances to compensate for their ill conceived wastefulness over the years. Not only do they tax us to try to maintain the necessary functions of Government but they have raised their personal salaries to such an extent that there are now some of our legislators "a lot of them do nothing to earn it" who are making more than the president of the United States of America. And we sit down and let them do it to us. Think about that one friends!
IT HAS TO STOP!!
Now! To all who may read this, please keep in mind that this Island is broke, and we can no longer continue to let people talk us into ignoring our own people WHO ARE OUT OF WORK. Let me state it clearly that those people to whom they are considering giving permanent residence and/or Status are not bad people. But to ignore our own people to accommodate them when we have 2000 citizens of this Islandwho are unemployed and many of them are qualified and eager to fill some if not most of the jobs of those who are listed on the TELAP , we cannot in good conscience continue to ignore them while others who have no allegiance to this Island other than to reap the benefits of all the hard work of those pioneers who came before us!
We will not listen to those who speak of their love for this Island, but are willing to sell us out for the cost of a permanent residency and/or Status fee! We must tell them this will not happen! We are Caymanians we are better known for our hospitable attitude, we are passive, not aggressive, but if you want to see us angry try pushing us in a corner!
WE WILL NOT SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LESS THAN JOBS FOR OUR UNEMPLOYED CITIZENS!
So if we are to ever return to a time when there is very little crime in our Island, we have to get back to a time when most of our people are gainfully employed and are earning a Livable Wage. After which we can then "with proper vetting" let those good people who want to live here and abide by the rules of our society [not trying to change us] we will gladly welcome them. A FEW AT A TIME!
Jumping from a population of 8,500 in 1960 to 55,000 in fifty years demonstrates the problem. Out of those 1960 figures, how many were actually generational Caymanian and how many were European/North American and Jamaican?
During the 60's this was a strong British dependency, (having split from Jamaican influence in 1962) it was the introduction of the financial services industry and the beginnings of mass tourism that encouraged growth. In other words this country needed manpower from all walks of society, but significantly from the finance centres of the UK, US and Canada.
These expats took over from the old colonialist land owners and visitors, requiring modern housing and infrastructure in which to live and move around a very sparsely populated and somewhat inpenetrable island. This required construction workers and hundreds of people willing to serve them in bars, restaurants, shops etc…
This had a snowballing effect, because as the population grew, so did the requirement for more manpower.
This is basically how most countries grow, its not unique to Cayman.
What appears to be unique here is that from a very small generational population of a few thousand, there now appears to be more people than is actually possible claiming to be 'real Caymanian'. With such a population growth, inter cutural and racial relationships became more common, diluting the original gene pool and giving succour to the lie that all Caymanian's were generational. So just because you have a 'local' name, it doesn't mean that you have any close blood tie to an original Caymanian settler. In fact history tells us that slaves often adopted the slave owners name, as more than 50% of the population in the mid 1800's were descendents of slaves this is almost certainly the case.
Undoudtably the recent influx of immigrants, (1990's to date) did bring a different viewpoint to the peaceful and settled community that was enjoying social harmony and an anti social crime free existence. Although, it must be recognised that this island was the centre of much of the worlds money laundering, with literally plane loads of cash arriving to deposit in secretive banks. Many Caymanian's made plenty of money from these facilitation deals and to claim that Cayman was a parogon of virtue is just untrue.
Immigration definately does change the identity of a country, every country in the world is affected by population movement. Sometimes it's for the better, sometimes it's not. With the type of industry that Cayman has to offer, it is inevitable that it will remain a huge factor in the growth of this country. Cayman just does not have a big enough 'local' population to service the local economy and its shrinking, according to the most recent census.
The point of all of this is to recognise that it's not the actual immigration that is the problem, (all Caymanian's are immigrants themselves) but it is how you integrate those newcomers into your 'traditional' society. This is where Cayman has failed. You need a sense of shared values, something that is very difficult unless you ensure that people from different cultures appreciate and work together. Cayman is a British territory, but it is losing its identity to people who do not recognise the Queen as their head of state or the Union Flag as the supreme national symbol. They often fail to apply for a BOT, CI passport and refuse to learn and speak English. It is no wonder that Cayman's society is fragmenting, there is no common bond to keep society together.
This is no ones fault except your own. You were happy to accept immigrant labour in all its forms, enabling you to build a wealthier society, but you failed to acknowledge their part and integrate them into Caymanian society. The same is continuing to happen now.
If someone comes to the island, works hard, invests their money in property and into the local economy, they remain honest and a loyal member of this multi ethnic/multi cultural society, then why shouldn't they be given the right to settle. Why should they be denied the same opportunity that your ancestors had? The original Caymanian was a god fearing, kind and welcoming person, the latest derivation is a different kettle of fish, as we see from some of the posts on this site.
The truth is that short term work permits do not encourage people to invest, why would they, it has the opposite effect and they send their money back home instead? This is economic stupidity as this money should be flowing back into the local economy and boosting government revenues, business growth and employment opportunities. Of course you will need transient workers, but those who fulfil a reasonable criteria should be encouraged to settle and contribute to Cayman society. This lack of investment is keeping wages low as the economy stagnates, imagine if all the money that goes out of the country on a Friday stays here and boosts local businesses. The obvious implication being that growth will reappear, unemployment will go down and their will be enough money in the coffers to keep everyone happy. Of course that is very simplistic, but it does make economic sense to keep earnings on the island.
Cayman soley for Caymanian's is not going to happen, it's an impossible prospect. Without immigration in the past this country would be nothing and without it in the future, it will become nothing.
"With such a population growth, inter cutural and racial relationships became more common, diluting the original gene pool and giving succour to the lie that all Caymanian's were generational. So just because you have a 'local' name, it doesn't mean that you have any close blood tie to an original Caymanian settler. In fact history tells us that slaves often adopted the slave owners name, as more than 50% of the population in the mid 1800's were descendents of slaves this is almost certainly the case".
Wow. So if you are a descendant of a slave you are not a "real/generational Caymanian"? Are you making a racist distinction between so-called white Caymanians on the one hand and black Caymanians where only the former are "real Caymanians"? There are so many fallacies there I don't know where to begin. First, slavery ended in 1834. Anyone who is descended from persons, slave or free, black or white or anything in between, who lived in Cayman in 1834 are certainly real, generational Caymanians. Many so-called white Caymanians arrived in these Islands well afterthat, e.g., Arches and McTaggarts, whom no one would suggest are not real Caymanians. Second, practically all Caymanians have varying degrees of racial mix. You will find that even so-called white Caymanians are the product of a diluted gene pool with some colour thrown in (good thing too otherwise we would have had some serious in-breeding problems). With Caymanians of a darker shade, even if one line is descended from slaves it is unlikely that all ancestral lines are traced from slaves. Not that it should make a difference, of course, but just saying.
Wrong, the distinction is being made by those who insist that they are the only heirs to the Cayman gene pool. The comparison is not based on black or white, it is based upon a notion put out by some Caymanian's that to be a real Caymanian you must be generational. That plainly isn't true, (as you correctly point out) however, neither is the premise that all those who claim to be Caymanian are actually blood relatives of those who inhabited this island before the 1960's.
That is quite obviously impossible, the numbers just do not support a sudden baby boom amongst the settled Caymanian population.
The argument isn't about slaves or the descendants of slaves, the illustration was presented to dispute the common notion that it's all in the name. Far too many Caymanian's use the local last name option when trying to attack expats or 'paper Caymanian's' and insist that any other name is a foriegner. In reality, many of them aredescended from the same countries that consider the name as local and whose relatives arrived here from the 60's onwards. The point being that the numbers involved in the mid 1800's were so small, and didn't rise beyond a few thousand prior to 1960, direct descendantcy is not possible.
You actually argue against yourself when you acknowledge the central part of my argument. You agree that it doesn't matter when you arrived on the island, it only matters that you did.
Again, my argument isn't based on colour, it is based on the constant falsehood that anyone who qualifies for PR or status is a 'paper Caymanian'. The truth is that the vast majority of those who have Caymanian last names are in fact paper Caymanian's themselves and only obtained the name through inter marriage or assumed identity. As immigration increased, so did the disparity between generational and immigrant Caymanian's.
I'm sorry that you cannot make the distinction between a debate based upon your own census and history, and the colour of someone's skin. That is obviously a problem you need to deal with as it blinds you to the debate of population increase in favour of racial profiling.
But then its so much simpler to use the race card instead of indulging in facts.
Just saying.
Legalizemarijuana . . . . End of trouble.
Use undercover police to end the cocaine business.
After that there are no more gangs and THAT will make a difference.
18:35, you clearly smoke too much ganja if you think that the coke business can be shut down and gangs dismembered. I will believe that when I see pigs flying in the sky (not the Iron Ching Ching that we already see buzzing around burning gas).
It's a war that will never ever end, plain and simple. You take a player out the game and a new one takes their place. There will always be people involved and willing to step up to the plate.
How little does this person understand? "it's a war that will never end" – it will if you take away the exorbitant black market profits offered to criminals by the illegality of narcotics. Do you see criminal gangs dealing alcohol? No, because the legalisation drives out the scope for profits. A gram of coke costs around $2 to produce. It could be heavily taxed and official sources could still easily undercut illegal traders (if you pardon the pun).
Maybe the increase in crime is the only way work permit numbers will go down.
Its obvious PPM has no plan to reduce unemployment so targeting of expatriate workers seem to be what is happening here.
Please refrain from this type of suggestion no one is trying or going to hurt expats. Any expat that is not needed here for work or otherwise will be officially notified. Please expat don't create hostility to further your cause when there is none.
Lots of words there. I Kept reading and reading hoping to find what action was going to be taken, but then I reached the end. Talk really is cheap. The premier and Wayne Panton are experts at producing so many words, but without actually saying or committing to anything tangible.
That might be because it is not actually within their authority to do anything. The Governor has sole authority and responsibility for the police and internal security.
Mr Premier, if you approve or seek to get approval for more funds to the RCIPS to HIRE more officers before terminating the incompetent officers you now have and or decreasing the number of Jamaicans simply because of the clear lackof objectivity in policing their own, strictly by the fact that in terms of numbers we have more Jamaicans employed in Legal, Judiciary, Police, work permit holders, status holders and NOT on issue of race or ethnicity, I will personally get a group of other concerned citizens to protest this issue to the Governor.
Please get to the root cause of some of the issues, so tired of hearingblame placed only on the Commissioner and lack of money for officers! The only issue/question I do have with the Commissioner is whether his hands are tied when it comes to firing certain people because we've been increasing fund and hiring every officer sent from Ja (and yes I know that we hired a few British officers who probably already left after their contracts expired, inlike others are here for life).
Professional, honest and hardworking police officers from the UK, US and Canada left these shores because they were sick and tired of being treated so badly by incompetant and corrupt local officers. Recruitment from those places became almost impossible as word spread in their home countries. The only option left to the RCIPS was to recruit trained staff from Jamaica and other Caribbean countries.
It was obvious from the beginning of this flawed decision that it would come back to haunt Cayman. Those officers came here for a quiet life and they found it in their climate controlled cruisers, they are simply not interested, period.
Burglaries on Northside/Cayman Kai have gone through the stratosphere, elderly shop owners are held up at gun point and tourists are mugged on public beaches, but what are the police doing, absolutely nothing. They refuse to man the Northside police station and to have permanent beat officer's posted there. The officers that do venture up this far rarely stop and talk to residents and visitors, and appear more concerned with eating patties and talking on their phones.
The people of Northside have had enough, they know who the thieves and cowards are who prey on local residents, they know that they are useless drunks and junkies. Many of them live a stonesthrow from the empty police station, ironic eh?
Commissioner Baines and Ezzard Miller need to get a grip on the state of play here, stop grandstanding and get these guys in jail. Start real community policing instead of playing at it, then perhaps the crime rates will start to fall.
pure waffle from alden and ppm….. yet again proving themselves to be no more effective than the last udp 'government'…………………….. direct rule please!
Functional and visible traffic departments are fairly common in developed societies around the world – yet only a seasonal phenomenon here. The linkage of violent crime to "unemployment" is weak at best. Not every unemployed Caymanian has it in them to bust down doors and pistol whip innocent people. Violent crime is an offshoot from gang culture and thriving drug importation and transshipment businesses which seem to have emboldened themselves under McLaughlin's "friend's" tenure. How many of the major known drug kingpins have been arrested or prosecuted in the last ten years? Who are coddling these people and why?
12.07 and you know what's going to happen with the spend spend attitude? all their families and friends will be awarded nice contracts.
If you know that unemployment has something to do with the crime surge do some about it then and stop paying lip service. You have a job,house, savings, pension and insurance many of us don't.
Hey Alden, have you revoked the status of any relevant repeat offenders yet and had them deported? Didn't think so.
And you are right, criminality is not a natural consequence of a growing nation. It is however a natural consequence of not a single element of the Cayman Islands Government evenly and robustly applying its laws. New laws won't help that fundamental issue.
Deportation? We better ignore the fact that 72% (last available figure) of the prison population are Caymanian. Once an expat has served time (s)he is usually deported back to their country of origin. I believe there are few repeat offenders in that category – mainly because they're not here to repeat the offences.
I see that the matter distresses you – is it an expat thing or just a " Law" thing? I think child molesters should be tied to a tree and whipped with barbed wire – or maybe just the expat ones?
Until we get rid of the toxic mindset of "Them" and "Us" we don't have much hope of going forward as a Society. Please do not be offended – this is not a personal attack on you – and, yes, I am a Caymanian.
And I am a Caymanian too and I know for certain that the prison and police authorities get very confused when you ask them to distinguish a Caymanian from a BOTC who is not a Caymanian, and from a Jamaican or American who is. And any way, prison population is a very silly way of determining nationalities of offenders. Only those that have been caught enough times to actually get incarcerated.
And how many should have been deported before they became Caymanian, and how many should have their status revoked and be deported in accordance with our laws?
Alden you really out of it breda, a what ya say . The crime is not because of growth (expletive) it is because of wasted days and wasted nights paying lip services to social woes and the bad education sytem that big buildings will not change. Its the economy stupid!
Anon you are asking him to think, Wha ya trying to do kill him only 2 things PPM did the last time they were in government hand the Police millions of dollars and create laws 36 and 218 amendements and they didn't read a single one they listen to the same advisors they have now! Crime increased Deja Vue!
Ummmm…I think the PPM were known for NOT handing millions of dollars to the Police re Op. Tempura but refusing to do so.
True!
Even the Prison official is saying the prison doesn't have the staff to man the CCTV cameras.So – which Security Company you think they are lining up for THAT contract as well?? SMH
We gone from his government is stable to crime is not inevitable well he stuck on table aleast he is consistent with that. Government nor the Po leece don' have a clue of whats going on in this place how sad. Our two top detectives are helicopter and CCTV WOW!
What is needed,is trained, educated detectives, with intelligent common sense approach. Those common labourers, gardners and handiymen are not RCIP qualified. Hire some detectives from the USA or Canada for six months stints and measure the success in the solution of crimes.
If some of our RCIP see something happen by the time it is written down it is twisted and gives a different senario. We are paying good salaries for poor performance in most cases.
What a bunch of phoney baloney by our premier if that is the best his so called advisors can produce a prepare script by the same jokers who have cause this crimes mess mann we in real trouble. Once again Mr premier please get a real advisor who can tell you the real deal. The reason witnesses are afraid to come forward is because the intergrity of the system is damaged and compromised and people have no confidence in it. All these foreign faces aren't helping it either. Lord the Government themselves are telling you are on your own out ya. My question could our premier tell us how a camera system is going to save us from Criminals?
Having lunch with the aloof Chamber of Commerce mann now thats a strategy. My friend the Commissioner no wonder we in this mess!
When young men dont have to idle around due to lack of work – Then Crime will decrease – to think that harsh punishments are a "MAJOR" deterent to crime is to think that one can knock down an airplane with a slingshot. No state in the US has a penalty of 10yrs minimum for possession of a unliscensed firearm – in fact Chicago has the highest murder rate in the US right now and the are calling for a mere 3 yrs for possession of a unliscensed weapon.
Since we introduced the 10 yr minimum for firearms it has accomplished abosolutely nothing to stem gun crime, quite the opposite has occured. The 60 million dollar a year budget the police recieves and all the fancy vehicles and endless engemnation of the same rhetoric has done absolutely nothing to stem crime. We are slowly raising and nurturing a community of convicts and criminal elements due to lack of Government initiative to protect its people (parents are also to blame). There are death penalties and "3 strike rules" throughout the US and the rate of crime is appauling to date.
I remember the gentleman Mr Polack saying something about Knee Jerk legislation and thats what has continued to happen – instead of revamping the entire police force and the Legal Department Government just wants to SPEND and SPEND on expired and fruitless tactics.
Your central premise about unemployment and violent crime is without criminological foundation.
Cleanse the legal and judicial departments and bring in new blood. We change our shoes more often than those two departments change staff.
WHEN GUNS ARE OUTLAWED – ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS. Detroit, Washington DC and Chicago USA have among the most restrictive gun laws in the United States AND the most gun crimes. Allow the citizens to carry and see the gun crime rate drop. It's not the guns causing the problem it's the thugs. IF GUNS KILL THEN MINE MUST ALL BE DEFECTIVE.