RCIPS still short on cops
Police Commissioner David Baines swears in a new recruit
(CNS): Police numbers are still well below the maximum level, despite the latest local recruitment drive, and some posts will have to be filled by overseas officers, the commissioner has said. The RCIPS police headcount is down by more than 30 officers, at around 388, and as a result community policing and important departments, such as the Cold Case Unit, are neglected. Commissioner of Police David Baines told CNS that the issue of recruitment is an ongoing challenge that impacts the service.
The senior officer heading up the Cold Case Unit (CCU) recently left the RCIPS to join the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the unit now appears to be in deep freeze, but Baines said it remained an important department, which he wants to staff again as soon as possible.
“With live operations, we can’t look backwards,” he said, referring to a number of serious crimes that are currently open. “But that unit is one we want to see back up and running very soon. The suspects in some of the cold cases are very often the same individuals who are committing the serious crimes now.”
Looking back at cases where the evidence trail has gone cold is a worthwhile exercise, the CoP maintained, pointing to the convictions last year of both Chad Anglin and Leonard Ebanks for the murder of Frederic Bise, a Swiss banker who was killed in a brutal attack in 2008.
Both men had been arrested in connection with the killing at the time but no charges were ever brought and both went on to commit other very serious crimes, including murder, before the CCU was able to present enough evidence to make the charges of murder and accessory after the fact stick.
With “not enough officers to go around”, the commissioner said there was a need to develop as many local officers through the ranks as possible but the RCIPS would continue to look outside to ensure that the service had all the officers necessary to cover the skills required.
Aware that the public wants to see more community officers, the CoP is also conscious of the need to make the best use of the number of officers he has to deal with the current caseload and described the personnel issue as “constantly spinning plates”, as people come into the service others leave.
However, the local recruitment drives were paying dividends, Baines said, and they would continue to seek local recruits and develop that talent.
The officers who joined last year in the most recent recruitment drive were doing exceptionally well, he noted, adding that promotion through the ranks can be quite rapid for those that show a talent or skill in specific areas. He said that within two years new recruits with no previous experience can find themselves as detectives, as he pointed to a diverse but demanding career path in the service.
The question to add and ask is how many Teachers, Social Workers, Child Psychologist and Child Psychiatrist, Mental Health nurses, etc, – do we have?
Approximately 400 Officers for 55,000 people = 137 officers per person. Now minus the elderly, say over 55 -64 = 8,000 and not offending, and children under, say 14 = 10,000), so we 400 Officers approx. 55,000- 18,000 = 37,000 people to police, divided by 400 Officers = 1 Officer to 90 persons, on average.
For that ratio, higher than Countries ruled by the Military, we should know our Officers by first name.
How many do you know?
The RCIPS is short on Effective Leadership that caters to the interests of our Law-abiding citizens.
What we have instead is either:
1) an incompetent or
2) a very effective COP with an agenda that is contrary to the needs and interests of the majority of the citizens of these islands.
@ 9:15am they squashed the traffic dept hence why we have lawless drivers. Still cannot get my head around over 380 officers and not one any where except Cafe Del Sol. Time to dump the UK police mentality and bring on our North American team especially the gang units…I would say give them one week they would have our streets clean but then again we need intelligent people who will process the cases correctly and hardcore Judges who will not be afraid to throw away the key and send a strong message to the Public that this will not be tolerated. Then again the corruption around here is so deep with politicians etc involved God only knows if our problems will ever get resolved….
Love it …. Get rid of one set of foreigners and let’s get some more from somewhere else. Gotta laugh at these people.
Yes John Doe we have all woken up to see our UK saviors and his Jamaican assistant wilfully destroying our little place and its people. when it is quite clear we need our own Caymanians to deal with our own crime problem now.
The RCIPS.
Typical UK inefficiency.
Hey there are millions of Jamaican cops looking for work, and Cayman appears to be the only country obligated/intimidated into hiring them because they could easily contract some UK officers and they will leave when contract up.
But this is the way to increase population by Jamaicans so that when they have brainwashed Caymanians to go independent it will be their people teaching, policing, and don’t forget hiring……. check any government HR department and in private sector, at least one Jamaican if not more dealing with recruitment in majority of businesses.
isnt it funny how when things aren’t going the way y’all expect it to go the first set of people to blame are the Jamaicans? In case you haven’t been watching or reading the news, dear, for the past couple recruitments NOT ONE Jamaican was hired. NOT ONE expat. They are all caymanians. whether it be by birth or by status… Therefore, at the rate things are going and if this continues, ( the recruitment guideline about having to be Caymanian to be considered for RCIPS) then there will be more Caymanians in the RCIPS than you can think of. (and that’s a good thing). but when you realize that things will hardly change who then will you blame?
If there are more Caymanians out there who are competent,smart,well rounded, fit the criteria for RCIPS and need a job where are they? what is holding them back? Everyone is sitting down waiting for a change to happen but no one wants to be that change. Well then, pray tell… how do you suppose it will happen?
Well then, since Jamaicans or Expats on a whole are hated so much, the smart thing to do to get them out of ” government HR department and private sector” and to have them not “dealing with recruitment on majority of businesses”, find out what it is about them why they are in that position and not you. Is it because they are hardworking? If so, prove to the businesses etc. that you are a Hardworking Caymanian and you are more suitable for that job. If it is that they have more qualifications, then you go and get your qualification too. No job will sit around waiting for you because you are a caymanian. If that were the case, then Cayman wouldn’t be the Cayman it is.
Jesus, can’t these officers walk and chew gum at the same time. 388 cops for a population of 60,000, you would think there would be a cop on every corner. Ridiculous!
We Need more Man Power any time this guy gets put under pressure about his leadership he come us with this same old tired excuse. This police force is fill up with tooo many inexperienced just here for the money foreign police, so much so the RCIPS has simply become ineffective. His diversity experiment is a real joke and has left a bad taste in most peoples mouth. These recruitment drives who hire very few “Caymanians” are merely a ploy to justifying this man hiring his very own retired cronies and friends. Yes right out of his very own previous constabularies in the UK which was not the practice before. Many experience and previous officers of good standing who have tried to return and are badly needed are simply either blocked or frustrated by this man and his disciples and “born Caymanian” yes men! Finally the Black hole which seems to swallow up certain pre ordained UK officers after their “Cayman familiarization period” strangely grows larger and larger only to see them reappear in clandestine or unexplained and unnamed titles, post and offices. The misuse and blatant disregard and contempt for ex or previous officers or their advice is almost a crime itself and is badly needed. Times up Daddy O Times up!
Wake up son! Good dream was it? Now back to reality for you!
But not back to your old job!
2:29 what we need is throwback to Mosquito times, then we would know everyone’s true mettle.
Local corruption and refusals to assist the police are so widespread that there can be 1000 more cops and not much change will happen.
And what has happened to the Policeman convicted of taking money from an expat worker?
We all see what we have in uniform. Now what we really need is 75 real police officers to clean up this island. The 388 or so other officers can then push paper which is what they were provably better suited for anyway. Time for them to man up.
I thought that the cop/resident ratio is the highest in the world.
RCIPS still short of a leader too.
As is the island
I rather got the impression from the Bise trial that the Cold Case Unit spent more time putting right mistakes in the original investigations than uncovering new evidence. In another of the old murder cases they were apparently looking at the killer had apparently been able to leave the island before RCIPS got their act together.
More short-term contract officers from English cities are needed to sort out the gangs.
I am not sure that there will be a lot of interest, the word is out about the corruption and local frustrations.
Short of manpower? If each operational officer is required to keep a detailed hard copy diary up to date daily, plus file incident reports by computer that 911 used to record, again, daily, that’s almost two hours per day per officer. Do the math – 2hrs x approx 250 officers = 500 man hours per day divided by 10 hrs per shift = 50 officers per day not doing operational work. If this math is wrong please correct me, and I will apologise, otherwise, it is not hard to see why the R.C.I.P. always seem to be short of manpower.
Hard to believe there can be 388 officers and no visible traffic dept. This is the easiest part of showing a will to enforce our laws.