Locals dominate rookie cops
(CNS): After receiving some 500 applications, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) managed to whittle that number down to fifteen men and women who are to be appointed as police constables and about to embark on a new career. From the ten men and five women selected to begin the RCIPS training programme, none were recruited from overseas. Twelve of the rookies are Caymanians and three are permanent residents, officials revealed Wednesday in a release announcing the results of last year's recruitment exercise. Having already passed a rigorous testing regime, the group will be sworn in on 31 March and they will then begin the 16-week recruit training programme before hitting the streets.
RCIPS officials said the group is the most localised set of recruits to join the RCIPS for some thirty years, after the recruitment process had targeted Caymanians andpeople who had been living here long term rather than looking overseas.
Police Commissioner David Baines said he was delighted that the service was able to attract and recruit this many local people.
"We held them to high standards and are confident that these are exactly the kind of people that we need to attract, to help us successfully police the Islands,” the top cop said. “We very much look forward to working with these young people to develop their abilities and assist them in becoming exemplary police officers."
Officials narrowed the field of 500 applications, he explained, by stringently applying the criteria of age and nationality. Physical and background checks, as well as testing that included a multiple choice exam, essay and presentation, further reduced the number of candidates to 29.
These persons were then interviewed for the positions.
By the end of the process 21 individuals had exceeded the minimum overall score. From these the recruitment panel selected the top 15.
Five candidates are aged 18-21 years old, five are 22-25 years and the remaining five are 26-30 years. Two are residents of Cayman Brac and the rest are from or living on Grand Cayman.
Category: Crime
Run the Caymanian at the top out; hire Caymanians as Rookie’s. Good strategy UK: Caymanians will always be fetching the tea.
Never happy huh?
Generally it is the top that retires. What exactly would you suggest as a constructive alternative?
To post 20:15 the police are governed by the Police Law and not the Labour Law. Just sayin!
Some snide comments, but- The prison director did the training with his recruits.
How many of the Retired Bobbies could do the same?
I wonder if the Commissioner knows that it is an of fence under the Labour Law to make hiring decisions based on age? That kind of thing s called age discrimination.
Pleae tell me how ae descrimination is prohibited in Cayman? I am over 50 and applied to be a "special constable". They laughed at me. I also cannot serve on the jury due to my "age". Age descrimination is very alive and well in Cayman.
How wonderful to know that 15 Caymanian now have jobs. This makes us proud to know we have some more Local police. All the best to them
Out of over 500 applicants, most of whom presumably were Caymanian, only 21 exceeded the MINIMUM overall test score, and we managed to employ only 12 Caymanians (some of whom may be status holders).
The article clearly states that 21 out of 29 achieved above minimum. Idiot
But this was the best 29 out of 500 and even then one third of the best 29 could not achieve the minimum.Idiot yourself!.
To:Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 21/03/2014 – 08:49. Please remember that the article states the applicants"passed a rigorous testing regime"and were held " to high standards ".So after rigorous testing of a high standard ,21 out of 29 achieved a passing score.
uh-oh..spaghettios…..
Perfect. Now if we can increase the standards for permanent residency in a similar fashion, this for sure is a win-win for the Cayman Islands.
Excellent Baines. This is encouraging.
Indeed good news, I am personally pleased even though an expat (despite some uncalled for comments further down). One thing to remember for the newbies, the first time you let a friend off with a warning or look the other way..you are corrupted and it can be used against you for ever. Avoid temptation, it will come back and bite you.
Please don't send the ones from the Brac back here until they have worked at least 3 years in Grand Cayman. And please make sure they get taser training
…But the Brac IS the Taser Training Ground!
Can you say how many of the twelve have Cayman Status? Three we understand have Residency. It is said every day that one can feel the resentment and unfairness when the Status holders the Residency holders and the expat Officers have to deal with the Caymanians. Also it is said in the Communities that the Bajan Police seem to be very fair. It would be nice to recruit more of them instead.
Troll-lol-lol-lol . Status = Caymanian unless you are racist and xenophobic.
not all status / PR holders are Caymanian it is a matter of the heart & there are many a Status / PR holder who do not have a heart for All Tings Caymanian but insist on True Caymanians conform to, & respect thier home countires culture,ways etc = most status / PR holders are the racist & xenophobic ones. & I by stating this will be labled racist & xenophobic. FYI I was not born no raised in Cayman
9;26
You can see this mainly in the construction industry. Developers,home builders, Architecs, Engineers, project managers, and expats businesses are not hiring born Caymanians. They prefer to hire people from their own country.
This was why the Bahamas ran them out in the late 60s.It has become unbearble to the long term Caymanian builders, to watch all these new expats take over the industry. It is a crying shame.
And that is why the Bahamas are welcoming the Chinese and their mobile construction crews with open arms. Crime is up and still cannot supply the jobs with willing and able workers.
The difference is, Bahamians were given the fist 30 million dollar worth of contracts. This meant all the local builders were taken care of by this agreement.
Then of course the chinese brought the extra workers needed.
In Cayman, all the local builders are left out of the deals. they only get aware of projects, when they see the foundation started.
Im not an expert on crime, but ive been in the construction Industry for 35 years.
Rubbish ….. check this out. Hotel baha Mar. 1.5 billion dollar investment by the Chinese. All workers and equipment supplied by Chinese. Strangely enough, by whatever Cayman formula used, they are still all expats. Currently ahead of schedule and opens this year.There's over 2000 stay over tourists you won't have per night.
http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2013/2/12/102955/946/hotels/Baha_Mar%A0Goes_For_It_In_the_Bahamashttp://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2013/2/12/102955/946/hotels/Baha_Mar%A0Goes_For_It_In_the_Bahamas
Many people who get status do not identify as Caymanian so I guess you are right – they are racist and xenophobic.
Sticking a Fordemblem on a Toyota does not make the Toyota a Ford. If status holders don't consider themselves Caymanian (except where they are claiming benefits like the right to vote and to own a business) why should we?
This is the only country I have ever lived in or visited that has degrees of citizenship. We must consider Status Holders to be equivalent to Caymanian, otherwise, we acknowledge that no human being that was born here can even fully be a citizen.
You really do not get around much do you?
You are trying to evade an important point. Recognition of yourself as Caymanian cuts both ways. It is not just about legal constructs. Embrace us and we will embrace you, but don't think that you can simply use us and try to fake a moral high ground when it is convenient. It won't work.
Well said. While there are a fine minority who do embrace Cayman, far too many of the takers are in denial with this pity poor me foolishness.
The recent detractors of the status test are a prime example. It's all about gimme, gimme, gimme. They could care less about learning anything about the country they are living in. But what do these economic refugees give back in return but vitriol and ungratefullness?
But if you have another nationality too, Caymanian is always going to come second isn't it?
In many countries there are different types of visas and right to work may be as a result of citizenship OR residency.
Some countries also have enough sense, don't get intimidated and ensure that their police force must be from nationals born in the country.
If Caymanians were not intimidated and or controlled by their West Indian friends, our police service would be mainly Caymanian born citizens and British officers since we are a territory of the UK.
I agree @21:23….but until we show difference between status holders and native Caymanians. And we know the majority of these 'Caymanians' are going to be from Jamaica. They actively recruit their own…the local lawyers, staff in court office, staff in legal and police are manily Jamaican nationals. That's how you control a nation.
Call me xenophobic but guess what? No Jamaican would allow this to happen in their country.
Why are Jamaican police here?
'bout time bobo !! Best Regards to all the new Men & Women of the RCIPS. stay safe & God Bless U All
I am glad to hear my bracas & GC people made the cut, congrats my peps! BRACA
@ 20:11 Pep – politically exposed person – I think you mean Peeps….
Congrats to the new graduates. We don't care where they are from so long as they show up for duty and uphold and enforce the law. By enforcing the law, we mean, using the word police as a verb as well as a noun; and policing all the laws, not just their specialty or seasonal favorites.
If there were 5 dedicated officers available to police the Traffic Law of 2011, it would go along way towards restoring public attitudes about the RCIPs, not to mention a self-funding and likely profit-making initative for the entire force. There are 90 pages of logical codes with big fines and penalties should there be a Will to actually police the rules of the land.
They did not graduate yet
Woo-hoo!
will they be trained and able to write tickets for parking on double yellow lines and in handicap spots, along with talking on cell phones while driving… As it serously seems that there is only one officer that seems to be able to ticket anyone and he rides a motorcycle.
At last! Cayman justice!
Maybe someone can really explain things for me. Yes, I am an "outsider". Why would you care what the RCIP's nationality is as long as they do their job? Cayman is a melting pot with so many nationalities living within a few miles. Why is it necessary that the RCIP only be Caymanian "born and bread"? I mean no disrespect by this question, I am just trying to understand. I am from the U.S. and do not ask everyone here, "Are you Irish, English, French, Spanish, etc."….I just care if they do a good job in protecting my family, my home and community.
Perfectly said.
Caymanian should be favoured when there is a choice. If a significant amount of qualified Caymanians/Status Holders (same thing, imo) do not respond, then the positions must be filled by others. Once they are trained and on the job, I don't care about their nationality, gender, nor sexual preference — only about their ability to do their job.
You hit the nail on the head – if they do their job. Community relationships are important to effective police work.
You see Sir, you wont have a problem with the Ja Police as most of the expats stick together. When you have had the experience of being dealt with unfairly because you are a Caymanian then that hurts. When the tight fitting shoe is not on your feet then you dont know the pain. Whenever there is an accident, some rental dispute, some family dispute or worst some problem with our youth and some Status holder or work permit holder from that Country, you can bet that you are going to get the wrong. Not all the time Caymanians discriminate against them for nothing but most of the time we talk with experience. We must say that we have always found the Bajan Police to be professional and educated on their jobs as Police.
So, let me try to understand what you just wrote. If a Caymanian has an issue (accident, dispute, problem) with an expat and the officer called to the scene is an expat, the officer tends to side with the expat? Is that what you are saying? What about your court system?
Very interesting. Why do you think the Bajan police are different? Are they trained differently?
Also, from a complete outsider….wondering if it is a cultural difference? Just curious.