Cops cleared in rescue review
RCIPS Joint Marine Unit tow the Panga boat that the missing men and boys had been aboard
(CNS): REPORT NOW ATTACHED: A review conducted by UK Coastguard Commander Andy Jenkins of the RCIPS’ handling of a search and rescue operation in March, when five lives, including two children, were lost at sea, has found no major fault with either the police or 911 in handling the missing person report and the subsequent operation. The report was presented to the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday morning by Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, who read from the executive summary.
He said the review found that the information gathering by officials after the call was made to 911 at a few minutes before midnight was appropriate, as was the search and rescue planning.
Jenkins’ report, which was supported by two local JPs, concluded that the decision not to launch either the police helicopter or the police marine vessel, Guardian, during darkness was correct given the circumstances.
However, the head of the civil service said the report had also highlighted some issues for consideration regarding search and rescue operations and communication between agencies.
No other information on the report was given to the Legilslative Assembly but it was released Wednesday afternoon and is now posted below.
The report was ordered by the governor in response to concerns raised by the community and politicians and at the request of former police commissioner David Baines, whose last day in office was yesterday.
The report relates to the loss of Edsell Haylock, Gary Mullings and his three nephews, Nicholas Watler, Kamron (11) and his brother Kanyi Brown (9) after a fishing trip to 12 Mile Bank. The family reported the group missing at midnight, some eight hours after the last sighting of the group at sea.
Check back to CNS tomorrow for more on this story.
Category: Local News, Police
Bottom line– we live on an island with locals and tourists on boats all the time. The police, marine unit and all other authority that we consider in charge if something goes wrong– NEED MORE TRAINING FOR THESE SITUATIONS!! Search and rescue training. Also, there needs to be regulations for all boats to have life jackets, working radios etc on board. If you go elsewhere, you can’t even leave the dock until everyone has a life jacket on– that’s never, ever happens here!! It’d be wise to try and PREVENT these tragedies, rather than cast blame from A-Z after the fact!
So the lesson is don’t take your family on a fishing trip in your pared down drug smuggling boat.
Dearest Andy Jenkins Bravo Bravo Yet you have not done a single solitary comparison of other incidents of previous or past rescues which would clearly highlight the plethora of lame excuses that are frequently cough up by the RCIPS. Thereby establishing a basis or standard by which you could at least carry out a fair judgement or comparison. The problems is you have relied and accepted the advice and instructions of inexperience stooges and that includes the 2 political minders parading as JPs. Could you tell us please which local or experience captains or fisherman about or waters you consulted whilst compiling this wonderful report please? Could also tell us which RCIPS officers you consulted about rough weather rescues who has actually experience? Did you ask them what happen to the poor Cuban who drown off South Sound because the seas were once again too rough for the J M U but not for the surfers who had to do their work. Yes bad decision were made by Mr mullings and crew which cause them their lives. But their is no excuse for not responding to at least look when time is of the essence to save lives. Or is that is like everything else in this place “Manana” Well until the next incident and excuse????? Rest Peace Edsell see you on the other side my friend.
All of which is irrelevant to this case. How do you argue with the fact that the equipment they had was not capable of effectively searching at night and in bad conditions, when there only the vaguest of indications of the last position of the boat and the amount of time that had elapsed between when the boat was last seen and the report that they were missing was filed. You can complain about the state of the equipment and the lack of resources if you want – perfectly legitimate complaints – but had they been reported as missing earlier or had accepted the help they were offered we wouldn’t be having this review, and it looks like the right decision given the circumstances.
My tale away from this is that RCIPS should fix the equipment and HR deficiencies ASAP, if not least to improve the obvious huge hole in their drug interdiction program. Perhaps a little ironic given the other allegations being made.
Bottom line from the report. The boat capsized before 4pm, a good eight hours before the police were called. The weather was such that they probably did not survive minutes, let alone hours, without life jackets. Had someone called the police at that time, everything was in place to do a search and possibly rescue recovery. Responsibility (not blame) lies with the boat adults. Sad but true. All the helicopters and boats in the world after midnight would not have changed that. Time to move on
Oh how easy it is write people off eh so long as it is not you 8:27pm the survival expert. It is sad that we had to get a report just to justify RCIPS not responding to emergency situation when all they had to do is atleast go and have look at what was going on. My question to you in regards to all the helicopter and boats in the world statement won’t change that. How exactly do you know that when you did go or were there???
The report does not conclude that boat capsized at 4. Flare report was at 7. See page 9.
Well 9:58am i am glad so see that others like yourself are on the ball unlike the mindless, gullible bunch that find any excuse to gobble up what our totally reliable and totally trustworthy state controlled media tell them.
It is absolutely laughable that Mary Lawrence’s name and even to a lesser extent Kirkland Nixon’s is attached to this very comprehensive, professional and well written report. It is so obvious neither of them could have produced it but of course we have to have the Caymanians involved to show that all was well and above board. They will probably give some other Caymanian award to them for their genius in producing this report when of course neither of them could have written even one paragraph.Pathetic and sickening.
You are soooooo right!
Wait a minute, folks! Everyone is getting too serious here. No one really believes Mary and Kirkland actually did anything other than read the draft report do they?
8:11, are you aware that Mrs Lawrence is a former journalist who wrote prolifically for the Nor’wester magazine in a range of areas? Further, Mrs. Lawrence has an extraordinary mind with incisive analytical skills.
I don’t think you know Mrs Lawrence at all.
Mrs Lawrence had Jim Graves as Editor of the Nor’wester magazine to edit the copy she produced for that magazine and he was a fine and experienced literate journalist. When there was no one to edit The Voice and the Herald put out by her and her husband in later years after the end of the Nor’wester, the standard of writing was very weak with basic grammar very noticeably scattered throughout poorly constructed “articles”. Finally, many of us would not agree with your sentence beginning “Further, Mrs Lawrence….”.
3:15 pm: perhaps you and many like you have had limited interaction with Mrs. Lawrence. I have been closely associated with her for decades. She has one of the best minds around and is extraordinarily capable. One does not reach her heights of achievement without good native, intellectual prowess.
Sure Jim Graves edited copy — that was his job — journalists everywhere are subject to the editor’s pen. That does not in any way demean their skill and ability.
What is far more important in journalism is the substance of the writing — the light it sheds on injustice and wrongs.
When you elevate your analysis to a substantive, meaningful level your argument will earn respect and have greater persuasive appeal.
Why was she used anyway? Why not anyone else? There’s loads of younger more capable individuals with relevant experience. Is this just to rationalize her freeloading the free healthcare she gets?
Can we presume her “extraordinary mind with incisive analytical skills” was what enabled her to get the Government to alter legislation so that she could get free health care as a reward for serving just four-repeat four – years as Speaker?
8:11 — the tone of your post is really what is “pathetic” — shows a limited, bigoted mind.
Sound a little bitter 1/6, 8:11, certainly a little carried away with the effusive praise of the report. It is quite within the skills range of any person with good writing skills and an analytical mind and a little know how in putting together a report of this nature. Your posting shows your own lack of exposure, rather than reflecting on Caymanians.
My question is: Can the aircraft be equipped with more advanced night operational technology?
You can do anything you want if you invest the money. You have what you have got and what was paid for. I think you need to be looking at the boats before you start on the helicopter.
Using drones in these situations are real options now. They can be equipped with thermal imaging for night Ops and can conduct search and rescue missions for 10+ hours In a single flight
Predator Drone at how many million? Ten hours, not yet I am afraid
don’t the police boats go out at night and intercept those who are trying to smuggle drugs into the country?
they wouldn’t have a problem going after drugs late at night though lol…..
Word on the street is that night the helicopter was in fact chasing a drug canoe around our waters instead of searching, and this came from the mouth of one of the occupants of said drug boat, who managed to escape hence their story.
Can anyone confirm if we are able to submit an FOI request to confirm the hours of operation for the helicopter that day / night?
ssm345 can you get us the name of the drug dealer so we can report them to the police. seems like a much better use of our time rather than a stupid FOI request.
4.30pm, have you read the report. They finished at 2000 hrs after responding to the flare having been on all day. Then they came back on after 12 hours required rest (CAA rules) to work at 0800 hrs. You don’t need an FOI to work that out, now please STOP all the conspiracy theories. It really does not help anyone
Because there was only one pilot and they didn’t want to call Jerome.
Read the report
look all yall are talking shit now but imagine if it was your kids and family yall wouldn’t be saying nothing!! like what yall are saying!! watch how you say things!! about other ppl cause things like this can happen to yall and yall family!!!…..
Can’t happen to us who don’t take other people’s kids fishing miles offshore without their mother’s knowlege, no life jackets, in bad weather, without the ability or the sense to make a call for help. I’m sorry for the kids and their family but it’s obvious the boat was sunk 8 hours before the police were called and it was already all over.
When you finally write something of sense, do it after your have considered the report. Think you will find it is the adults on this boat you should be directing your comments to.
My family and friends would not go out without a working radio and life jackets because that’s how we roll. We also would not blame some one else for our dumb mistakes.
Suck it up and learn from their mistakes.
I 100% agree Do sum…..you make perfect sense
Won’t happen. My family and I have no need to go out “Fishing” for a living and sell the “fish” .
caymanians always looking to point the finger somewhere else………
except that they were not from Cayman – they had come from elsewhere.
It is people in general who are “always looking to point the finger somewhere else……..” Human nature.. blame someone else.
You meant british overseas territory citizen. Maybe people just need some closure on things in life. Not just a cold case or not guilty. Cant blame the family because this is a tragedy, no one knows when theyre going to die
any comment from mckeeva…or all the others who used this as a stick to beat baines?????
didn’t think so…..caymanians take responsibility for nothing
Mary’s job was to find blame for her boss Mac, guess she failed to perform on this one too.
This only highlighted that Baines never ever got a good handle on fighting crime, or properly managing the force from the outset. He was never up to the task and turned out to be less than we expected. I had my doubts about him from the time he ran down the criminal with his car. I believe he should have been relieved of his duties from them. Yes the guy was a criminal but that was not the way to fight crime.
Well said 8.00 pm. How many good RCIP officers have been prosecuted by Baines for using initiative in pursuing criminal suspects, only to have the cases thrown out by level headed judges? Time takes care of all matters, but it is a pity when some walk away from their mess with fat pay-offs!
The blame is solely on the adults that engaged in this reckless behavior. And they paid a price for this.
1:03 The term ‘child endangerment’ seems appropriate here doesn’t it? Why the heck would any responsible adult even take children out for a ‘fishing trip’ to 12 Mile Bank on a questionably sea-worthy boat in the prevailing weather conditions on that day?
No mention of the failure to investigate the flare reported off Macabuca at 7pm?
What flare? This is nothing more than marl road gossip.
http://cayman27.ky/2016/03/flare-gun-seen-off-nw-point-sunday-night/
Marl road gossip you say?
See pages 9 and 10 of the report. 911 dismissed the report as a repeat of a flare reported off Rum Point. This was probably the one chance those kids had, and a combination of idiots lighting flares at Rum Point and Police/911 incompetence wasted it. Thumb down all you want, but those are facts
See page 9 of report
if you read the most recent report on CNS website, you will see an in-depth cover of the reported flare off macabuca. Saying that… i find it hard to believe the boat would be equipped with a flare if they don’t even have essential items such as a simple lifejacket or a radio…
and no one else saw it apart from the guy sitting at the bar – no one else at Macabuca, no one anywhere down the coast.
Are we suprised …..this was not the police fault. Take responsibility for your actions
how are “they” suppose to take responsibility for their actions when “they” that committed the actions are gone…if “they” somehow returned home, “they” would definitely take responsibility
Have the RCIPS now replaced the IFR-rated helicopter pilot that had departed just prior to this emergency? We obviously didn’t have, needed, and still need a nighttime/offshore thermal flying capability to have any hope of intercepting the active transshipment of guns and narcotics, nighttime crime, and rare SAR situations like the unfortunate tragedy above. This was the whole purpose of acquiring and operating a composite “stealthy” Eurocopter and retrofitting it with the emergency marine capability to serve all three islands. We should never be without a qualified IFR pilot if the copter is to have any deterrent value.
Obviously you have no understanding of flying this model of aircraft at night under thick low cloud with no discernible horizon? (which I do)
Having IFR equipment for search does little to aid in the safe flying of the aircraft. It would have been extremely risky and reckless to set out under these conditions to undertake a minimally-specific search over open water without a visible horizon. There are limits.
And those limits apply to the US Coastguard in such conditions as well. Someone will actually start to understand eventually.
We agree that VFR pilots cannot fly IFR or IMC, especially at the end of their shift, but it doesn’t answer the question.
You understand that flying IFR means that you’re flying in instrument meteorological conditions, right? Which means you can’t see anything outside your window, let alone be able to spot a tiny vessel (or swimmers) in rough waters in the dark. Flying IFR in a search and rescue operation is the very definition of futile.
It appears that everyone has forgotten (or conveniently ignored) the cell phone evidence of the much earlier call ( 8:30 p.m. ?) to the authorities.
CNS: There was no cell phone evidence. See Cops & 911 find no trace of alleged early calls
Flying IFR means you can’t see shit outside. I seriously doubt you have been in a helicopter in those conditions or you wouldn’t talk like it’s so easy.
Think you are mixing up IFR with FLIR