Mac: JPs to file own report on rescue review
Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush in the LA
(CNS): The opposition leader has raised questions about the report conducted by a UK Coastguard Commander Andy Jenkins and has said the two local JPs who were supposed to work on the report did not see or sign the final document but would be publishing their own report. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly Friday as he began his budget debate, McKeeva Bush veered off topic to attack the recently departed police commissioner and stated his concerns about Jenkins’ review of the RCIPS search and rescue operation for a group of three men and two boys lost at sea.
Bush revealed that Mary Lawrence and Kirkland Nixon would be publishing their own report relating to the review because they were not in support of the one completed by Jenkins. The opposition leader, who had nominated Lawrence, said that the pair were supposed to have worked on the review but as far as he could gather, they had just been treated as observers. He said while they had seen a draft of the report and made observations and recommendations, they had not been included in the final report.
Bush told his colleagues in the LA that they had to question how independent the review by the British coastguard commander.
“So, was this the whitewash we anticipated?” he asked, and indicated that members of the parliament would hear from the two justices of the peace.
CNS has contacted both Lawrence and Nixon, who was nominated by the premier, regarding their positions on the issue and is awaiting a response.
In the report, which was published this week, the local JPs were mentioned only twice. In the first instance Jenkins wrote that they were nominated and agreed to sit on the review panel. In the second mention he said that they had seen the draft report.
The report had concluded that, given all of the circumstances surrounding the incident, including the late report, the lack of information regarding the last known position of the vessel, the weather conditions and the RCIPS’ limited rescue resources, the decision not to begin a search until the next day was the right one.
The Jenkins report says that the GPS was retrieved and the last known position extracted, but does not say where it was. That would have surely been relevant in relation to the Macabuca flare sighting issue and either demonstrated there was substance to it, or put the issue to rest. I suspect the GPS’ history of previous trips may have proved quite informative as well, although irrelevant to this enquiry.
Luddite to suggest that their lives are some how worth less because of who they were is just sick i guess those Cubans who drown off South Sound must be lower too or deserved it. Yet under Derek Haines leadership the marine DTF carried out daring rescues of drug dealers and smugglers in hurricane type conditions and did not have half of the resources and staff readily available to this bunch.calling themselves the JMU. Some rescues like the rescue of Ronald Martin local fisherman from West Bay lasted over a couple of days Not once were such lame excuses ever used of the “sea too rough” for officers not to go out and even look. The truth of the matter is this great modernization Baines claims he brought to the RCIPS table is long on talk and show and kind of short on substance and these prop up lackeys are totally incompetent and incapable and were clearly installed to justify the UK and this unusually large contingent of foreigners in our police service. Yes and all we can hear is we need more money and more resources every time we has some incident or crime.
In those cases, Haines was wrong. No one is perfect.
A nation waits anxiously with bated breath for the Lawrence-Nixon Report.
The report is in / short version: Lawrence-Nixon mentions the helicopter air unit needs a review at the soonest and without delay to implement necessary changes ‘due to it being hurricane season’ and the marine unit to review various aspects of its operations , as it relates to the use of our waters ( at various levels ).
Both well observed , but at the same time obvious to many.
The helicopter changes are going to need a ca$h injection from somewhere though. The current machine is not a true SAR chopper. To fix that problem , about $30,000,000.00 should be a good start to correct it . ( 2 x SAR helo’s , as when one will be down for maintenance and you need one flying then ) plus crews , 2 pilots , ground support and acquisition costs , plus the first year maintenance . Someone said in a prior post though that you probably couldn’t do it for $30 [mil ]
When all is said and done, a couple of Caymans’ most notorious drug dealers passed away. The horrible shame about the whole sorry affair is that innocents were carried away.
At the end of the day, God has the final say and I would caution all those who are blaming the police to state their own integrity.
Get your own house in order, and then throw stones.
By taking their side Bush has shown once again who’s side he is really on.
i really really want to see mac write a report………
please….please just once……
#laughable
So sad to see the comments on here and didn’t expect anything different from our Opposition leader.No matter who had been asked to lead the investigation into this tragic incident not everyone would be satisfied one way or the other.This is human nature but it will be interesting to see if the “other”two members of this investigative will have anything to add to the report that has been turned in.This tragedy should never have happened like so many others here when it comes to the ocean and sad to say many times its due to poor judgement when it comes to the ever changing sudden weather that can be kind one minute and angry the next.Lets hope that this might encourage others to be careful in the future so that everyone can enjoy our waters in safety.Common sense goes a long way in the way we conduct our lives.
The only people still talking are the ones who immediately decided that the heartless authorities left the po folks to drown because black lives don’t matter. A report from heaven would make no difference to them. Mac has a story he likes and will beat you to death with it.
But the British Royal Navy said Erryting was Top Notch”Ship Shape”What SAR Expert Andy Jenkins is saying it is not Who are we to believe??????? Please see Jaida Alexander report on 19th of June 2015 that CNS page is full of 10 articles parading the JMU prowess on our seas including a daring sea rescue of fishermen. My humble opinion it looks orchestrated by RCIPS and the UK to promote their little training exercise and certification game. Poor old Cayman still living in colonial times.
Nothing to do with the Royal Navy. The UK Coastguard is a civilian organisation responsible for marine safety. It specialises in search and rescue operations, handling around 1200-1500 incidents a year in the UK and surrounding seas, involving helicopters and lifeboats and even assisting with cave and mountain rescue (since helicopters are often needed for medivac after rescue).
Presumably this extra report is being done in an hourly rate?
Can we be clear, neither JPs were available through there own personal commitments to accompany Commander Jenkins on his interviews, and neither saw it important enough to change those commitments. Working late and through a weekend, no thanks. They had the chance. Now they want to produce their own conclusions? Two police units under resourced, and undervalued by some at the top, do their best to provide the service everyone expects but doesn’t pay for. Everyone gripes about them going after drug boats, of course they do, that is their PRIMARY ROLE – law enforcement. As they also have protection of life, they inherit the SAR role. Not many police units do that. US police have the coastguard. The UK have the lifeboat service and MCA aircraft, Spain has a dedicated search and rescue team. Jamaica, our nearest friends, have a Coastguard and the JDF, not police. Even Cuba has a coastguard. Cayman, time to decide what you want. And then resource it properly. It is still no good harping on about the police. Working it out, less than 20 (yes twenty!) people make up the Air and Marine Units for 24 hour 365 days of the year response, to crew a helicopter and an offshore patrol boat and onshore management support. Something has to give.
Hear hear. Since the watercraft sport is only growing and let’s be truthful, for whatever reason our locals refuse boat safety becoming “mandatory” and “licensed” (like in the USA annual inspections) we can only expect more lost crafts and emergencies, so it is time to develop a working enforcement and rescue force!! Too bad our real white collar criminals who control the drug flow may see a traffic interruption, but sporting lives will be saved. Time to organize a real working and education effort. Mac sit back down please-
A good comparison of both resources and departments in use in other countries , to Cayman’s. To be fair to our marine unit , they advanced from having just a few smaller boats to police our waters as recently as the 1980’s , to their size today. You would have to agree they are spread a bit thin on the water? They enforce border protection, boater safety on inshore & offshore waters , they are acting as coastal patrol and by de-facto ( when boaters go missing at 12 mile bank ) now search and rescue operations and management. The police have the chopper, but it is a limited role aircraft that has its limitations in adverse weather. The marine unit fleet also has its limitations, due to weather. Not the least of which ( as proved ) is negotiating main channel in a 7 foot swell , with a boat that draws 6 feet draft. If you want the large patrol craft to have access in a rough sea condition, someone is going to have to get a dredge or a drag line excavator working in main channel. Don’t expect the marine unit to be able to navigate the channel , bottom out & damage the boat , then be available ( with that boat) to run rescue operations. Likewise with the helicopter and its weather capability. I look forward to Mrs . Lawrence and Mr. Nixons report , with their extensive marine experience as JP’s and hope they recognise a few aspects in this investigation. 1 is that the victims lives would not have been threatened if the crew had just checked the weather the day before they went out, thus saving all the expense and resources of the search & rescue operation,and 2 is He hath founded it upon the seas
Don’t disagree with the general thrust, but two observations. First, getting out the main channel with a boat drawing 6 ft would not be an issue if it was tied up on the other side of the island and second, if they cannot recruit people to fill the missing 23 positions how on earth are they going to staff an expanded fleet? Starting with fixing the radar, FLIR and leaking fuel, and getting a second IFR rated pilot with night flying experience would seem to be a more immediate and relatively quick fix. Indeed, one wonders why it hasn’t been done already.
You need to direct that question to the Home Affairs Ministry. CNS, are you looking at any response?
I have the utmost respect for Mr. Nixon and if he is so dissatisfied with the way this was handled that he feels it necessary to report to the public, lil Helen and her Bainsites had better beware.
Mr Bush should not be the only one concerned about the report but the Premier should also be concerned. But then again apparently he wanted to get rid of Baines as much as any one else but did not have the guts to say it. Is he going to now accept the disrespectful treatment of the two JPs appointed by Mr. Bush and himself. I fully realise that Mr. Jenkins would have been the lead on this report, but I wonder if there was even any collaboration / discussions among the three or were they totally ignored. Did they had the opportunity to go over the information that Mr. Jenkins would have been privy to without which he would not have been able to write any conclusions on this entire fiasco. At the least, I think the three should have discussed the information and agree and sign the report. I thought their presence was to ensure that the report would have been written according to the available information / timeline given but now it appears that there are still more questions than answers. I would also like to point out that both Mrs. Lawrence and Mr. NIxon are intelligent persons and would have been able to understand the information as Mr. Jenkins. I hope the Premier gets to the bottom of this.
Jenkins: “Just. Get. Out. Of. My. Hair.”
It is not his job to do anything but investigate and write HIS report. They were observers not investigators. If they think he didn’t do the job, lets hear it. I think you will find that all they did was read the draft and comment on it. No actual work investigating.
Seems more interested in backing up the reason for the CoP witch hunt than finding out the real reason why the boat was out there in the first place and why it took so long for the police to be called.
Kirkland is going to write a report?
can’t wait for this……..
Twat a lot of nonsense and waste of time.
Mac talks. Fools listen.
That works both ways, fools talk and Mac listens.
No surprises there then, a blind man could’ve seen that coming. I guess he needs a report that justifies the CoP witch hunt.
on the day muhammad ali dies…we have to read this nonsense……zzzzzzzzzzzz
You need to get your warped priorities in order. Ali was a sportsman who died from a disease that is known to be caused by persistent blows to the head, basically his own risk.
However, two innocent children died at the hands of irresponsible adults whose uneducated and backwards view of child care and seamanship is there for all to see.
You do the moral judgement on which piece of news is more important, but stay awake because this will turn into a national judgement on your own society’s ability to face the inevitable truth.
keep digging mac……zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
No slot machines in Cayman so he’s doing his next best.
It’s times like this when Mac doesn’t just embarrass himself, but also the country. Disappointing, yet again.
Don’t forget turning up in a tuxedo to a daytime wedding.
My Dear, tell me it’s not true!!
So how many of the search and rescue chiefs and staff have these observers spoken to? As I understand it NOT ONE. What a joke, they are producing a report and recommendations based on what. CNS, you need to ask them questions on their separate investigation f they are producing separate reports.
You don’t have any qualified SAR Chiefs, that’s the point.
Hey Mac, an independent report is one that is NOT written by political appointees. That’s why this report is the independent one.
My stomach revolts whenever CNS puts up a picture of McKeeva. Please can’t we see the last of him? Greed and self interest personified.
I have the utmost respect for Mr. Kirkland Nixon and if he has decided that it is necessary for him to say something following his involvement in this exercise, I will await to hear what he has to say before passing any opinion. He is not a lackey to anyone.
How about Mary Lawrence -the other expert? You have respect for her too? Or is she “a lackey” for someone?
We should all remember that Mary Lawrence and Kirkland Nixon are very political people. Lawrence is in Mac’s pocket and Nixon is Progressive through and through. We shouldn’t be playing politics with these kinds of issues.
Why don’t we just stop all this stupid crap and ask the UK to give us independence so that once and for all we cannot blame everything on the UK/the colonial system/ the Governor/expats etc because we will be running everything ourselves? What in the name of Jesus Christ can Mary Lawrence add to a review of this sort other than make some noises that she knows her sponsor Mac will like? Nixon might have something to add but even he is just a glorified retired fireman whom everyone seems to think is a genius. But the mess he left at the Fire Station suggests otherwise.
But then we might lose all that tax money we get from the financial industry. Who would pay all those taxes?
I am looking forward to the expert report from Ms Lawrence and Mr Kirkland. Having read Mr Jenkins report, which looked pretty comprehensive, I am quite eager to see what additional insight they can offer.
Mr Nixon is a man of integrity .
And you put him in an uncomfortable position.
Please can we put this to rest. The families doesn’t deserve this.
They kinda do…
Unfortunately mckeewa doesnt give a hoot about the families.
Mac will use this as his latest Brit bashing venture to the last drop. He will not rest until he gets his dreams of independence and the ruin of the last successful island in the Caribbean.
All with the help of Dart and the Compass.
8:40am you are correct about Mac capitalizing on any sensitive national issue so he can gain political mileage, to which he is the best at. We Caymanians have to understand as long as our constitution remains as it is we have no control over our security or judicial systems. Of the few places that is left in the world under the British Colonial System. Do Cayman still has one of the least advanced constitutions? This is a case where one colonialist was chosen to investigate the other along with two local representatives to make it look like a independent investigation. This was a case already cut and dried, and once more goes to show how insignificant Caymanians are when it comes to challenging the colonial status quo.
I’m not so sure the system as we have it is so bad. Compare the standard of living and per capita income of Cayman to the rest of the region. “Progressing” the constitution toward independence might just change that.
Imagine if Mackeva could control and manipulate the police force in his machinations for power. The whim of a politician could ruin a family, corrupt a district and ruin a country.
Be careful hat you wish for.
Hey genius, Cayman is not a colonial possession as it was never invaded or seized from anyone. It was granted to the UK under the Treaty of Madrid and was first settled by British settlers without colonial government or military intervention in the early 1700’s. These islands are, and have always been, since Spain handed them over, British territory. So tell me Einstien, exactly who are the foreigners on these islands, because if you’re talking about British citizens or those of Jamaican decent prior to 1963, (as a former Jamaican protectorate) then you are delusional.
Of course if you don’t understand your own history, then I’m not surprised you sound so confused. But then again with such a mixture of genetics, how can anybody be surprised.
11:40am you seem well versed in how the Cayman Islands became a British possession. So in your highly intellectual discourse on the definition of these islands relationship with England. Could you also enlighten us, on what kind of political status we entertain with #10 downing st. and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office these past hundreds of years, if it is not a colonial status.
You may as well have written in Chinese. Truth is not recognized as a language by the very ones you are trying to talk to.
Of course they were just observers. There is no way that an actual professional investigator would let them in any way control or add to the content of his report. Most of us out here are not seeking their laymans opinion or report but I guess we’ll get it anyway.
Let’s just take Big Macs assessment as gospel.
He seems pretty smart;-)
Yes some of you Baines Clones need to read the US Coast Guard rescue of William Durden on CNN and ex navy pilot age 61 who fell over board without a life vest and tread water for 20 hours in the Gulf of Mexico. All Mr Jenkins has come here and did was reviewed and wrote a report on a search and rescue text book scenario which was clearly not implemented at the time of this tragic accident.His conclusion are a clear indication of the basis he use to justify his findings Putting who’s at fault aside there are number of concerns about this report. Such as there is no mention of the search pattern used by the JMU no mention of wind tide /drift depth measurements GPS coordinates of vessels location in relation to island. No independent historical data and references on previous rescues perform by the Marine Unit or the DOE. What is of serious concern about his recommendations is that the UK Royal Navy was here earlier this year and last year on a training exercise and certification and did not raise a single issue about the JMU operation ability or state of readiness infact they use the words “SHIP SHAPE according to CNS article 19/6/15 by intern Jaida Alexander. Whoop there is!
Pretty much irrelevant seeing as Cayman doesn’t have a dedicated search and rescue team, what you are left with is the Police doing the best they can with the resources they have, which doesn’t include S&R. The reality is everyone was dead before the alarm was raised, I’m sure the example you gave is true, but it is an exception, none of these individuals were trained by the navy and I’m guessing this guy could swim. I could dig up a lot of unfortunate boating accidents that would prove nothing, except that the sea is a cruel mistress. It was a series of unfortunate events that in all likelihood couldn’t of been changed, if you want to believe in the 1 in a million for your own piece of mind, I will not comment, except that I am a realist.
I think you will find the sea much calmer and the overall conditions much better in the Durden example.
When will you ever understand that these islands do NOT have a specialised SAR capability, you simply have a couple of law enforcement agencies who are forced through necessity to go out and conduct rescue/recovery missions.
The police, whilst having the basics of search procedure should not be the premier SAR provider as they have too few all weather class boats and a dwindling manpower situation.
Why the hell are immigration and customs staff attending SAR operations which are a world away from revenue and border protection?
To my knowledge we do not have one qualified SAR manager or co-ordinator on this island, let alone an experienced blue water lifeboat coxswain.
As for the DOE, well they don’t have enough seaworthy boats to do their mandated job, and again, none of their officers are competently SAR trained to acceptable levels. Quite simply because it’s not their job. Having a boat and being willing isn’t safe, nor is it acceptable for the CIG/DOE/JMU to exploit their officers professionalism and humanity by attempting to send them into danger without appropriate means.
Whilst I don’t wish to put down those men and women who step forward when most step back, they are just not the right people to conduct these missions due to a lack of training and appropriate resources. And I believe that was the point the MCA officer was making.
I don’t doubt the bravery and the willingness of the police and the DOE officers to help their fellow Mariners in distress, but we cannot expect them to do that with inferior knowledge, manpower or equipment.
This report isn’t a whitewash, it’s a clear statement of the facts for the purpose of ascertaining the events. It is quite clear in its findings that resources are a major issue in general.
Contrary to some local belief, this wasn’t and was never designed to be a witch hunt, a blame game to satisfy the conspiracy theorists and the plain ignorant apologists for this boat parties actions, and especially its skipper.
This boat was a notorious tool for the criminally minded, it appears twice this week in two differing stories on CNS alone. Whilst it is obviously sad for the families, especially of the children involved, the truth must be faced, it was their loved ones who were the masters of their own demise. No one made them go to sea on a forecasted bad weather day, no one stopped them from carrying a vhf, flares, life jackets, life rings etc….
And no one made them stay out with an apparent faulty engine, late in the day with an approaching storm. That was their decision, as it was the families who failed to call 911 until very late in the evening and certainly later than you would expect to keep very young children out for. Not a lot of responsible parenting or plain common sense going on here people.
If McKeeva wants to leave a legacy, then why doesn’t he make moves to form a proper lifeboat service, manned by fully trained volunteers with appropriate all weather, deep sea boats and inshore rescue RIBs. This is where the focus should be, not trying to offload responsibility on to people who would have risked their lives on a futile rescue mission many hours after dark and in atrocious weather and sea state conditions. Someone made a judgement call, in my mind it was the right one with all things considered. However, if Cayman had the manpower, equipment and experience at the time, I’m sure the call would have been subject to further consideration without the very real risk of sending the rescuers to their own deaths.
But if you’re looking for someone to blame, start with the boat owner then ask of the CIG why the most isolated island in the Caribbean doesn’t have an appropriate and dedicated SAR capability. Cayman likes to consider itself a ‘maritime’ community, well act like one and put the measures in place that will save lives.
No more blame game, just get on with it.
This is a well written response indeed. Thank you anonymous 10.14 but you should put your name to it. Do not fear Bushwacker he is well past it as is his Loony party.
Do you under stand what “Terms of Reference” mean?
Why doesn’t Mac just tell us what he wants the report to say and we can each write our own version.
Man a want di dam report ti say dey mus gi mi mi seat back.
Yes Mac, of course you aren’t in support or in any agreement with the report.. You are the Opposion: it’s what you do.. Oppose! Keep grumbling about how ‘foreigners’ have it out for we Caymanians.. It’s how the demise of the previous Caribbean ‘jewels’ begun.. Unhappy Politicians and their calls for uprisings… Suffering is the legacy you leave behind, long after you have broken the harmony for the sake of your own ambitions and a few $$…. Shameful.
Best comment of the day, Anonymous 5:42!
Yes you Uncle Tom Colonial tyranny forever eh.It those just like you why our children are suffering today.
You should take “Free Cayman” out of your name. Also, how are your children suffering?
If they are not happy with the report and insist to provide their own is reasonable to support that request. Nothing is wrong with his support of their wishes
Like a dog with an old bone…