Only three locals make grade for prison jobs
HMP Northward
(CNS): In the most recent recruitment drive for the prison service, although there were more than 80 local applicants, the director said he was only able to employ three of them. With a significant number of local applicants failing to turn up for the interview process, more falling at the first hurdle of the written test or failing the fitness test, just four locals made it on to the induction course. Prison Director Neil Lavis told Finance Committee that one of those did not make it through the eight-week basic training.
Facing significant staff problems at present, not just because of the struggles to recruit new officers but as a result of a spate of dismissals and suspensions due to several internal probes, Lavis explained to Finance Committee recently why so few local people had been hired in the latest recruitment drive
Answering questions about HMP Northward and the prisons services’ $10.7 million budget, he said the latest round of recruitment of officers the prison, which is the highest paid uniformed service, attracted more than 260 applicants from home and abroad. Lavis said 83 applicants were Caymanian but a large number of those 83 did not turn up for the interview when invited. Of those that did, he said, some did not make it through the basic literacy and numeracy or the stressful scenario test, while others were simply not fit enough.
He said four made it through all the tests and the full interview process with ten other overseas applicants. But one inductee didn’t complete the training course, and although given the chance to take the induction course again, the applicant had declined the offer, Lavis told the committee.
Cayman Islands Prison Director Neil Lavis
Ezzard Miller, the independent member for North Side, asked for the details of the fitness test and queried why the prison was rejecting locals because of fitness levels. He said people could be given time to improve their physical ability as it was possible to “train people to be fit”, especially if they were falling just short, as he had heard was the case with some failed recruits.
However, Lavis pointed out that once recruits are on the staff they need to meet a minimum fitness criteria immediately because of the work they do. He said the test was not taxing and included sit ups and push-ups, an agility test running around cones, as well as a mile run in ten minutes. He explained that officers may have to run quickly from one end of the prison compound to another in an emergency situation, and while that might not be a mile, when they arrives at what would could be a dangerous altercation they needed to have the physical fitness to be able to deal with that threat after running to the incident.
The director indicted that the physical fitness of the entire staff was important to officer and inmate safety and waiting for people to reach a reasonable level of fitness was a risk the service could not take.
Lavis confirmed that the overseas recruits did not all have previous correctional experience but some had been in military service or the security sector. He said they had made every effort to recruit locals but the vast majority of original applicants simply failed to show up for the interview.
Category: Government Finance, Politics, Prison
From reading many of these posts, can everyone see how the caymanians blame is passed onto everyone else? No accountability. No responsibility for one’s own actions. No skills. Where would these people be if they did not import their labour force? The expat community is the life blood of this island. If they stepped up to the plate and left their poor excuses and poor work ethic at home, I might begin to take them seriously. ?
I think we should have a numeracy and literacy test for our politicians. Maybe then we wouldn’t enter into so many bad deals with private entities and maybe the govt accounts will make sense.
Are we are supposed to be surprised or shocked by this?
If fitness is the issue then I would love to see many of their current prison officers complete this as I guarantee many officers currently working there would not be able to complete these requirements so it is biased and unfair not to at least give them a chance to get to the required level of fitness.
They can if they plan for the next recruitment drive and in the meantime do something about their fitness.
That’s just what Cayman needs, advice from a robbers dog.
That’s the Caymanian way for you right there.
Apply and then be unprepared for failure and fail, instead of prepare to succeed, apply, succeed and be successful.
And that’s why you’re a losers wife, and not a winners.
I was at the AGM for Ocean Club recently and the female prison officer that I saw sitting on their Board of Directors, a paid position, certainly did not look like someone who could run a 10 minute mile nor chase down a prisoner and subdue him.
However, she was not a Caymanian applicant answering a recruitment ad so she did not have to. No double standard here.
This is a true example of the result of the failed education and social facets of our society – the very foundation!
It is the legacy of our “prosperity” of the late 1970’s and 1980’s!! When the political majority elected “leaders” who hijacked our true, planned and paced development of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s for the quick dollars and instituted their perceived “expertise” into governing a country by introducing ineptness and un-professionalism into, and by bullying integrity, capability and efficiency out of the public system! It is the legacy of good governance being taken over by nepotism, favour, greed and worse! It is the legacy of the introduction of Caymanian “entitlement” mentality amongst many of that time, and their children! It is the legacy of a very clearly failed education system in general and poor administration throughout the public service since the late 1970’s!!
But worst of all, every Government in general since those pivotal days (and yes, we did go off the cliff) has largely followed that model, instead of steering us away from that poisoned legacy! In the past 40 years, only a few individual leaders in various Governments have deserved the honor of being put in that position of public trust.
As a people, Caymanians have facilitated our own decline by perpetuating that type of political and social culture!!
This should be soul-searching for all Caymanians but particularly hurtful for those who tried to make a difference during those times, and their children. They saw the the true direction those “leaders” of the day were taking Cayman but they were in the minority then. Sadly, those kind of Caymanians remain in the minority today!!
Maybe the applicants heard experience with bars and applied…
Here we go again this was another corruption to fail locals lets face it Cayman they already have there people set aside to hold these posts. You want to hear the truth it will never get better until we have the right people in place who care about us also get rid of those who fail to recruit locals as far as I see it every Dept. of government should have ales no less than ninty five percent Caymanians if you cant find them train them poor excuse you heard what the prison head say he should be fired straight away prayed off, Why he already repeating the bad habits of pass managements please listen and read what he said its ashamed .
12:19, according to some of our politicians, you are ready for appointment to any number of posts in the Civil Service, judging by your attitude and your illiteracy. Expect a call from Ezzard.
Incoherent mumbojumo.
From what I can make out of your rant, you appear to be an exact example of the literary and social studies failures that the country is perpetuating. Without an education level equal to the developed world how can you expect a 95% Caymanian Civil Service to deal with the rest of the world. By your stubborn refusal to look at the problems you are making the problems worse.
Moron.
You are right. This was a conspiracy by the UK, FCO,the Governor and the illuminati who forced all applicants to eat heavy cake years ago and get them to develop a work shy attitude.
I take it that is why you used a form of errant, grammarless cypher code to disguise your post and identity.!
Is this a good example of a run-on sentence?
It could pass the running test, but maybe not the literacy one. Hey, at least it showed up!
I sm sooooo glad immigration incompetently messed up my residency and booted me. What a country!
Pretty sad. Not much else to say. Maybe the unemployed adult population who have nothing else to do all day should exercise and attend school over again.
What we need is a Caymanian prison director then all the applicants will show up.
No, 8:56, we had that already (and a Caymanian as Deputy also who went on to the Protocol Office, may still be there) and the applicants didn’t show up but in addition, many of the inmates ran off from the prison, repeatedly, which is why we started getting furriners many years ago.
‘Refreshments will be served’ would have made all the difference
I wasn’t aware of the opening, I would love to apply. Maybe next time.
I would ask the NWDA/Labour to scrutinize the 80 local applications and make their own findings public. Strange how recruits from some countries who are common labourers can find their way into employment at HMSP over the years and Lavis is saying only 4 persons were selected from a pool off 80.
If fitness was one of the causes for being disqualified he has an issue within his confines.
It wasn’t that all of the over 80 weren’t fit, but that a lot of them didn’t bother to show up for the interview, and some of those that did couldn’t read or do math well enough. Only some of the ones who did show and did pass the test were then judged not fit enough.
Only 4 out of 80 made it to the induction course. Now the leadership of the country will harass them to lower their standards to fit the level of applicants.
The Premier does not “endorse” recruitment based on merit and objective standards. Where one’s daddy is from is far more important.
Now there you are quite wrong my driftwood friend. As any good Caymanian knows, the correct question is, always and without exception, “Who ya MAMA is?”
I suspect the OP was trying to avoid the use of pidgin.
Didn’t we lower our standards to let in Shetty Doctors and Medical Staff. Huh I hear none of them has a full license they were all issued in protest of the CIMDA. That’s lowering our standards. So what’s your point again?!
CIMDA didn’t complain about the $500,000 cap on their members’ liabilities that came with the Shetty package.
Ezzard Miller dont you think if someone is applying for such a job they would prepare them selves by getting fit before the interview. Before I became a police officer I spent one year getting my fitness levels up to speed. Surely it shows the first step in commitment or do you think we shoukd just hire based on nationality alone.
I would have to hear the other side of this story , the 83 applicant’s , out of 83 only a few continued . This sounds too much like the Chiefs budget hearing he just made .
We have someone from NWDA working with us on a temp basis, She has been with us a month and so far she has used more sick days than everyone else in the department put together.
well it has been raining a lot recently
And that is the reduced grade for locals. It is not even the proper grade.
All locals? Don’t be an ass. Even as an expat, I can still look at this situation and see it for what it is. The actions of a few does not represent the many.
The way you are generalizing only proves the point that some Caymanians are saying about some of us expats being bias and racist.
I have been here for five years, and I have found these people to be the nicest in the Caribbean. Trust me, I know. Worked in many other territories. But I am afraid from what I am hearing, from both sides, this is going to change, and not for the better.
So please do not come on here and use anonymity to hide behind when making comments as such.
You are quite stupid. There was no generalisation in the post referring to “all locals”. So stop setting up a straw man argument (Google that since you won’t know what it is). The empirical evidence from the story about the recruitment process reflects the problems facing those trying to get many of the local unemployed into employment.
You mean like you have?
You obviously need to be here longer than 5 years my friend to start making judgements on how the work process functions on Cayman. If you think this is the first episode of this kind, then you are delusional, it happens to almost every potential employer, every day!
The RCIPS had the same, so do most of the hotels, even Ezzard found that few, if any, turned up to his much vaunted jobs drive.
This isn’t a generalisation, it’s a clear pattern of behaviour and claims of racism are not going to alter the fact that it is real.
By the way, Caymanian does not denote a race of people, it merely describes national identity, the official citizenship being British. There are many differing races making up the Caymanian people, (the original settlers being white British) but you’ve been here for 5 years, you should know that by now.
Please take your left wing, knee jerk response to anything that questions or criticises such a pattern back home to your politically correct utopia.
And you’re not the only one to have travelled around other territories or continents. Cayman is without doubt one of the safest and more stable, but it does have a pernicious entitlement culture that is based on greed, envy and nationalism. Again, not a generalisation of a people, but a serious underlying issue that is identified in this particular case.
And before you get on your high horse in regard to anonymity, try practicing what you preach.
more hurdles for caymanian employment in ezzards eyes, first hurdle is having to send in an application then have to inconvenience you self further. then take simple tests. how are we going to get employed with all these barriers.
everything is geared to the expat that try and show enthusiasm for a job and have the time to go to interviews.
Ezzard failed to show up for a scheduled interview for a job as General Manager at the National Trust when I was working there a few years back. Ask him to deny it.
Are you sure?
Ezzard is far too honourable a gentleman to ever inconvenience his fellow Caymanians by making them wait in vain to show up for a job interview that he agreed to, then simply not show up. Is he not?
I later heard that he only applied to make sure a Caymanian got the job. I guess that makes it OK.
Maybe in Ezzards books. To the rest of the world, that looks like small town bigotry, and bad manners.
Where oh where is the LOL button?!
So come on Ezzard do tell why you failed to let them know you were not turning up for the interview.
yep…this is what the private sector has to put up with when they are forced into employing locals……
All locals are alike?! I think not. But you prove what some locals say about us being bias against them.
And the problems when you have to recruit a minimum quota to appease the mighty Immigration. It is welfare really.
who said locals were lazy and workshy?????
Not all are but there without doubt are issues of why people think its ok not to turn up for interview, or think they need not prepare for interview and then bitch when they cant get jobs. They of course are enabled by the ignorant politicians who champion their cause and assume their birthright for a job.
Please note nobody said how many didn’t turn up. And those who didn’t could have had good reason, who knows, did anyone follow up to find our why, seems that would be some good HR moves, if you wanted to know why. But we get ruled out for anything these days!!
Why the hell should HR be messing around with people who cannot be bothered to turn up? If they had a good reason then they were responsible for informing the authorities.
What is it with Caymanians who think that they should be lead by the nose everywhere? Think and act responsibly, that is a prerequisite of any job in law enforcement.
It does say a “large number”. But lets say you are right, and its 1 person that didn’t attend. Ok, so of the 79 that didn’t make it from the 83 that applied, that means you have 78 people that cannot pass a basic numeracy and literacy test, or are so unfit they cannot run 1 mile in 10 minutes. and why do employers have to chase down people who apply for a job and don’t show for interview? If you want the job and have a reason you cannot make the interview, don’t you contact them and ask to reschedule? “Ruled out for anything” my foot.
I am sure the 85 that didn’t show up, or didn’t pass is not an accurate representation of the entire population. Lets put this in perspective shall we….
Those individuals that applied for these posts are more than likely those that can’t get a job anywhere else, aka “unemployable” so it is no surprise here.
Never the less, it is in the interest of us all that they do find employment at some point as we know what idle hands end up doing. This is where the Government is failing. Not because it is the responsibility of Government to spoon feed lazy individuals, but instead have a system in place whereby there is a social net that captures these people, give them the opportunity to learn some skill (and attitude adjustment) so they stand a real chance of finding work.
Instead, government after government have only used the promise of trade schools to sweeten the deal for election purposes.
I am the first to admit that it is up to the individual to get off their ass and make something out of themselves, not the government. BUT as with any government in any democracy, social responsibility of the state is to ensure that society isn’t plagued with this very same mentality that has taken root in SOME of our people. Government is to facilitate prosperity at ALL levels of society.
Well said.
Please answer why you believe that the job of a professional Prison Officer should attract those who are unemployable?
That is the most patronising statement I have heard for a long time.
What it demonstrates is a total lack of understanding of the role by you and the idiots who thought it would be a free ride and an easy shoe in for a Caymanian.
Thank god we have a very professional UK officer leading the service, otherwise it would be utter chaos. He isn’t prepared to go down the road of the best of the worst, he wants the best he can get. And for the safety of the public, I for one am glad he is.
I’m not saying the service doesn’t have issues, but that’s what you get when you don’t employ the best for the job and rely on staff who are incompetent, (or from third world countries) to look after your internal security.
Calm down. The poster draws the inference that they are unemployable not because of the job itself, but because the “vast majority” of applicants did not attend for interview, indicating that they didn’t really want the job. Your calling the poster an idiot is rather patronising AND deliberate – especially when you assert that he thought Caymanians should get a free ride, when his post says nothing of the sort.
Your persecution complex has quite clearly prevented you from understanding what is a quite reasonable post.
The correspendent is implying that those applying are having difficulty obtaining employment in other fields and speculatively applied for the prison officers role. Not that prison officer work is low skilled and beneath ’employable peope’.
The correspondent may or may not be right in holding that view, but it would be helpful if you tried to understand what was written and not what you want to be written before shooting from the hip.
is cns commiting treason for stating the fact???????
take that ezzerd/arden……
hahhahahaha…….
Ezzard commenting about fitness tests? Ha ha
The Prison Director should have offered to let North Side Huffy take the test……
“He said people could be given time to improve their physical ability”
Yeah, and then when they do THEY CAN REAPPLY. Sheesh.
Even with 12 months training Ezzard could never run a 10 minute mile. I wonder also if he could pass the basic numeracy and literacy tests.
As far as the 87 Caymanian applicants are concerned I’m sure the Civil Service would take them on, as Mr Manderson would be smart enough to offer them a free lunch and beer to turn up for the interview.
Alden – while you are blaming the Compass for its supposed assault on Cayman the true assault, offence, and damage is evidenced in this article. It is the blatant failing of the Governments education system over decades to provide anything like the required standards of education to sufficiently high numbers of people. You cannot blame the editorial board for that, but they sure as hell can blame you.
It may also be due to schools feeling unable to address issues with students directly and getting no support from the parents. After all it only takes a call from a parent to a minister to put the school suddenly in the wrong.
And that is not corruption?
If Ezzard believes that someone can be trained to be fit, what’s his excuse.
His question should be, ‘Why aren’t young Caymanians tuning up for interviews, unable to pass a fitness test in the first place and why are the majority of applicants unable to pass the entrance examination or subsequent interviews?’
What a national embarrassment, 3 out of 83 applicants passed.
A lack of commitment, a lack of basic education, a lack of physical and mental fitness, a lack of respect and a lack of balls. But all Ezzard can muster from his ridiculous repertoire is basically, ‘fat kids can be made fit’. Well that’ll make a lot of difference.
So next time you whiners tell us that Caymanians are being excluded from the workplace, here’s the reason why.
The bigger problem is not so much that people who applied could not pass a fairly low standard fitness test, but that a lot of the applicants didnt even turn up for interview.
It is both a lack of broughtupsy and of education. It is disgusting. The names of no shows should be sent to the NWDA. Doing it twice in a 6 month period without apology and appropriate excuse should put someone on the unemployable list for a year. We need some standards around here!
Exactly.. but they are3 insisting the private sector hire them
And why can’t fat people get fit? I was fat once, I got fit, I am a Caymanian whiner as you gave called us. Come see what you look like. Try put on a logical cap and stop your stupid whine.
As a former law enforcement officer I am all too aware of people’s inability to control their own fitness. But if you have any intention of applying for a career in a position that requires a relatively high level of fitness, then get fit before applying. It is too damn late to enter a very physical training regime if you do not have a reasonable level in the first instance. Why should others training be held back or put at risk because you failed to show the levels of commitment required to do such a demanding job?
You obviously have absolutely no experience on the subject and just typify the dumbass response we’ve come to expect of some in this society. My logic is based upon 30 years experience on the front line and in training colleges, its based upon working in some of the most dangerous places on the planet and it’s based upon the fact that you are part of a team of people who depend on your commitment to keep them safe.
It’s not based on living a cosseted life on a tiny speck of rock in the Caribbean!
So yes, you are a whining Caymanian, because you fail to see that these people have been excluded because of their lack of gumption and commitment as much as their fitness. It’s not their nationality that has done for them, it’s their attitude.