Police ID 13 local gangs
(CNS): The police commissioner said several gang members had been arrested and released on electronic tags over the last week in relation to this month’s killing spree. Following the five murders over an eight day period, suspects police believe are associated with the gangs are being arrested, questioned and processed under gang legislation, which allows officials to hold them for around three days. David Baines said police have been able to identify 13 separate gangs that have alliances beyond the gang lines and can be quite transient. He estimated that between the two main West Bay gangs – Logwoods and Birchtree Hill – there were around 50 members but only a few of them were the “toxic individuals” responsible for the killings. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
Answering questions posed by members of the business community at a special Chamber of Commerce crime meeting on Tuesday evening, he explained what the police have been able to piece together about the gangs that are operating in Cayman.
He said police believe it is the gangs that are responsible for many of the robberies that have been taking place, as well as other criminality, but not all of the members were what he described as the triggermen willing to kill. He said in the fourth murder of the year, the van in which two men were shot off Crewe Road was connected to the Tortuga Robbery in Passadora Place. Baines said he believed some of the gangs were involved in the more sophisticated bank robberies, while others the more opportunistic hits on grocery stores.
When the commissioner spoke about 15 individuals in 2009, he explained, he had been referring to the triggermen who were the ones in the gangs willing to use extreme violence to shoot at opposite gangs and to take lives without thinking about it.
Baines said police believed that two of those 15 have now gone overseas, three have been shot and killed by the opposing gang and the others were arrested and sent to Northward, some of whom remain there while others have come out . Since then, the senior officer revealed, some others who weren’t free at that time have been released from Northward, adding to the number of “toxic individuals capable of that level of violence” and other members have emerged to take up the role of gunmen.
He said that the police believe gang activity goes back about fourteen years, when there were two distinct gangs with “notorious individuals at the head of each them … which was a power control for an area,” but he explained there were now around 13 gangs that had alliances beyond the distinctive district gang.
The commissioner said that most of the murders in 2009 to 2010 as well as three of the recent five murders were related to the long running dispute that exists between the West Bay gangs of Logwoods and Birch Tree Hill. “The dispute there was based on geography and familial ties and there have been fall outs over property and girlfriends and it has escalated to extreme violence,” Baines added.
He said not all of the members of these two gangs were gunmen; some were enforcers, others were runners and they range from as youngas 16 to the older members in their late thirties. Between them there are around 35 on one side and only 15 or 16 on the other. Added to the West Bay gangs were gangs operating in Bodden Town, George Town and East End that were allied with gangs in West Bay.
He also explained that membership is fluid and that in some cases members move across gang lines or there is a split within one gang because of dispute over the spoils of crime or some other fall out. “There is a shifting number of transient people who go from one gang to another,” he said, adding that the police are monitoring all of these individuals as well as the areas they are coming from.
Baines explained that there are specific neighbourhoods in Cayman where these groups operate in numbers, where criminality is part of a lifestyle and where they tolerate each other and no one there is involved in what he described as normal life like the rest of us. He said they are unemployed and excluded from mainstream society and, as the education minister revealed recently, all five of the murder victims this month were products of the Alternative Education Centre.
Living in a criminal environment, these young people were involved in low level criminality and some of them had escalated to using extreme violence and firearms at a very young age, Baines said.
The commissioner said that officers from Uniform Support and other units were now engaged in the dangerous work of dealing with the suspected triggermen on the front line, going into their homes and neighbourhoods where the police were not welcome and arresting them, as well as looking for evidence of their involvement in the shootings.
Category: Crime
Mr. Baines I thinkyou should look at this video and analize it. Look at how close Cayman is to Honduras and check out our open door policy with that country. Perhaps, just perhaps our gangs are related to these people. I am seeking a solution and I came across this.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6644
I hope not, but the brutality fits them to the "T".
Maybe our little gang issues stems from this bigger picture and lack of parenting.
I would like to know how many of these gang members or affiliates are female? How many females were tagged or arrested?
hmmmm…Mr. Baines "believes" that gang activity goes back about 14 years, eh?? Well I have new for you Boyo…it goes back a lot farther than that…it only seemed to become prominant about 14 years ago, because if anyone who was here then may remember, there was this guy who was in charge of the RCIPF named Anthony Gray, who had a pair of BIG BRASS BALLS and wasn't afraid to use them…but that upset quite a few people and well, let's just say he became quite frustrated and he left….so the "PTB" went and found someone who was the absolute and total opposite…then came this big goofy Brummy name of David Thursfield, who decided that calling the police a "force" just didn't sound "Nice"…so he changed the name to "Service" and started to introduce all this nice, "your ok, I'm okay, let's all stand around and talk about how ok we're all going to be" style of Policing…and as if THAT didn't demoralise and emasculate the RCIP enough, WELL…you see, you had this little unit that used to operate within this RCIP that was called the DTF..and in charge of this little unit was a man named Derek Haines..and Derek Haines was cut from a very similar cloth to Tony Gray..but once again…that little unit made things VERY, VERY hard for certain people…SOOOO in true political fashion…an excuse was needed to dismantle this pesky little unit that was causing so much trouble..wham, bam, and all of a sudden the Attorney General has a death threat made and his family are threatened and the persons NEXT DOOR are tied up and threatened by none other than JAMIAICANS…and all of a sudden the ONLY persons who can stand between the poor AG and the BIG BAD Jamaican gunmen are the lowly DTF…so, the ENTIRE DTF was put on baby sitting duty and ever since then there has been NO EFFECTIVE DRUG interdiction policy within the RCIP(s)…oh, yes there is still a unit CALLED the DTF, but it is a toothless tiger..they have no real power and as you are well aware, Derek Haines was given his walking papers when he pushed back against Stuart Kernohan and his namby pamby way of policing in the wake of hurricane Ivan…and there you have it folks..the REAL reason Cayman is in the situation we find our selves in today…
Bring Back Mr. Haines and crew.
It wont be pretty but it will be solved
Wait a minute, in one breath we are stating gangs have been in Cayman for over 14 years…..Haines was in office and the gangs were forming, he was one of them that was in denial, so why keep on wanting to bring Haines back??? If he had controlled it then maybe we wouldn't be in the predicement we are in now.
How bout you read my comment two columns up and you might have a clearer idea of the picture??
And maybe if some of us had tried to be parents instead of being out drinking and fornicating some of this could be avoided too.
So true. When I lived in Cayman in the 80s I would see men out at the Galleon and other bars. Being new to the island I didn't know most of these men were married with families.
Derek Haines is a folk hero here and I believe was educated in Sherwood only a few furloughs from Nottingham where Robin Hood plied hid trade. I understand Derek has now emigrated to New Zealand. Pity.
Maybe most Caymanians are against the torture of animals.
Nah! Most Caymanians are carnivores. Caymanians pay good money to munch on the dead carcasses of tortured critters.
Ever seen a feed lot, beef slaughter house, or chicken farm? Compared to the treatment of animals in those hellholes, the dolphins here are treated like royalty.
(Get back with me when Caymanians go vegetarian, OK?)
That must be it. Perhaps that's why most Caymanians chain or tie their dogs to a tree in the backyard and throw them food and water when they remember to. Forget any shots or flea protection, they'd prefer to watch their dogs die slow deaths from anemia from too many flea bites, malnourisment and dehydration. Yep, those Caymanians are absolutely against the torture of animals. <sarcasm>
RCIP, what about the girlfriends who seem to be complicit in much of this activity? Have they been brought in for questioning or tagged n released?
Have any of these gangs been found to be affiliated with any political party or candidate which is often the case in other Caribbean islands?
The fusion of political parties and criminalgangs would be the final nail in the coffin called Cayman.
Who are in these gangs? Caymanians? Jamaicans? Cubans? Canadians?
We need information to know who to look out for!
Canadian accountants account for the majority of the gang bangers, followed by British attorneys and Swiss yodlers. On occasion you may get a Caymanian and Jamaican wanksta…
Now those guys are the Dons. They must be the ones the Premier described as "fops", what with their Savile Row suits and flashin dem Masonic hand signals.
Oh I dunno… I think LOCAL means…
It seems as though Commissioner Baines read this Compass report by Tad Stone in 2005 and just regurgitated it. This is nothing new.
http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1003108
Actually, there are a few things that are new: 1. the gang names are different and 2. there are two main gangs whereas before there were several and seemed equally strong. 3. these gang members are transient and the others didn't want to combine so I take it that they were more loyal to their gangs. 4. the other gangs seemed to be more influenced by outside forces and these are more divided along districts although there seems to be some influence from Jamaica as well. I don't understand it too much myself but it seems to do with some Jamaican artists.
I do remember some meetings with the police but hey we didn't have gangs then we had groups.
Wow! Very informative article. Thank you for linking it. I encourage everyone who has not read Stone’s. Compass report to do so ASAP. It would be great to have a reprint or follow up so that people can get a better idea and insight on where our gang problems started and what could have been done to curb or slow down the rise.
As one who worked in the public school system "back in the day", I must say I found Beersingh and Ennis the only cops who really knew what they were talking about when it came to gangs.
Anyone remember when Beersingh took over policing the the sister islands – he went in taking numbers and kicking ass when previous senior officer retired. After several years of no drugs busts he turned up some big caches of weed on the island that had apparently been overlooked.
Someone told me he's a former paratrooper – that's what you need.
A former para?? From JAMAICA?? Don't make me laugh…
The ship is sinking no matter what Baines and Company say. As much as it is a Police and Prosecutorial (also known as Dumb and Dumber) problem (can't tell whose more inept from one day to another), the 5 ton elephant in the room is the social problem. One may be able to fix Dumb and Dumber (although I have some severe doubts about that) but one will never fix the social problem – unless you sterilize some of the gang bangers and their baby mammas – good luck with that proposition. By the time anyone intervenes at age 5 or 6 it is far too late; even if it isn't, all the counselling in the world is not going to undo the damage that the children have suffered and will continue to suffer as they go home to absentee fathers (papa is making new spawn with new gangsta lovin baby mamas) and uneducated teenage mammas. The fat lady is singing her last song and it ain't a pretty one. The Beaver
After visiting a particular water park recently with my children I was shocked to see that nearly every job position there was being held by a work permit holder, I left the place with anger. From the cashier to the customer service reps, photographers, food servers, cooks right on. There was not one Caymanian to be seen. I can understand maybe the animal trainers being allowed permits, but how can our government justify giving permits to 90% of the employees at this establishment. This is the form of injustice that Caymanians are facing on a day to day basis. This place is located in an area of the island where there has been a lot of crime activity recently. Just maybe if some of these young Caymanians were given a job opportunity at this establishment as an example, they would have been too occupied to be caught up in these wrong doings.
Oh please 17:49, why do you think there are so many work permit holders? BECAUSE NO YOUNG CAYMANIAN WILL DO THE JOB!!! It is below them, they expect high position jobs to be given them!!! WAKE UP and smell the roses
Please tell me that you do know that every one of those jobs that was stolen (sic) by a pesky ex-pat was advertised for local candidates before the work permit application was submitted and approved?
If you have issue with ex-pats doing jobs, please take it up with 1) the Caymanians and status holders who declined to apply and the 2) Caymanian-staffed Work Permit and Business Staffing Plan boards for ultimately approving the permits.
You assume employers tell the Boards when Caymanians apply.
You assume the system is not corrupt.
You assume too much.
LMAO this is a joke!! What is this a catch and release gangster fishing tournament?! Give me a break; even those tiger sharks that were tagged earlier this year will have their tracking devices in tact longer than these guys…and that is solely because they do not have opposable thumbs to remove the tracking device!!! What are the police really going to do? Look them up as a blinking light on 4Square and follow them around until they do something they can actually arrest them for?! Never mind, I forgot they can’t even do that properly….
Gangs have been in cayman since the mid 80s with 2 in West Bay and one in GT.Thats almost 25 years Mr. Baines. You are not too blame as you just boarded the ship it negligence as usual by certain government officials and departments for turning a blind eye to this growth. You want the names ….Mulers Jah (WB)and Central(GT) are 2 of them.
This guy must be playimg the numbers all we get is numbers and unfortunately the cost of maintaining their little police state is running up some serious numbers. Cayman pay close attention to his statement 13 "LOCAL" Gangs no mention of 100 and odd nationalities we have here their not shooting and killing each other yet, they are not gangs their just groups now! Dont hate the Player ie Baines Cayman just hate the Game.
What a load of hog wash poor old Cayman still buyiing this bogeyman crap this situation all stem from certain law enforce wizards and their power games and incompetence by allowing drug networks who were severly dismantle to come back and restablish themselves with an even stronger presence on island so much so that they have branch out to other crimes to finance drug shipments. I am so saddned by the highjacking of this terrible situation bysome unsrupulous foreign & local opportunist who see it as and opportune time to use fear to bilk our already debt burden economy to employ their friends and associates, when we could have spent this much need funding on further education for our children. Becareful Cayman this 500 man foreign law enforcement juggernaut is going to consume our rights first then our young people ending with us all under the auspices of law and order when it is clear there is no order in the law and corruption is still running rampant in their little system and we still paying the bills. Here it is cayman when virtue is lost, benevolence appears, when benevolence is lost right conduct appears when right conduct is lost expedience appears, expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth, it is the begining of disorder. 13 gangs my A$$ the only gang i see round here is the 3 groups in the RCIPS. British,Jamaican, Caymanians and guess who is now in the minority??
I couldn't disgree with you more – why does every issue get turned into a conspiracy theory of people taking over the island? Have you been watching re-runs of the X-Files by chance?
Working in a society that has many more gangs than that, I hope that every time the police stops or arrests anyone that is male or female and they possible gang connections that they are photographed, every tattoo is listed, "street name" is logged into a data base, and this information is kept up-to-date.
I also hope the police work with the schools and the parents teaching them how to identify gang members, initiation practices, etc. Also, hopefully, schools will start working on afterschool programs to get students off the streets and running these programs into the night.
Well said! gangs fueled by inept low enforcers. Why? because it's Brits against Jamaicans who are against Caymanians. Is there any reasons for the sudden retirements of local officers this year! 4 in September alone!
XXX
I don't care how many thumbs down you get, sir. You may not be the most eloquent of speakers, but your assesment is absolutley correct.
Agree with you 100%!
Commissioner Baines is to be commended for sharing the information he has done, but I suppose legal restrictions make it difficult for him to name names. For instance, of the 15 individuals he spoke of in 2009, 3 had been shot and killed, 2 are overseas, and some of the rest were sent to Northward, with some subsequently released. As a matter of public safety, could he possibly name those who were released, also those who have gone overseas? We would all sleep better knowing who these people might be. If he is legally constrained from doing so, it would be a pity.
Our young teenage boys should be all be enlisted in the Royal Army or Navy, This will teach them self control, obediance and self respect. I wonder if the Cayman Islands Government would even consider this as an option for Discipline.
Just turn the Cadet Corps into what it was envisioned tobe…
School kids. Cadets are mostly school kids , do you want to compromise their education and force them to become police officers? What kind of crooked reasoning is that? Get real man!!!
Why should Professional soldiers and sailors be forced to work alongside people who are forced to be there.
If they wanted to be there, had the moral fortitude and the motivation to do it, they would already be there.
If they fit the mould, assimilate into a very demanding and specific lifestyle then they are already doing it and putting themselves forward.
The rest …. well they are still rolling around on the pavement in Mary Street!
Keep your problems where they belong.
We don't want them.
We cannot use them.
We do not need them.
Please address your own social issues.
"All five of the murder victims this month were products of the Alternative Education Centre."
Excuse me, all five were products of their hopeless parenting/ upbringing which led them to a life at a very early age of defiance and total disregard of EVERYONE, including teachers and fellow students. THAT, repeat, THAT is why they ended up in AEC. AEC did NOT produce them and only Rolston and his " I haven't been in the classroom for years, thank God" clueless advisors could say such a thing. Oh and David Baines, of course.
So what do you plan to do about these parents? Use harsh language?
15:11: I am a Caymanian teacher in one of our government schools. Thank you 100% for your comment. We are terrified at the prospect of these types of kids returning to the mainstream and angry that decisions like this are made by 'educators' in the ministry who have not been in the classroom for many years and when they were there, they were there only a few years before being "promoted" to the Ministry.
Good point. Saying that you are the "product" of some institution suggests that it moulded and shaped you into what you have become. "Attended the AEC" would have been more neutral.
It is a definite plus that the identity of some of the membership of these gang punks is known. We take heart that at last some positive steps will be taken to remove them from decent people's normal activities. Time to go to work, RCIP!
It's such a shame that the issue of gangs wasn't taken seriously years ago. Hopefully it can be turned around now.
What they need are big L tattoos on their foreheads.. that way everyone knows who they are.. Gome on Boys time to REPRESENT bobos.
Truman's Bodden report 15-18 yeares ago said it was groups, not gangs. It has sure matured into a killing machine, and its lucky number is 13.
For the benefit of the community, would Mr. Baines be so kind as to ascertain the exact number of young men that were arrested, tagged and released and their neighbourhoods, please?
I am hoping that in doing so he will be able to offer the public some sense of justice in that an investigation was actually carried out, and not a witchhunt.
And having lived in West Bay and having the background that I have, I am most interested in hearing the details of the new revelation that this "gang war" originated from property and girlfriend disputes. Some elaboration on that is greatly appreciated also.
Kindest regards.
Wasn’t the individual who was shot and killed last year inside someone’s house wearing an electronic tag???? What purpose if any do these serve?
welp, that's proof then…he was at the scene of the crime.
No, he had removed it.
Well, this sames to be most positive news cast on handling these gangs thus far. It gives the public some hope in what the police are trying to do. I know the police can not reveal all their moves, but for awhile there it seemed they were not doing anything. After reading this article, I truly believe the police know who these gang members are and who the trigger men are, it's just a matter of getting enough proof to convict. Keep up the good work, RCIP. We are depending on you.
Betteradd two more gangs to that number called the UPD and PPM
AAAAMMMMEEEENNNN!!!!!!!! That was the same thing I thought. There is not one instance that I know about that shows the usefulness of that tag. Having worked in the Criminal Justice System, I know the idea is a good one, but the operation of the project is severely flawed. That is like ordering house arrest and giving the offender written permission to go to the store, the beach, visit the other half. You might as well slap them on the hands and turn them loose. Out electronic tagging operation will only work if some one monitors it properly and we still have to organise that.
do they sell Harry Potter style maps of the island that show us exactly where the bad guys are at any given time, so that we can make sure we are not nearby?
Just a well deserved plain,
THANK YOU RCIP.
Electronic tag placed on man's false leg
A pair of British-based security guards have been sacked after putting an electronic tag on an offender's false leg.
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Two security firm workers have put an electronic tag on a British offender's false leg.
The pair, who worked for company G4S, were sacked as a result of their error, which enabled the 29-year-old man from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, to remove his leg whenever he wanted to breach his court-imposed curfew.
The mistake only came to light when the man was arrested for driving while banned.
G4S was Group 4 Securicor, created by the merger of the two largest private security companies in the UK.
The company's UK prisoner handling track record is hardly impressive but Securicor are probably best known as being the parent company of Argenbright, whose employees failed to spot the weapons carried by the 9/11 hijackers.
What sayest thou Tru Tru?
I hope the police have included the 15 that have their headquarters in downtown GT.
They are robbing this country daily and contributing big time to the sinking of the ship that is Cayman almost as much as the street thugs.
I wish to commend the RCIPS for their recent hard work. It is very encouraging that the truth is being communicated (re 13 gangs) and that steps are in place to monitor the mouvement of such thus far. And I am certain that more to come. It does not surprise me that the many LOL and thumbs down are evident and I am also certain those are some of the same ones either complaining all the time or withholding seroius information. Please remember that *Someone is Always Watching You". I only wish now I could sign my name in Big Black Bold Letters. Better Belated then Never !
Can they not release photos so that everyone in the community knows who these guys are?
I second that motion!
What happened to the “15 gang members” and that “there are no gangs, only groups”? Now there’s 13 gangs with dozens of members, and its all completely out of control. Why have any faith in these meatballs?
If you read the article, you would see the explanation for the "15 gang members".
Thank you Mr. David Baines. Looks like you are the sling shot. Good work and keep it up.
I more or less take this as good news. The fact that Police are finally getting the FACTS, informing the PUBLIC and finally making a move forward (and INTO) their homes. Gonna sit back and wait for some RESULTS now.
That's 13 gangs too many
In essence this is a good thing. Now, please keep a close eye on these individuals!
I understand the legal ramifications of holding a man in a jail cell for over three days with no evidence of murder, but I must wonder (due to human rights) how many days can you allow an electronic tag placed on a person who is a mere suspect? Just curious.
thats the 'removable' electronc tags.. right????…..zzzzzzz
Better than nothing…they should throw anyone who's tag has been removed in prison!
… For ten years minimum!
The electronic tagging is very good news, people can now begin to feel safe from these wanna be gangsters. Thank you RCIPS keep them contained and away from creating havoc in the community. I just wish that the electronic tags could be replaced by micro chips with a direct link to CCTV which would show their every move.
You obviously have already forget about the Harry who removed his tag to go and committ a robbery at a persons home and ended up getting killed in the process…
And no the alarms bells did not go off when he removed it.
The micor chip idea is a good one though, perhaps it could also have a taser like function so that they are "zapped" when they go out of bounds.
No, we haven't forgotten…but your statments are completly WRONG…as will be found out in short order when the Coroner's inquest is finished…Mr. Baines' RCIPS will not come out looking very good on that on…
Triggermen or not, we trust the complicit collaboratorsare not insulated from prosecution should evidence emerge about their involvement in felony activity. Glad that the Police are finally willing to make housecalls.