3rd armed robbery in 24hrs

| 02/10/2013

(CNS): As crime in Cayman soars, a George Town gas station was the scene of the third hold-up in a 24 hour period when two masked men, at least one of whom was armed with a handgun, made off with the cash register from Brown’s Esso Tuesday night. This robbery comes in the wake of two robberies on Monday night, one at a video store in Savannah and another at a bar in George Town, and a few days after robbers fired a shot in a local grocery store near to the West Bay police station. Despite the success police have had with rounding up suspects and guns recently, there still appears to be many guns on Grand Cayman's street.

In the latest incident, police have confirmed that two masked robbers entered the On the Run gas station store in the industrial area at around 10:50pm and stole cash from customers and the register draw at gunpoint. No one was injured and no shots were fired. After stealing the loot, the robbers both ran off towards Massive on Industrial Way.

One suspect was 5’10, slim, wearing a black jacket with hoodie, black mask and long blue jeans pants and white gloves, and the second was  5’11, slim build and dressed in similar clothing 

As robbery reports come in on a daily basis and In the face of the escalating violent gun crime, the police will be holding a crime prevention seminar on Thursday, which is open to the public, during which there will be discussions about short term ways to tackle crime as well as the long term issues.

Last week, the premier offered his commitment to maintain spending levels for the RCIPS in order to help them fight crime with the help of new technologies, as he emphasised the importance of helping the police get guns off the streets.

There are almost 400 officers employed by the RCIPS and the service has one of the biggest budgets of the public sector. With the help of CCTV and the helicopter, the service is making more arrests and seizing weapons but crime continues to escalate.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    A Caymanian lady calls the radio station today to say she thinks all these crimes are being commited by foreigners who come here just to steal and rob and then take the money and flee the island. And she actually believed what she was saying. That folks is one of the problems in a nutshell. 

    • Anonymous says:

      Yeah, we all know it is not foreigners.  We know it is the Brackers.

    • anonymous says:

      I did hear a rumour that some of the offenders were using false Cayman accents and bad grammar, yet were later heard talking in a Tyrolean dialect and yodelling as they drove away. She may be right.

  2. Anonymous says:

    This is a shame

    And disgrace business people work hard and these bunch of tugs just come in and rob them. What needs to happen is that someone needs to await them and limb them.
    As for RCIP and Baines they simply don’t get it, foot patrol and proper surveillance is the key to nabbing these bunch of idiots with firearms.

    • Anonymous says:

      Business ppl work hard by charging consumers an arm and a leg, triple or quadrupling the price of what the paid for their products (and they by in bulk). Not saying they deserve to be robbed or anything but the gas stations have some ridiculous prices.  

  3. Anonymous says:

    Hey I got a new show idea for CITN. Weekly Friday night “Cayman Unsolved Crime”. Big hit!! Big sponsors! And bigger cases closed! It’s a win-win. And why hide the obvious? For the tourism? I think Expedia already has a good idea that we flooded with crime here too. So let’s get these crimes solved as quickly as possible. And I think media would be an excellent tool to resolving most of these problems quickly. So what be it?? Them or Us?

    (Note: If this idea IS envetually used? I am owed royalties. Thanks. And don’t worry, I’ll know how to verify my identity).

    See you at the bank guys.

    Cheers!

  4. Anonymous says:

    Boots on the ground. Foot patrols, bicycle patrols. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of police I see per day out of the 400+ that make up the RCIP.

  5. Anonymous says:

    said it before….. criminality mentality is accepted as a norm around here……

    police need start stopping all illegally tinted cars….. search them, strip the tint, fine them….

    same goes for number plate covers…..

    • Anonymous says:

      thats right, take away our liberty and oppurtunites some more

      and they will take your sense of freedom

       

      • Anonymous says:

        You call it a liberty to have illegal tint on your car window?

      • Anonymous says:

        I don't get this comment. The original comment is asking for police to simply enforce the laws of the land and you seem to think that is taking away liberty and opportunity. Liberty and opportunity to do what? Commit more crimes?

        I for one wholeheartedly think the police should strictly enforce the law on tinted windows. There's a good reason there are laws on how tinted a window can be, both here and in other places in the world. Why should thugs be able to break the law with impunity.

        And to the other person who thinks enforcing the laws won't reduce the kinds of crimes that are happening now: How do you know?  Some of those who can get away with breaking laws, now matter what they are, with impunity become emboldened to see how far they can go. If you were here after Ivan, you saw that. People began stripping cars ruined by Ivan in broad daylight because they had no fear that anyone would stop them.

    • Anonymous says:

      If the police did that then the voters would call the voted in and make them get the police to stop harrasing them.  Thats why they can't do the job.  Get used to it.

    • Anonymous says:

      Although you should know zero tolerance policing will have no positive impact in reducing the crimes of the type reported in the story.

    • Anonymous says:

      And presumably that policy extends to all the middle class households with illegal Dish network subscriptions too?

      • Anonymous says:

        if that is under their juristiction then YES. also low income dish network cheats.

  6. Anonymous says:

    These robbers will get their surprise soon, one of their victim will retaliate in a way that they will not expect and I just hope it will be lights out and that will send a message to the other nuisances.  The robber that left Prospect some years ago to go into South Sound did not get what he was looking for rather he got what he deserved.  I pray that these thieves, will get what they deserve soon.  

    The time has come for business people to be able to have loaded guns in their place of business because criminals are armed and dangerous when they enter businesses to prey on people.  I want to open a small business but is now afraid to because of the crime level.  This crap need to stop now, if I'm unable to find a decent paying job the least I had expected was to start my own business but that too seen to be a pipe dream due to criminals.

     

     

     

     

     

  7. Anonymous says:

    the JDF you say? I believe they are some of the most corrupt bunch, they will probably partner with the criminals, reap the profits and head back home to relax and enjoy it.  I think that is the main problem now actually, too many of them are already here in the force, not to mention the security guards – what a reputation!

    • Anonymously says:

      16:37 you hit it out of the ball park with your comments.  Disturbing but very true, I don't believe in letting the fox guard the hen house however clever he might be!  JDS good at defense but deadly with a reputation that proceeds them.  I will take my chances with the Bobbies.

       

  8. Anonymous says:

    Do you think the "BAD GUYS" will have licences for their guns?. All that happens if you ban guns is all the "GOOD GUYS" either hand theirs in or get licences, but the "BAD GUYS" keep theirs!!. We banned handguns in the UK, great, now only the "BAD GUYS" have handguns!!!!!.

  9. Castor says:

    Where are you going to deport thye local mcriminals? Tell me that one please.

  10. Anonymous says:

    There are so few roads on Grand Cayman and so many choke points, I don't understand how come we can't use CCTV to pinpoint exactly where these people go after the robberies.  From that gas station you're going to hit one of three roundabout's pretty quickly unless you've gone into a residence.  Depending on where they go at those roundabouts you're going to have a pretty good idea of where they're headed.

  11. Anonymous says:

    This rash of robberies give me great concern.  We vist Grand Cayman for three week in the fall andthree weeks in the spring.  We chose Grand Cayman because the Caymanians are friendly and are always eager to help visitors in need of local advice and we have always felt comfortable cruising the island most any time.  Also we have felt that Cayman is/was a nice quiet, relaxing atmosphere.  A couple of years ago it was drug dealers killing other drug dealers.  So be it!  Now regular citizens and visitors are at greater risk.  Government, Police and neighbors, please take whatever actions are necessary to make the island safe!!!

  12. Knot S Smart says:

    All of these robberies are making me so nervous that every little noise that I hear at night – my wife has to drag me out from under the bed…

  13. Live Free says:

    Under the Penal Code it is actually an offence to drive around with a machete or baseball bat and the onus is on you to prove you are intending to use them for a proper purpose.

    • Anonymous says:

      I am always planning to play baseball in a plot which has become overgrown with vegetation.

  14. Anonymous says:

    that place was robbed a couple of months ago 

  15. A Pastafarian says:

    Getting the guns off the street sounds good but the guns aren't robbing the stores and/or people.  The ones holding the guns are the robbers.  Enforce the law and get rid of the robbers!  Have you noticed that stores are robbed with weapons other than guns?  Are you going to make machetes illegal?  Baseball bats?  When are we going to get serious about crime?

  16. Anonymous says:

    Some solutions: No new firearms licences given out; existing ones to be rechecked ( why anyone wants a gun is beyond me ); more roadblocks ( does anyone remember the last roadblock? ); anyone caught committing certain criminal offences who has been granted status or residence or a work permit – send them home ( even if they have family ). Situation is now beyond a joke, only a matter of time before we see even more gated communities, thus aggravating the them and us mentality.

    • Anonymous says:

      1) These aren't being carried out with licenced firearms. Nor do the police often report "we caught a bad guy with a stolen licenced gun".

      2) Roadblocks don't catch someone escaping (and so aproaching) on foot.

      3) Random roadblocks, unless they 'target' select cars, create such a trafic jam that they are easy to avoid (dump the stuff) and will just get everyone (police & motorists) annoyed.

      4) I think we'll find that most of the repeat offenders are Caymanian. These are our own problems we have created. We'll need more creative solutions than 'send them somewhere'. (I favour a huge low-security assisted living facility, I'm just not sure how to pay for it.)

  17. Paris says:

    All of these cops the police dept got hired, what are they all doing to protect the good citizens besides showing off  and driving around town idling in the new cop cars and giving out women their phone numbers. It is a waste of money to hire more cops if these other ones are simply not doing their jobs that they were assigned to do. We know that the police are not God and do not know when these incidence is going to happen but for crying out loud Mr. Baines please do give these cops something to do consecutive with their time.  Get them out there patrolling those streets night and day and armed them if necessary.  Newsflash, and the crime rate in the Cayman Islands is just not looking good for tourism.  

  18. Anonymous says:

    Bainesey pull your socks up !!

    or better still bring back Derek Haines

  19. Hon. Absurdistani says:

    Business owners have done as much as they can by investing in alarm systems, CCTV, security doors, security guards with whistles and cell phones but none of these measures are  adequate to deal with the crime we are seeing.

    It is time to allows businesses to employ armed security guards or off-duty police officers. This could be regulated by the RCIPS.

  20. Cheese Face says:

    Paradise lost 🙁

  21. Anonymous says:

    Crime will continue to escalate until real police officers that are equipped to deal with the new breed or criminals currently terrorizing Cayman hit the streets in full force. Right now the threat level to the stick up man is quite low and no unarmed police officer is going to approach an armed robber, all they will do is watch as they escape. It’s time for Cayman to realize that it’s not the safe haven it used to be, putting unarmed police on the street is only putting their lives at risk as well as well as the lives of the public because they cannot truly protect them. What do you think would have happened if an RCIPS officer had walked into the grocery store that was robbed the other night when the little boy was shot, what could he have actually done, but maybe get shot himself or was he supposed to hold the robber at bay by shining a flashlight in his eyes..

    Cayman needs to face the truth that this is the world we live in and they are no different from other places facing the same problem, say what you want about who’s committing the crimes where they came from are they Caymanian or Expat whatever, that doesn’t matter, The government is not going to expel all expats from the island and even they were to it will not stop these crimes from happening because face the facts even if some of these guys are Expats they are not the only ones doing this. You have to be plain stupid or disillusioned to not think there’s not any home grown crooks running the streets in Cayman. So stop the get rid of the expats and stop the violence nonsense. And for the people asking for Cayman to be only for Caymanians, kill that dream of the past because it will never happen. Cayman cannot survive with only Caymanians living there, at least not with the standard of living it has today. Imagine Cayman with no international Banks, No Hotels or Resorts full of Tourists or no Cruise ship passenger walking and shopping downtown and taking the tours that put food on peoples table. What will pay for things like new roads, new schools and poor assistance and the RCIPS not to mention the oversized Civil Service who most of you work for.

    This crime wave may have something to do with people being out of work but it is not the root cause, it’s not everyday mothers and fathers running around sticking up gas stationsand grocery stores to get food for their kids or pay their CUC bill. These guys are thugs that know or want no better, they do not want Jobs they want a quick buck. Giving them a job will only give them another way of robbing you, they need to be put away and taught a lesson, then maybe they will change their ways..  Anyone that feels differently will change their way of thinking when they find themselves looking down the barrel of a gun while handing over their own hard earned cash.

    Bottom line,  there is no excuse for this but there is an answer. Cayman just has to be willing to change their way of thinking about fighing crime.

  22. Anonymous says:

    i just love the new ppm government…..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    any comments mrs governor?

    • Anonymous says:

      I really don't understand why people believes that if a crime is commited by civilians that the government should be held accountable.  This has nothing to do with PPM or UDP so please provide meaningful comments and suggestions.  We as the people of the Cayman Islands need to realize that times has changed and we need to be a part of the efforts to bring about change and fix these social problems.  This also means that we have to communicate and work closely with RCIPS to turn these thieves in for justice.

      I would suggest that the goernment consider changing the laws and allowing business owners to own guns to protect themselves.  In addition, our Police Officers should all be armed with guns as well so when they respond to calls of this nature they will be property trained and use the necessary forces to dissolve the issues.

      Lastly, we need better legistalation and sentencing guidlines so that when the gun man is brought to court and found guilty of a gun crime, they are sent to prison for a mandatory 10 years if not longer.  This will allow others to think twice before they commit a gun crime.

      • Anonymous says:

        so government can do nothing to tackle crime????…………….zzzzzzzzzz

  23. Anonymous says:

    I will be applying to Planning to add a 6 foot Security Gate surrounding the entire property of the  Villas I'm building, this is what the future of Cayman will look like, Private Gated Communites like San Sabastian. I only wish I hadn't already invested so much money into it or else I would have dropped it completely, But hopefully with a security gate it will attract tenants looking for a safe place to live.

    • Anonymous says:

      You'd probably do better with tripwires with noisemakers on them.     Go to your hardware store and get a roll of 0.85 week whacker line.    String aluminium cans on them.   Set them at 10" above ground.     A six-foot fence won't do diddly for keeping out pests.    Better that you are warned the pest are prowling.     Bonus points for planting bayonettes or Century plants on the fall-side of the tripwires.  

      • Anonymous says:

        You're right I will see if I can get approval for razor wire at the top..or maybe a double fence with a dog run full of pit bulls around the property..

    • Anonymous says:

      it was always going to look like that buddy!

  24. Anonymous says:

    Great, a crime prevention seminar.  Buy bars for your windows, install lights, install an alarm system, hire unarmed security guards to hold the door for the robbers, afterall its just money, and everyone has so much of it.   Don't go out alone or at night or perhaps at all, build a vault inside your home and business to hide in.  Accept the fact that the crime is the law abiding peoples fault for making it so easy for the criminals and whatever you do don't expect the cops to actually catch and convict anyone.  Oh and by the way its still illegal for you to actually  protect your self with any kind arms, lethal or non-lethal, because you don't need them.  We have very strict gun laws that keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

  25. Anonymous says:

    If this was happening in a small community in the U.S. these thugs would already be either in jail or dead. The Police force here does obviously lack the skills to go out & tackle this problem.I dont think it is the officers at fault , but their management needs to be questioned

    To the Governor: We ask you import the assistance of suitably armed & trained tactical officers from another jurisdiction that is used to dealing with such thuggery. The J.D.F comes to mind or a serious crime & robbery task force, from lets say… Miami .  But we would settle for the same skilled personell from Britain.

    • Anonymous says:

      Hey cowboy!

      Why is it that some people still think that this is a US juristiction, and that US cops are some how the cure for all ill's. If that were true then why is their own country so screwed up?

      Secondly, the JDF are a foriegn army, as Jamaica is an independent country and has enough trouble of its own to contend with.

      And finally, and most importantly, the Union Flag fly's over this British Territory and it will be Britain who will preserve the security of this land if it becomes really necessary.

      So yes, you will have to settle for British tactical help, because anything else would constitute an invasion by foriegn forces. Now that would give you something to really whinge about.

      • anonymous says:

        Good point. Why are there Jamaican cops here?

        • Anonymous says:

          Errr…..like any other job, they filled out an application form and applied for the job…?

      • Anonymous says:

        Ummm…it's not an invasion if we invite them for their assistance in combating crime. British police help has not really been much use so far. Perhaps we should try Canadian Mounties. 

        • Anonymous says:

          In fact Mounties are deployed to other countries. They are presently in East Timor, Sudan and Haiti. Cayman? Not so much…

  26. Anonymous says:

    I never carry more than $25 cash on me nowadays, $50 at the most. I do not carry more cash than I can afford to lose cuz the thieves are robbing the rich and the poor. If it costs more than my cash amount and they don't accept debit/credit card or chq then they don't get my business. I appeal to every1 to adapt this mindset and the same approach. Looks like they have laid off the banks only to start on the small businesses and business owners. SMDH @ what my lil rock has come to.