Cop protection costs for editor queried
David Legge
(CNS): The RCIPS has refused to comment on the security detail it reportedly arranged for the editor of a local newspaper in Cayman at the weekend or whether or not a threat assessment had been carried out over the statement made by the premier accusing him of treason. Independent MLA Ezzard Miller noted in the LA that David Legge and his wife, Vicki, had reportedly been given 24-hour protective guard by the RCIPS before they flew to a location in the United States on Saturday, while he cannot get any coverage in North Side despite the real and rising crime there.
It is not clear if the Legges, the owners of The Cayman Compass, had returned to the island Monday and questions to the police about where the threat was coming from went unanswered, as the commissioner told CNS he could not comment on any “security matters that RCIPS undertakes”.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly Monday, Miller said he wanted to record his “disgust” when he was told the police did not have adequate resources to police his community properly but he immediately found resources to protect the Compass editor and his wife. Miller said he found that “difficult to accept”.
On Friday Premier Alden McLaughlin took aim at the editor and the paper in general for accusing the entire population of Cayman of being corrupt, as emotions ran high over the damage Cayman is facing in the fallout from the FIFA probe. The football scandal is causing considerable negative attention for Cayman, not just because of the allegations being made against the former local football boss, Jeffrey Webb, and his role in the alleged racketeering but local institutions as well.
In an editorial on Friday the Compass appeared to point the finger of blame regarding corruption at everyone. However, Legge failed to answer questions sent by CNS about the intent of the editorial.
On Monday in a headline news report about the premier’s statement, several days after the rest of the local press had already reported the full details, the editor told his own reporter that Alden McLaughlin’s speech was ironic as the editorial was addressing the need to eliminate corruption in Cayman and the premier had campaigned on the issue during the election.
Legge also aligned himself with the UK prime minister when he said the editorial “was in perfect harmony with” David Cameron’s speech to the heads of the G7 countries at the latest global economic meeting this weekend. The editor denied that his editorial was aimed at the people but a general observation about corruption. Nevertheless, he requested police protection, apparently seeing some threat beyond the usual bluster and criticism of the press from politicians, which is long standing and part and parcel of the job.
The police would not state where the threat was coming from and whether an assessment to establish how real the perceived threat by the editor was or exactly who would pose a physical threat to the Legges.
Category: Local News, Media
What a self righteous little drama queen Mr Legge is. If he is so concerned about the image of the Cayman Islands why did he run squealing to the NY Times. Who would even waste time in threatening this has been. The editorial bias of his paper is clear for all who want to see it. While there is nothing wrong with recognizing the ills of society he should remember how he got his start here.
Next on the list will be an investigation into corruption within the RCIPS if they are not able to provide verifiable and credible evidence of a threat against the life of Mr. Legge.
Good riddance!
Hope he don’t even think about coming back here ever again.
And other people like him, who have such scorn for the people of the Cayman Islands, can follow Legge’s example and leave also. Please.
His recent interview he asserts that he’ll be returning the islands, he just don’t know when as this decision (to return) hinges on the the degree of local tensions.
I suppose he meant that he will return as soon as local tensions subside.
He is always very well dressed.
You know 8:52, that may be more significant than we think : the emphasis on appearances os often a mask. Same thing with the Compass itself — all about appearances while failing in the substance department. But you can fool some of the people, etc., etc.
It’s “crazy”, isn’t it? 😉
In a lot of countries the punishment for treason is “off with your head”.At least David, having “legged” it can console himself that the Cayman Islands have abolished capital punishment.
Good riddance! In the interest of national stability they should arrange to keep the ole Peg Legge offshore for good but not on the public’s dime. Do us a real favor COP, send Mac up there to keep him company during his exilement.
Nicky and Wendy: Given the various issues that are surfacing in all of this-“treason’, the driftwood thing v the 4th/7th/10th generation blah blah thing, freedom of speech, maturity of our elected members given their response to the Compass, possible impact abroad of yet another attempt to bully the local press, dumping massively on Legge but saying very little about what the world is really looking at us for, etc etc….could you not do a Viewpoint and let us know the CNS view, and, in particular, what you both think of the quality of the huge number of comments you have received. For what it is worth, I think an objective reader from outside of Cayman would surmise that we have a very troubled, divisive, divided, defensive, sometimes racist sometimes tolerant, unhappy society.
You obviously haven’t looked at the comments section in any publication, on any subject, in any other part of the world. Anonymous b*tching is what the Internet is for!
Your last sentence sums it up very well.
What a wussy ole!
As a born Caymanian I have to say thank you to our Premier. Far too long have we been labled as a corrupt offshore tax haven. Just take a good look at the United Kingdom and the United States Of America. Two countries that have on many occassions invaded other countries and for what. Just so they can get their hands on those countries riches example OIL. I SAY WHICH TWO COUNTRIES ARE MORE CORRUPT.
What we as a people and as Caymanians need to do is come together and stop fighting our own. If we work together we will surely achieve amazing things so that all Caymanians will reap a piece of the pie as it’s called. And one last and final thing why is it that 99.9% of the comments posted online never have names. I ASK YOU ALL THIS QUESTION, WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF ITS YOUR COUNTRY. Stand up for your rights. ONCE AGAIN THANK YOU MR. PREMIER MR. MCLAUGHLIN FOR STANDING UP FOR US CAYMANIANS.
Here are two tips. One, stop the rampant corruption in the local economy. Two, stop being a focus of elaborate and aggressive tax avoidance. Then the world will go away,
let’s start with ireland, london, delaware, hong kong bla bla bla
Hopefully you will too…ungrateful wretch!!
The only thing I see wrong with his departure is that he did not take scruffy Barefoot Man with him. If the Caymanian people are the evil that he says we are then I don’t understand why he took so long to leave. He turned out to be a true whimp. Good riddance!!
Sammi blue, I feel your pain, but unfortunately, I don’t think the departure is permanent. Lol
With his salary he should be made to hire his own security. COP, just a wine friend favor at our expense.
As a born and bred Caymanian (fourth generation) I have to say that corruption is “much more rampant” in the Cayman Islands that I thought and much more than we would want to believe.
If someone had told me that Jeff Webb was being investigated by the DOJ, FBI and IRS three months ago, I would say they are absolute liars and only want to give a “bad rap” to a Caymanian who rose to the top of a big organization like FIFA. I actually read through the indictment which is about 163 pages long. With three years of investigations before the charges/indictments were filed, their are specific dates, times, locations and named individuals, who are alleged to be involved in corruption. While Jeff and others are innocent until proven guilty, the indictment left my head spinning as if I was in space.
When it was announced about a year or so ago; that Canover Watson was arrested and charged for alleged corruption in connection with the insurance swipe card at HSA, (he is still innocent until proven guilty) if someone told me this was going to happen to him a year prior, I would say, they are all lying on him and trying to bring down an educated and aspiring Caymanian.
The Bible says that money is the root of all evil; and it’s evident that it has destroyed many countries and it’s citizens around the world. Corruption comes in many forms but at the end of the day it all boils down to criminal activity and greed. Whether it’s in Government, the private sector or individual(s) taking it upon their own.
I think of places like South Africa who produces most of the worlds diamonds but yet we see many of their citizens living in absolute poverty. Why is this ?
Nigeria is a country that produces much of the world’s petroleum but yet it’s citizens are now lined up at gas stations and can’t even get fuel to drives their vehicles. Why ?
Venezuela is one of the richest countries in South America with it’s petroleum wealth, yet it’s citizens can’t even find food in the supermarkets and toilet paper to clean their behinds with. Why ?
In 2000 I traveled to Washington DC and took in all the sights up there. When we were driving out of Washington DC, (about three quarter of a mile from the White House) I saw a large group of people congregated at the side of the road. I wondered what was going on. I found out later that it was a “soup kitchen” for the homeless people. I was shocked that the richest and most powerful country in the world, would have homeless people right next door to the White House. Why ?
Even more closer to the White House, just go to their Veteran Affairs Administration building and you will see veterans sitting on the ground at the front door, begging for money and in need of shelter. Why are these heroes sitting on the ground outside the VA building and are homeless ? Could it be that someone in government, was getting a “kick back” from the contract money that should have been spent on housing, clothing and meals for them ?
Years later I went to downtown London where their vehicle garages absolutely stank of urine and feces from the homeless people who slept and lived there. I saw people inside these garages shivering from the frigid cold outside. Could it be that some private contractor and politician were rapped up in corruption deal, that deprived these poor people of housing and basic necessities for a normal life ?
Yes I know that many of these people are drug addicts and drunks, but at the end of the day, these are our fellow people and if individual(s) profiting from the less fortunate; in my opinion it amounts to immorality and corruption.
For the record, the editorial in the Caymanian Compass which has all the politicians up in arms, in my opinion, speaks the truth, for which the majority of Caymanians don’t want to hear or would wish is not true.
While I may have a few hairs on my behind, you definitely won’t find any feathers there and I’m certainly not an ostrich who puts my head in the sand.
4:23 pm: I haven’t read most of this long epistle so I am not sure it improved. Again, no one is saying there is no corruption or even that there is not a lot of it. But don’t tell me that I would not recognise corruption because I am so culturally seeped in it. That kind of thinking and wholesale labeling could never be right.
And, by the way, when you label a whole population group it smacks of racism.
Some of the people in your little example are Caymanians by paper. Not the same thing as a “real Caymanian”. So I was told by a paper Caymanian.
A sure sign the apocalypse is upon us…WTF?!?!?
If Governer Helen Kilpatrick or RCIPS Commissioner David Baines gave the order to grant overnight RCIPS protection to David Legge and his wife Vicki the FCO need to terminate their appointments immediately.
This is a true insult to all Caymanians and both are a major part of the negative publicity the Cayman Islands will get. Is that the agenda from Whitehall? Their actions are best described as a waste of limited resources and an abuse of office to protect a friend while attempting to make every Caymanian look like a rampaging hooligan. Enough is enough they gots to go because the people have lost confidence in them both and they obviously do not know who we are!
CNS, you made a statement that “the Legges, the owners of the Compass……
Can you indeed verify that they are the owners?
CNS: No. But they say they are.
Really folks we all know who owns the Compass and it’s not the drama queens~ I for one am appalled at the Legges’ theatrics and question just how long David will continue to dangle on the puppet strings with this type of drama…really can we get back to taking care of our Beautiful Islands and the people who strive to make ends meet, need police help on occasion and leave this nonsense where it belongs…….wrapped up in todays newspaper and tossed in the trash……what a joke these Muppets be……
So enlighten the rest of us, who haven’t seen the Shareholders Agreement…….
Are you saying Mr. Dart controls the Compass?
Just like half of the businesses in Cayman.
Go on the General Registry, pay your $30 and find out for yourself.
You really are disconnected from reality if you believe registers of shareholders bear any relevance to who actually owns many companies operating in the Cayman Islands.
David Legge is a drama queen.
Actually, Alden is the one that threw the big hissy fit in the Legislative Assembly and accused Legge of “treason”. One would expect a lawyer to know to choose words more carefully. Not a peep out of Mr. Transparency during the week after FIFA indictment and now he’s campaigning to shut down FOI!? I’m definitely Team Legge on this one.
So it’s alright for an elected official to scream and shout at a civil servant over reimbursement of a personal phone bill but a story in the newspaper elicits this kind of a response from the premier? Why wasn’t he this upset with his friend a few short months ago?
You can add the Chief Officer to that example as well, or you deliberately left that out? Hmmmmm I wonder why?!
Its simple, McLaughlin has the same hatred of expats and driftwood and the other “honorable” member.
Wow! You have somehow turned an inflammatory racist article showing contempt for Caymanians from Legge into racism by the Premier.
great, maybe you should call Baines and Kilpatrick and ask for a private plane too..
You dropped the bomb good fr you
poor response from cns….you would expect some solidarity amongst members of the free media in cayman…especially after an irrational vindictive attack from premier alden who is too afraid to give press conferences…..
Why? Legge has devoted considerable effort to attacking CNS since acquiring the Compass and certainly very little in the way of relation building. CNS is well regarded because it does not engage in a daily onslaught of self-absorbed, self-promoting editorials and sticks to actual reporting of the news.
3:41 pm: while I hardly think that CNS is reporting on this issue as any sort of payback — I have greater trust in its integrity than that, I do like your turn of phrase in the second sentence. Bingo. On point!
No CNS just reports on when Ezzard or Arden has a fart.
CNS has a job to do — to report an important story. I don’t see CNS taking sides — CNS is reporting what happened and allowing all sides involved to express relevant views, including Legge, etc. That is what journalism is all about.
CNS has also allowed the public on all sides of the issue to express views and to do so anonymously. I thank CNS for that, as I have my own reasons for being anonymous — not that I am afraid per se of persons knowing my views on this issue.
Legge’s response to this little matter has been over the top, pathetic and ridiculous. A total joke. And the fact that he has been supported in his delusions by the CoP is just nuts. He has taken his extreme right wing faux news conspiracy and persecution complex to Ted Nugent levels. He deserves all the derision that he is attracting to himself by these nonsensical actions.
not really…. its no fun when you are targeted by a caymanian politician….and as we have seen recent years…there is no such thing as justice in caymanian courts……
Oh please. Just give it up. No one is remotely afraid of the PPM and there was nothing in Alden’s sermon to warrant even the slightest trepidation (unless the Compass is a house of cards built entirely on govt advertising revenue). Legge is being totally theatrical but certainly won’t win any awards.
Too true – just ask Derek Haines what it feels like when an MLA takes aim at you.
Are you kidding me? THE Derek Haines**? Run out of Dodge by a mere district representative? And who, pray, was this part-time Mugabe, able to wield such unfettered power and intimidation?
(**Note to the humourless/easily outraged: For the avoidance of doubt, the sarcasm herein conveyed is in NO way directed at Mr. Haines, whose strength of character, dedicated police service and extensive charitable good deeds are hereby fully acknowledged and much appreciated. Thank you sir. We could really use your services again.)
When the premier plays to the weak-minded, there is reason for concern.
Indeed it would be. Thankfully that is not the case here.
Why am I not surprised? You rub my back, I rub hours.
Is it payback time for all the stories that seemed to be presenting the CoP in a positive light? And the failure to call him to task in editorials about some CoP’s decisions with very serious ramifications? Not good at all for appearances.
And does not the Compass have a responsibility to shine the light on the police as everywhere else to improve things? Much too much cosiness going on here.
I don’t expect the CoP to discuss operational security details, but what is preventing him from responding to the questions as to whether his officers had made a threat assessment before providing the security detail for a private citizen. Should I deduce that he did not? Why the evasiveness? Why the shadowiness?
Just another example of what is wrong in the society — it is who you know and the position you hold that secures benefits.
The whole thing smacks of the kinds of shadowy transactions that spawns corruption.
Just another example of what is wrong in the society – the tendency to jump to conclusions. According to Legge the Governor instructed it. What do you expect the CoP to do, say hang on, I need to conduct a risk assessment?
Are you really so clueless that you think this request would not either have been supported by the CoP or that the Governor would have sought his input and risk assessment before authorising this? But I understand: depending on your country origin some people are above question here. Had this involved Caymanians you would have been asking for their heads.