Gov should have met MLAs
(CNS): The closed door decision made by Governor Helen Kilpatrick to retain and back the police commissioner was wrong because she should have at least heard from all of the country’s political representatives first, the independent member for North Side has said. The governor made it clear she supported David Baines, regardless of the shocking revelations that the RCIPS had recruited and retained an officer who was charged and recently convicted of murder while Baines was at the helm of the organisation. Ezzard Miller said that whatever the governor decided, in the end was down to her but she should not have made that decision without first hearing representations from elected members on behalf of the people.
“The governor made her decision without considering the position of the representatives of any constituencies,” he said, noting that the politicians had made several public declarations that they wanted to meet with her. It is understood that the governor did have a closed door meeting with the premier, but no one else, and it is not clear if Alden McLaughlin passed on any concerns or requested that she meet with the other 17 members of the Legislative Assembly.
“She may have come to the same decision after considering my or anyone else’s input but without any input, how can we see if the process of making that decision was made fairly and in consideration of all of the facts?” he asked.
The issues of crime fighting and police management have been a hot topic lately, with the public and the politicians raising concerns about both. Despite the revelations that Tyrone Findlay was recruited to the RCIPS armed unit from Jamaica just weeks before he was charged with murder, the commissioner is not being held accountable.
Miller said that it does not matter who Baines delegated the recruitment duties to, in the end neither the commissioner nor anyone else at the top of an organisation can "delegate their accountability and responsibility”. Miller said it was up to the chief of any organisation to delegate the work to a competent person and if they didn’t, they are responsible.
Miller also took aim at the governor's allegations that people were engaging in “false criticism and unwarranted personal attacks”, and asked if the UK representative was in possession of information that contradicts what the public has been told.
“If the governor has evidence that Tyrone Findlay has not been convicted of murder and that the commissioner of police did not have his bail amended to allow him to come back to work in the RCIPS after he had been charged, she should release this information,” Miller added.
The North Side MLA said that was one of the issues that he found the most difficult to comprehend and why he believed the commissioner should resign. The MLA stated that even if Baines and the RCIPS had been duped into taking on someone under investigation for murder and then obligated legally to retain him, the idea that the police boss took steps to bring the officer back to Cayman to work in the local police was an outrage.
Category: Crime
The MLAs only represent a small part of these population. Recent event s have shown what calibre of individual can make it to that position. Can't see why the Gov should give two hoots about what the MLAs think. This is a national issue not a local authority one.
I agree. The Governor did her job. The HR failure to hire a bad cop is no reason to dismsiss the boss.
Dear Madam Governor,
I think you did what you needed to do and I continue to thank you. Our MLAs are a bunch of Lodge clowns and I hope for a better educated next generation,
Yes, I think better policing is needed. I believe we need good old fashioned quotas! Yup, my car was unlicensed for 3 months and in North America or the UK I would have been caught and fined.
The police could make a decent living by going around parking lots and placing tickets on cars that are not licensed $$
What about our wild dog problem? Easy fix- dog licenses or heavy fines and 1 decent dog catcher. I recall a policeman banging on my door as a child in the USA just to see if aa dog barked as he was checking for licenses!! You know what THIS does? it creates a door to door fear of compliance….yes siree, perhaps the home ganja smoking or the fencing of stoloen goods or illegal immigrants would stop.
Start with a zero tolerance and watch Cayman clean itself up.
Rigth now, our nanny state means no one has one ounce of fear (except drink driving maybe) so lets START the REAL neighborhood policing andclean up our streets.
Madam Governor, you did your job, but there does need to be pressure for a better police state and it is time our cops got out there and really showed a precence and made a real difference.
I expect that knock on my doot again soon and I would welcome it. Door to door policing and putting fear into the bad guys should be the 2015 goal.
09:17.The failure of the HR failure to hire a bad cop was actually a good thing.What was bad was the Commissioner reinstating bad cop who had been suspended.That rests solely on the shoulders of Mr Baines.
Amazing, Alden can ignore the issue of his errant minister, but Lord help the Governor if she makes a decision performing the duties she is supposed to. At least she made a decision! And quickly!
Nothing will change until we take less time writing comments and start marching by the thousands on the governors residence letting her know that the colonial days are over and we are no longer slaves. There was a time when those who were senthere by the FCO were well educated in the job to which they were appointed. We now have a governor whose background is in [I think] accounting. Why!
My opinion is, that when the mother country has a lot of long serving civil servants who are nearing retirement a lot of them are shipped off to cayman because they know we think that everyone who is sent here is knowledgeable in the job they are assigned to. But based on what I've seen so far some have little or no idea of what is needed or either they are puppets of the FCO who pull the strings which allows them to make a statement once in awhile or some other insignificant gesture of the position they hold. And when it's over they can go back to the mother country with enough that they can live very comfortably for a long time.
He came here with glowing references from a high court judge and a senior superintendent in the JCF. The problem with jamaica is that there is a substantial amount of different agencies that investigate police which one department can give you a clean bill of health and another agency might have a pending investigation against an individual however the agency that gave a clean bill of health isn't even linked to the latter agency. The issue at hand is exactly a perfect example of this. Howeve having learnt that he was charged with such a serious offence Baines should have sought to have his contract terminated not have him on suspension and paying him for what 3years, what was baines doing trying to get back a pound of flesh for the amount of money this officer received for doing absolutely nothing !!! There is such division within the RCIPS with the english bobbies getting the better privileges and reward with respect as if they are the shining examples of what a police man should be. Look at the way the service is being ran english bobbyim charge of just about every department XXXX
It would come as a surprise to me if they even continue recruiting from jamaican, but I tend to think that won't resume and the aim is to bring in only UK bobbies like the ones that are retired in th UK but come here to get a good salary and continue collecting pension in the UK. Colonialism is all it is people.
Politicians are part of our problem here, not part of the solution. You hear how they criticize everything? And they know every solution until they are given the task to do and then all we get are excuses, consultants and money down the drain. We need rules for politicians so their time talking nonsense is limited. What a bunch of wasters.
WHAT A MESS !!!!!!
Alden, You are not much of a LEADER but in this instance I agree with you and I think that the majority of the people in this country are agreeing with you.
I think you made the right decision, hope that the Govrnor would also make the right decision and send Baines home so that this country can get back to normal policing.
Congratulations to you OZZIE, stand firm, we love you and I hope that some good will come out of this mess.
HE WAS NOT CHARGED OR EVEN A SUSPECT WHEN THEY HIRED HIM! How many times does this have to be said.
Dear Governor,
The main job that you and your FCO have in Cayman is to maintain security. You appoint the Police Commissioner and hire whatever police and judges you want from wherever you want. Whatever budget you ask for is routinely approved. Yet street crime is rampant, the evidence is routinely screwed up, warrants are obtained improperly, trials are wasted on no-chance prosecutions and the prison has a revolving door. What are you going to do about it? Do you have something else taking all of your time? Can we just expect more of the same? Do you have any plan at all?
24 prisoners in 24 hours is not the measure of a non performing police service.
Catch and release. We see it everytime he is in trouble fool.
Poor Ezzard is beating the same old xenophobic drum, bad foreigner does not consult me. I cannot wait until redistricting and North Side joins with East End.
12:00.Looks like you are the one beating the xenophobic drum,you know, dumb local dares to question expat governor.
The two weakest link exported from England EVER!!
Ezzard wants everyone to resign! Just go back to your fried food.
Certain diplomatic cultures always shift the goalposts and make excuses when comes the time to protect their own.
500 years later and the empire hasn't changed a bit or learned a damn thing. Such an insecure and paranoid existence it is today – pathetically exercising its residual powers by way of bullying tiny island nations.
My how the mighty have fallen. If only they would finally wake up to the truth that is so glaringly obvious to the rest of the world.
*There is another way Cayman.
– Whodatis
Be interesting to know your opinion on the Osborne Bodden issue? If your country achieves independence is this the sort of individual you want to be "running things?
Yes, that could happen.
Perhaps, he may even go on to commit war crimes and gain financially as a direct result thereafter but never worry because the rest of the country is apparently morally bankrupt so he'll never face arrest or charges for his crimes against humanity.
Wouldn't that be shame if Cayman ended up with such a legacy poster?
You know W. agrees about the driftwood bit. Troll-lol-lol.
That is quite an accusation. What makes you say that poster?
Please provide supporting evidence.
(Any and all of your many supporters are welcome to do the same.)
Everything you write is biased, anti-British, xenophobic nonsense.
It’s obvious to any skilled and experienced person who has ever hired and/or fired any employee that there was no case to answer for the Commissioner of Police. The Governor knows that.
I dont know if what he says is totally nosense but I would agree that he does need to look at both sides of the story a bit more not always negative.
The evidence is generally in everything you write, but specifically in your failure to criticise Ossie for the comment and deflect matters back onto Tony Blair moaning.
This story is NOT about Ossie!
Perhaps you ought to ask the first respondent why they failed to address the issues surrounding the FCO, Baines, RCIPS and Kilpatrick and opted instead to deflect matters back to Ossie?
smh
Last worditis, sweetie-pie. I love it when you dance for me.
hahahahahahaha.
Guess you just want to become a politician, and a perfect start there Mr. W. When you can't give a a straight answer to a question, simply ignore it and bring up a totally unrelated issue.
(I agree with you about Blair though)
Excuse you, but I think you will find that it was the respondent to my initial post that brought up a "totally unrelated issue" when they referred to "Ozzie-gate". I simply kept playing the game. If you have a problem then kindly lodge a complaint with the source.
Do you have to have the last word on everything? That is always a red-flag in psychiatric testing.
So who has the last word in this case?
No further testing required.
By the way guys, I love the moments when I am so highly "trolled" in the ratings. It is evidence of undeniable truth.
(Damn it … he makes a lot of sense, the bastard!! I have no good reply … oh screw it – troll the eff'er!!)
Lol!!
🙂
When it a corner cut and paste an old Tony Blair deflection . . . Whodatis has not really been on top form for quite some time.
Please, can you just give it a rest? The problem when you bleat on about EVERYTHING is that on the rare occasions you make a good point it just gets lost in the all the rubbish.
Helen Kilpatrick has not endeared herself to the people of these islands and by supporting a Police Commissioner under whose tenure petty and violent crime have spiraled out of control, she has distanced herself even further from the true pulse of Cayman.
She has been an unmitigated failure and if Baines was a gentleman, he would offer to carry her bags on the next flight home, cowcod and champagne excluded.
Nationality does not make a person, integrity makes a person and in the higher echelons of Cayman society, both elected and appointed, integrity is a scarce commodity.
Ms Kilpatrick, you do not rule over a bunch of ignorant people; nay, we are not all blind. I wish you all the best as a fellow human being, but if you want to be in a position of authority, the best starting place is one of humility.
Good luck.
It’s called arrogance!!
09:02.What?Who?
Agree with Ezzard here completely!
And all the talk from the Governor and Baines about social and education shortcomings are just to deflect….that the Commissioner is ultimately responsible for hiring and retaining an Officer charged with murder.
Once again….as in the case of so many instanaces….No Accountability! And thus Poor Governance!
How are we to expect the wider community to respect the Law and/or proper procedures, when those at the top echelons continue to set example after example of NOT doing so?
This is a decision for the Governor. Overpaid puffed-up local councillors, which is all MLAs are, should stick to doing their own jobs better.
08:44 Just can't wait to show your biased and demeaning behaviour ,can you. Yet people like you are calling for Ozzie's head. I guess in your opinion it is only a problem if it is seen as being directed at an expat .
Seriously, is the comma thing really THAT hard? Or are you that stupid?
I wish Ezzard would engage his brain before sounding off. He's just getting to sound like an idiot.
Apparently even after Findlay was charged the prosecutors in Jamaica made no attempt to follow normal protocols and have him extradited pending trial. They're the ones who dumped him on us not Baines.
Clearly you need to heed your own advice and "engage brain befor sounding off".
No one from any country can "dump" anyone on us without our compliance! Baines is the "Chief" of Police aka Commissioner, and thus the buck stops with him hiring and retaining an officer charged with murder!
He didn't hire an officer charged with murder. Get your facts right or become a politician in which case facts are no longer important. Just votes are!!!!
He did retain an officer charged with murder….and then even bring him back to Cayman after said charge.
Additionally, had he done proper investigatory vetting, he would have found that said officer was being investigated for serious charges.
Suggest you get your facts straight!
He wasn't charged whenhired. All the appropriate enquiries would have been done according to the guidelines the HR Department have to follow. Once it came to light if he had been dismissed and then aquitted he would have been able to sue the pants off of CI for damage to his character etc. The people at fault are the service in Jamaica who failed todisclose its investigation to RCIPS. If I were the CoP and I were to lose my job over this I would be warming up a very good lawyer and setting up a nice compensation account. You may not like the real world but this is how it goes nowadays. Deal with it.
There was a time when slavery was "appropriate" too.
Even if CIG was successfully sued over such, that would have been preferable to having an accused murderer in our midst, sanctioned by the RCIPS and CoP
13:47.You need to remember that the Commissioner knew about the murder investigation ,from July 2011,two months after Findlay was hired.We also know that Finlay was reinstated earlier this year and consigned to a desk job,while still facing amurder charge,so remember that when you talk of suing.
He came here with glowing references fom JCF – someone lied for him didn't they?
Sound like?
I stand corrected 🙂
08:27.Perhaps you should take your own advice and check the facts before you hit that send key. Clearly you missed the part of the original story that said Findlay went back to Jamaica after being suspened with pay three years ago.The Commissioner admitted that he invited Findlay back to Cayman to perform desk duties earlier this year.This means that he was no longer suspended and was reinstated by Mr Baines even though it was known that he was under investigation for murder.So please do not blame Jamaican prosecutors for this.