Police remit goes beyond crime fight
RCIPS Chief Superintendent Kurt Walton
(CNS): Chief Superintendent Kurt Walton has said that there are a number of jobs currently carried out by the RCIPS that could be outsourced, as he outlined the massive range of work that police officers do that takes them away from the front-line crime fight. With the public clamouring for more police visibility, given the size of the RCIPS, Walton detailed the work of the 366 men and women in uniform when he explained last week that turning up at crime scenes or arresting suspects was only a tiny part of the workload faced by his officers.
The senior officer, who will take up the position of deputy police commissioner in September, listed the range of responsibilities and roles that police officers fulfill that consume considerable time and effort. From policing things like the tobacco legislation to delivering witness summons for every court case, Walton said there are many things that the police have been tasked with over the years, putting a strain on resources, which he believes could be undertaken by other government departments or outsourced.
Speaking at a press briefing last week to announce the half-year crime statistics, Walton explained that police officers respond to around 2,300 call-outs per month and several hundred more are generated from patrols and other work instigated by the police officers on the beat, traffic patrol or marine work, among others.
As well as the follow-up investigations that these calls generate, the police also serve hundreds of warrants every month, even more witness summons, conduct marine patrols and attend at the schools. They also supervise the licensing and regulation of the private security industry, which employs 600 guards, do background checks on civil servants, police the courts, as well as 24 hour policing at the detention centre, at lock-ups and at the governor’s residence at Government House.
“There is a perception that we show up … put the bad guys in the back of the police car, put the cuffs on, drive away and it’s over. In fact, the work has just begun,” Walton said.
Explaining the kind of workloads that officers investigating specific cases can face, he highlighted one recent investigation that has generated more than 600 documents alone and another that had generated more than 200 lines of enquiry that had to be followed up. This type of workload, he said, was not unusual and it required considerable manpower.
Since 2012, he said, the services has been recording in detail the call-outs and work that the police are doing and said the 1,700 crimes that were recorded for the year so far represented only part of the work the police do. He said that the law requires the police to not only serve every single warrant issued by the court but also every single witness summons, from planning law offences to serious crimes.
“On average we deal with about 9,000 summons every year,” he said, adding that just four officers undertake this work. He said that the solution was to review the law and while police need to serve warrants, he said the RCIPS management would be making recommendations to outsource the witness service because people don’t need a warrant card to serve a witness summons.
He said people can’t gauge what the police do based simply on the 1,700 crimes recorded so far this year.
Walton also lauded the civilian support staff who perform a significant amount of work, from receiving calls to typing up interview transcripts for court, as well as the administrative and analytical work they do.
This is funny. Walton professes that with warrants Security Licences etc they are drowning in duties that are not normal Policing duties and this is effectively lowering their ability to deliver quality Policing Services but he only named roughly under 20 Police Officers dedicated to these tasks out of pushing 400 at times? Then in a sepertate article they claim that they answereds 250 calls? Big deal. 10 Officers answer 13 or so calls a day over two days is not overworked. I day 10 but you would think there are more then that on duty. Please find some creditable excuses as these are just pathetic
Only one comment on the outsourcing. I can see the writing on the wall. Talk about opening it up for further corruption! Gee, let me guess which security company will get the job.
It simple when the majority of your police come from a poverish nations where laws are not up held what do expect for Cayman. When the people you import for cheap labour from poverish nations where laws are not up held what do expect for Cayman.
Just do your job and stop complaining….All RCIP do is complain we don’t have enough cars, people, IT and on an on. Stop passing the buck and step up or step out…and let some else run the show…This island is too small for all your excuses Walton and Innis.
There are over 6000 civil servants to choose from. I know many of them are extremely busy running their own businesses on the side, but if we exclude them for these purposes, that must surely leave a few hundred who can be sent over to RCIP HQ to help with the admin.
Suggestion for “outsourcing”: traffic wardens for the issuing of standing vehicle offences, e.g. expirer license, parking on yellow line.handicap spaces, etc. These folks could be paid a small salary, say $1000 per month and then given a portion of the collected tickets they issue, e.g. 25%. They would always be on duty whenever & whereever they are out and about. A real Officer is not needed for this role.
They can use retired officers, they should know the law and are use to police work.
They are retired for a reason!
I would do that job and i would soon be rich! I’m an expat though. will that job be open to expats? I’m your man!
CNS, did anyone at this press conference ask him about the Bridger investigation? That was conducted back in April and there’s been a deathly silence ever since.
Good point. In April RCIPS sent two officers to the UK for about a month but we’ve seen no results.
LOL 2:05 It wasn’t an investigation, it was an all expenses paid jolly.
Is it time for a Special Constabulary Force?
“There is a perception that we show up … put the bad guys in the back of the police car, put the cuffs on, drive away and it’s over. In fact, the work has just begun,” Walton said.
Actually, the perception is that “IF you show up, and that’s a BIG IF…you grunt/talk/grunt on occasion, scratch your backsides, let the bad guy go, occasionally threaten the good guy, drive off and generally achieve absolutely ZERO”. That’s the perception…
Perception is driven by education, attitude and plain common sense. The police have no control over what idiots think.
Really Rick? You really don’t think that my above-described perception is well deserved? Here’s a suggestion… Get your head out of your _____ take a look around you, and tell me that on average the police force are doing a great job. They’re not and they haven’t been for a long time…a bunch of bumbling KeyStone Cops. Better yet, let’s take a survey and see what the average Islander thinks. If you don’t care for a survey, to date my comment has 39 likes, 9 dislikes, and 6 LoLs (may as well count those as likes)… Sorta sounds like most people agree… And no, they’re not all idiots.
And perhaps, just perhaps, whatever, that PERCEPTION is neither fair nor accurate. It sounds like the police are doing a considerable amount of work on the island, face only criticism for doing it, and have to deal with people with biases like yours who only make it more impossible.
And perhaps, just perhaps, you’re just plain wrong. Few work hard, most don’t, many do a poor job of it, and most are plain useless and/or incompetent. There’s a good reason for that perception.