MLA holds fire on police boss
Bernie Bush, West Bay MLA
(CNS): The deputy opposition leader and MLA for West Bay, Bernie Bush, has said that he will be holding off on filing a motion of no confidence in the commissioner of police (CoP) in the Legislative Assembly because of the planned legal action that his party leader, McKeeva Bush, is taking against the commissioner and others regarding his recent legal case. Bernie Bush said that he still believed that David Baines should be removed from office but until either the legal action is concluded or until the Finance Committee meets in May, Bush would not call for a debate in the parliament.
It is not clear if McKeeva Bush has yet filed the suits he has threatened against the top cop, the auditor general and the governor in connection with the charges that were brought against him regarding the use of his government credit card when he was premier but the opposition leader has stated publicly on a number of recent occasions that he plans to take action against those he believed conspired to bring a malicious prosecution against him.
Bush was acquitted of six counts of misconduct in a public office and five of breach of trust for using his government credit card to draw cash in casinos last October when he successfully demonstrated that there was no law, rule or regulation at the time which prevented him from using the card to do so.
During the trial correspondence between the police commissioner, the governor at the time and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office demonstrated an element of interference from the UK’s representative over the credit card issue as well as other police investigations into Bush’s affairs. Bush has said the charges and other police enquiries were all trumped-up allegations designed to oust him from public office.
Meanwhile, his West Bay political colleague, Bernie Bush, has held concerns regarding CoP David Baines’ ability to manage the RCIPS for some time, given the of annual budget of $36 million per year voted for the police by legislators in face of increasing crime.
“There are many residents of the Cayman Islands that believe that Police Commissioner David Baines and his deputy need to step down,” Bush stated. “David Baines and his deputy are unable to effectively perform the duties expected of the police commissioner, as evidenced by his approach of deflecting blame for their poor performance to poor parenting rather than poor policing strategies, and the recent upsurge of violence in the district of West Bay confirms his lack of understanding in managing crime in the Cayman Islands.”
Bernie Bush said he believed the people expect and deserve a police service that will uphold the law fairly and firmly, prevent crime, pursue and bring to justice those who break the law, keep
the peace, protect, help and reassure the community, and to be seen to do all this with integrity, common sense and sound judgment. But despite the ample budget for the police, they are not functioning effectively.
“Over the last several months there has been an unprecedented increase in crime that threatens the peace of these islands,” Bernie Bush said, pointing to the recent release of crime statistics. “While some of the increase in crime may be attributable to the state of the economy and other social factors, many residents believe that the strategies being employed by the senior management of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service are inadequate and ineffective in managing this scourge.”
Bush said the lack of an effective strategy, along with a catalogue of management errors, have left many residents of these islands with little or no confidence in the senior management of the
RCIPS and he expected more to be revealed as a result of McKeeva Bush’s legal action.
“The commissioner of police is no longer fit to manage the RCIPS,” he stated. “It is my understanding that the lawsuit by the Hon Leader of the Opposition as well as other events before the courts will further highlight the deficiencies of the police commissioner and the shortcomings of his management style and management policies, and as such I will delay my motion until the outcome of those events or until May when the House has Finance Committee meetings.”
Acknowledging North Side member Ezzard Miller, who has supported Bush on the issue and also raised significant concerns about police management, Bush said he would hold fire on the no confidence vote.
“In the interim, I call on all responsible civic groups to implore and encourage the governor to reconsider her earlier support and dismiss the commissioner of police and his deputy,” Bush stated, asking for them to be replaced with what he described as “competent individuals that will restore the public’s confidence in the RCIPS and return peace and order to the Cayman Islands”.
Bernie… Try so go sit down and shut up. Just another windbag. Truly disappointed in you. Maybe you should have worked harder with the “youths” as well instead of being a lackey.
We cannot blame the police with what is taking place in Cayman today. Sure they have their problems, but with a community who will not do their part, blaming the COP is not the right answer.
I recall a vote of no confidence in the with the last government…. They did not step Down either.
COP, hold your ground. I am not a fan of the English either, but I sure prefer them there than having the inmates run the asylum.
I wonder why Bernie Bush is blaming the Commissioner for our owe mistakes. WE are to blame for this crime of our youth. Growing up we had to be in bed by 8pm and if we were acting up we got the BELT yes the BELT. t did not kill us it made us respect rules and authority. Today discipline at home is lacking . We the community, Churches , Politian’s have to get on board to get back to basics . The Police is as good as the People they work for, yes they have management issues but that is a hold other story.
Parents are to be blamed for the majority of problems with young people these days. The children have no upbringing, they’re not taught respect, honesty, and decency. They don’t know the benefits of working for anything, instead everything is handed to them on a silver platter and they grow up thinking the world owes them!
The police, the social worker, the Church, the government did not give birth to these children, they are NOT their responsibility. They ARE the responsibility of the men and women who bring them in this world and raise them. DO NOT expect the police or Church or social services or government to clean up the parents mess. Raise your children to be responsible, decent, respectful people who are not afraid of working and stop blaming the police!
Isn’t Bernie Bush the one who got that boat to anchor at Stingray City? What’s up with that?
Bernie, find something else to get attention from before the next election, this attack the police campaign is a dead duck.
Whenever you see a man who gives someone else’s alleged corruption someone else’s alleged prejudices as a reason for not taking action himself, you see a cog in the machine that governs us. This cowboy and all you little disciples need to go! Please take the rest of his back a yard crew with him too. They have this place in a real dire situation.
As far as I can tell, Bernie Bush is not blaming the Commissioner or RCIPS for the casues of crime – his campaign is focussed on the ineffectiveness of the RCIPS, under Commissioner Baines, to curb serious crime and for deflecting the issue to the matter of social issues, poor parenting etc. This seems reasonable. In which case, most posters seem to have missed the point entirely, in favour of partisan commentary.
Clearly RCIPS is not performing its mandate to the degree required – statistics prove that. So in that case, as is usual in organizations, failure of the organization reflects the failure of its leadership. Hence Bernie’s call for the departure of Commissioner Baines. I say the sooner the better!
I wonder who put him up to this? Bernie, please go back to sleep if you don’t have anything sensible to say. Spouting off nonsense like this is only making things worse. The problem is not the police it is the broken social system (ie poor education, lack of parenting, lack of any rehabilitation for drug addicts, etc). Speak up about the people protecting the gang bangers who are running around shooting at each other and killing innocent bystanders if you want things to change.
Oh Dear, Bernie is a great guy, but he really doesn’t have a clue does he
There are many people responsible for the level of crime, none more so than the one who infamously stated that “there are no gangs in Cayman”, despite having been warned repeatedly by those involved in Education at the time. The Commissioner of Police is not one of those responsible. Clean up your own back yard first Bernie.
It must be de Englishman fault, not ours!
Instead of walking through his District trying to convince his fellow West Bayers to come forward and give evidence, this is where Bernie wants to waste his (and the LA’s!) time?
People like Bernie, Mac and a catalogue of others have some serious nerve.
Shall we revisit the UDP’s last administration and amend the following quote?
“There are many residents of the Cayman Islands that believe that Mac Bush needs to step down.” “Mac and his party are unable to effectively perform the duties expected of them, as evidenced by their approach of deflecting blame for their poor performance to the PPM, the Governor and a slew of UK conspiracy theories, meanwhile the Cayman Islands are crumbling and all they can do is galavant around the world gambling with our future”.
It is YOUR District Bush, your approach to supposed “Leadership” and poor parenting that have caused the problems that now plague YOUR District.
It is YOUR electorate that choose to remain silent and it is YOUR electorate that are killing each other left, right and center.
YOU need to get your head checked, it is beyond comprehension how you can spout such utter BS.
You are all a complete embarrassment to our Islands.
spot on…
here here. I like Bernie on a personal level, but he has lost his mind if he truly believes that the crime problems in Cayman come down to bad policing.
You are obviously PPM
I am not the person you are replying to, and I am not a PPM supporter either, but you are obviously an idiot!
Agree!
Let me tell you this SSM345 you can hide your identity but I don’t have to hide mine . I am Alicia Burke From Jamaica and I am a Jamaican . I fully disagree with you on the views you have on Bernie Bush ……I can attest to his character being a Jamaican . …..
And to go a bit further I can stand before God and man and attest to Bernie Bush character and integrity …..can you do the same for High rank police you are defending!!!!! …..how does that sound ?????.
I’m calling for a motion of no confidence in the CIOC accounts.
Its not the polices fault that your children are POS it is your parenting over the last 2 decades and your $ grab thinking dollars will make it all better well it wont.
$ will not fix a broken heart mind or soul.
And you continue to mess the place up today. The workers you import from third worlds think only of survival. They benefit from modernization not your children.
Most of Bernie’s supporters will never vote for him again if he tries to get rid of the Chief of Police who openly said that we need to give a break to the youts dem wid de boom draw. Hell, McKeeva might even get voted out if he goes after him now.
feeling physically sick after listening to bernie on rooster this morning….the wonderland type hypocrisy is truly staggering….
Rooster makes me sick also and ruins my day. Listening to the opinions of people that have no clue
I no longer listen to that foolishness on the radio, those do-nothings clucking like hens with just about the same smarts. Of course they blame the police so they don’t need to hold the lousy parenting who happen to be voters.
Bernie defended the use of the term “driftwood” and inexplicably compared indigenous Caymanians to the Aborigines of Australia, and the First Nations of Canada which he felt were modern success stories in the way they extracted sheltered benefits from their tax-paying countrymen. Suggesting in a tirade that Born Caymanians, such as himself and his son (returning from a day shopping trip to Miami) shouldn’t have to wait in line at the airport behind Permanent Residents and Naturalised Citizens, or as he automatically assumed, ‘permit holders’, that supposedly show no due respect to his sea-faring lineage in taking the wrong line. No serving MLA should be taking up hours of their paid workweek to broadcast their imbecilic retaliatory bigotry belief system on the radio. Wasting 10 mins promising some old lady more chairs for her church auditorium, better curbs, and verbalizing the inconsequential minutia they spend hours of our money focused on instead of the 800lb gorillas in the room, and that is not a slur. Worse are Ezzard and Arden lamenting how ‘nobody listens to them’, in their on air admissions of uselessness. Who are their campaign managers?!? How much are we paying these people?
I can hear what you say about the radio foolishness and if you believed the entire country was that addle brained you would loose hope across the board in the future of the country.
Do not fear most people simply turn it off.
The colossal ignorance continually displayed on the rooster is staggering, especially from some frequent MLA’s
There are many residents of the Cayman Islands that believe that Bush and his cronies need to step down, but that never got us anywhere either.
If the CIG provided an even half-decent education to these youths, and their parents provided a half-decent upbringing, and if the youths were taught how to deal with the various issues and problems they will face in their lives, perhaps we wouldn’t need the Police to clear up the mess. I am not saying the Police are blameless, but it does seem to me that the politicians prefer to point the finger and blame anyone but themselves for their own obvious failings to their own people.
The lack of parenting is the reason for the crime. The police aren’t babysitters.
When you have 8 year olds turning up to school high on drugs, girls becoming “baby mommas” for thugs in and out of jail – is it the fault of the police??? Get real Bernie. Where have you and the rest of the politicians been???? Do we see you and the rest of the elected out pounding the pavement- really getting to know who your voters are and what the problems are? – and not just at voting time???? How’s about putting together some work programs to employ people at a good wage to help them out???? I see a lot of garbage in the bush along the roads and overgrown areas that need cleaning up. What about those low life’s hanging around the public playgrounds that need to be fixed up and those that hang around the West Bay beach all day – doing nothing?????? This island is going to Hell in a hand basket – the crime is affecting all aspects of life here. $$$$$$ spent on gambling, first class travels, ….. need I say more?
Right on!
Why work when Social Services will support them?