RCIPS auditing child sex-crime cases

| 15/09/2016 | 26 Comments

(CNS): The RCIPS has begun an audit of all open child abuse cases and is conducting an internal disciplinary review of officers and supervisors involved in the case concluded this week by the courts, in which the police failed to investigate a serious child abuse complaint. But police officials confirmed there would be no public enquiry into what went wrong. On Thursday morning acting judge, Justice Tim Owen, acquitted two men accused of systematically abusing a young female relative, possibly from when she was as young as seven years old, because of the inexplicable incompetence of the police officers who had conduct of the case.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, following the verdict in which two men walked free from the serious allegations, the police accepted the criticisms made by the judge.

“We deeply regret the delays in the police investigation in this case and its outcome in terms of its potential impact on the victim,” the RCIPS management stated. “We have extended our apology to the victim, who has demonstrated courage throughout this ordeal, especially given her age. We also apologise to the community at large. We can confirm that an internal disciplinary review of those officers involved, including supervisors, is underway. An audit of all open child abuse investigations by senior management is also underway.”

The police have confirmed that there will be no public enquiry into why, after the young child had come forward about the abuse and given taped video statements, no action was taken in the probe until some 18 months later. Nevertheless, it is expected that there will be some public updates about the conclusions of the internal review, and officials confirmed that the results of the wider audit will be handed to the governor’s office.

Police also stated that since this case was first reported in 2012, major recommendations from reports in 2011 and 2013 on improving capacity for safeguarding children have been adopted by the RCIPS.

“The ongoing audit of open child abuse cases, conducted by Superintendent Pete Lansdown, will determine whether any systemic failings exist despite these efforts,” police management said, noting that Lansdown took up his appointment as head of all detective departments, including the Family Support Unit, in May of this year and, never having been employed with the RCIPS before, is free of any conflicts.

“The findings of this audit will be shared with the governor for her evaluation as to whether an outside inquiry is appropriate,” the police stated. “Despite what the events in this particular case may suggest, the RCIPS is deeply committed to the protection of children and to seeking justice for those who have been subject to abuse.”

The police confirmed that the young victim in this case was removed from the home where the abuse had allegedly taken place immediately following the report, a fact that was revealed during the trial of the two men.

“We clarify this not to excuse in any way our handling of the investigation, but to reassure the community at the very least that investigative delays did not result in the exposure of the victim to further potential harm,” the RCIPS stated.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Cayman Doesn’t Care.
    Admit it folks, that’s why we like it here.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Reported a kidnapping to same unit they did nothing

  3. Anonymous says:

    Criminal proceeding please breach of duty to acr

  4. Anonymous says:

    “KCPD failed to investigate child sex, abuse cases, documents reveal.” SEPTEMBER 15, 2016″ http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article101962597.html

    By following both investigations one can compare how it is being handled in Kansas city vs. in the Cayman Islands.

    So far in the Kansas city:
    “…in January Police Chief … suspended nearly the entire Crimes Against Children unit of detectives and sergeants” ” …….the suspensions an unprecedented step in the department’s history, saying “but it was one we felt was needed to properly serve and protect our city’s most vulnerable victims.” “… created a quality-control unit that has reviewed tens of thousands of cases handled by patrol officers and investigators to make sure cases are being handled thoroughly and in a timely fashion”.
    They too “..would not allow his command staff to publicly discuss the unit’s problems or the ongoing internal investigation”. “…..would not speak about the investigation until it is completed.

  5. Do something instead of talk. says:

    While they are at it. Why not audit and relook at all the stagnate police officer suspensions.

    Some have been going on for over 3 years now with no end in sight.These issues need to be dealt with immeadiately.

    I am quite sure there will be biasness found in these attempted cases as some of the officers were only doing their jobs and stepped on senior officers toes when they spoke out about what was going on.

  6. Anonymous says:

    “(CNS): The RCIPS has begun an audit of [b]all open child abuse cases[/b] and is conducting an internal disciplinary review of officers and supervisors involved in the case concluded this week by the courts, in which the police failed to investigate a serious child abuse complaint. But police officials confirmed there would be no public enquiry into what went wrong. On Thursday morning acting judge, Justice Tim Owen, acquitted two men accused of systematically abusing a young female relative, possibly from when she was as young as seven years old, because of the inexplicable incompetence of the police officers who had conduct of the case.”

    In case the formatting doesn’t work. Why only OPEN child abuse cases? Seems absolutely irrational that an inquiry into possible negligence would focus only on open cases. Obviously, the main focus should be more on cases which have been CLOSED as there is more potential for negligence in CLOSED cases. Please can we get more details on this. Furthermore, why are the police auditing themselves? Corruption auditing corruption… makes sense. Clearly this will be an attempt to conceal even more faults. I’m sure soon we will see lots of shredded paper and smoke from the environs of the GTPS and it’s affiliates!

    • Anonymous says:

      Exactly. I used to be a social worker in Cayman. I fought and fought with the family support unit to follow up on my cases and provide safe timely professional removals of CHILDREN who obtained stds, have been physically and emotionally abused.

      Social workers needed, empathetic and thorough case investigation and interviewing of vulnerable clients. I had cases that involved children as young as 2! Not one case made it to court. Why? Was it RCIPS lawyers and/or the Crown counselors’ lack of commitment? Is the lack of skill ( definitely questionable) in terms of interviewing children? Or is it the obvious burn out level of the people in the family support unit? Has there been a periodic mental health review of the officers in that position? There comes a point in time when you need to recognize that seeing your job as a job is NOT an option. You are dealing with the most vulnerable. Every single case deserves attention with an equal amount of “heart”. Recognition by all child protection agencies should include that the youth that these crimes are being perpetrated against will grow up and the social problems stemming from this abuse will take its toll. Their perpetrators will still live in family”yards” where the behavior is known in all communities across Cayman’s beautiful island and families will wildly continue to protect them and more and more innocent children will lose their innocence.

      The only recourse available to these innocent scared vulnerable children is the investigation skills and performance of the FSU unit. This is truly disheartening as they have shown themselves in various instances of being woefully inept. It is time to step up. Protect your children, protect your future and think about what if this was your child. Call for change, call for accountability and stop this ostrich in the sand phenomenon that exists in Cayman. Police, lawyers, judges and family members need to be accountable. We all have a responsibility to protect . Come on it is time to step up. Think about it, many lucky children on island are thinking of watching Peppa Pig when they get home from pre-school. Other 3-4 year olds are being forced to have sexual contact with adults multiple times a day because they are being sold by their parents or that it’s just accepted because it happened to Jonny, Annie etc when they were kids and it didn’t affect them. Yes it does happen in Cayman.

      Make people who are hired by government to perform child protection services from dcfs to fsu etc do their job and be accountable. Also make accountable the people who stand by like cowards such as the family, school teachers (public AND especially private), pastors, etc. who know what is happening and do not act to protect the child because they know the perpetrator(s) or just don’t want to get involved.

      My suggestion…open Pandora’s Box and investigate past cases. It will be a disgrace to see how many children have had their lives destroyed and have never received justice because of gross incompetency.

      You might be unpleasantly surprised with what you might find.

      • anonymous says:

        This comment needs to be featured separately. enough is enough. Enough pretending that child abuse is a rare occurrence in this country.

  7. Anonymous says:

    police investigating themselves??…….enough said……zzzzzzzzzzz
    another day in wonderland

  8. Anonymous says:

    I say we bring back Baines so we can fire him again!

  9. Anonymous says:

    If there is no special unit in the island, responsible for the welfare of all children, this is the result. You cannot blame the police force only. The welfare of children in the islands is every inhabitants responsibility. The children of today are everyone´s future. They will treat you the same tomorrow as you treat them today.

    • Anonymous says:

      There is and its called The Children and Family Service but they just don’t seem to care or have a handle on the nature of child abuse.

    • Anonymous says:

      The Police should not get off the hook in this case. This is negligence or breach of statutory duty. Period. Apology is not enough. Someone has to sue the RCIPS on behalf of this little girl. She will need a lifetime of counseling to start with
      Building a case to sue the Police is difficult but not impossible, especially in the case like this one, when RCIP has already admitted that they were negligent in failing to investigate.

  10. Anonymous says:

    I strongly believe it is the alleged abusers who should be taken out from the home instead of the victim, if the home consists of any other responsible adult who can care for the victim.

    • Anonymous says:

      But that there, is the problem.
      The reason why the majority of child abuse are never reported. Is it’s usually in the home of a single mother. Who has a boyfriend, brother, father, uncle living with them. The male figure helps with the rent and cost of living, ect.
      When the abuse happens, the mother has two choices. Contact the police and have those abusive figures removed from the house and incarcerated. Which may lead to her losing the house or apartment they live in. burdening everyone. Or say nothing. Not to mention if its a relative, the stigma of sending ones family to prison

      Add both of those two variables. And this is why the majority of these crimes never get reported.

    • Anonymous says:

      Some First Nations in Canada are doing this. Besides the abuser, the enabler. (often the mother) is also removed temporarily. Where there is no competent family member to step in, a support worker actually moves into the house.

  11. Anonymous says:

    It was Baines’ fault ……oh, wait….

  12. A Nony Mouse says:

    I’m sorry, but there needs to be real consequences for the rampant incompetence demonstrated in this troubling case. How would the public react if this had been an armed robbery case and yet bungled so blatantly? Oh, but then the alleged “weapon” used would have been a firearm capable of killing, as opposed to a fleshly appendage that at worst could inflict pain and physical injury/mental torture to an innocent child…. Not the same thing, obviously…. (Exit sarcasm mode!)

  13. Anonymous says:

    Police officials have made the decision that there would be no public enquiry about what went wrong? Oh really??? The police get to decide this?

  14. Anonymous says:

    Bla bla black sheep have you any wool, yes sir yes sir three bags full. (Family Support Unit)

  15. Ambassador of Absurdistan says:

    Just Another Day in Absurdistan.

    This review does not make up for the continued incompetence, potentially corrupt practices that have been highlighted repeatedly and continued inept performance by the RCIPS at multiple levels.

    We seen 24 kilos of cocaine and 60 lbs of marijuana go missing from GT Central Police Station with no arrests and now RCIPS officers fail to do their jobs after a young girl allegedly has her innocence stolen by vile sexual predators while demonstrating more courage to make the report and conduct an interview than the police officers tasked to investigate the alleged crimes. The investigation is a major cock up with no consequences for those who failed to perform their jobs professionally.

    This is all a sick joke that is too frequently deemed acceptable in the Cayman Islands. Another high profile disaster within the RCIPS which will receive the usual raft of excuses and political spin from the Governor’s office, Deputy Governor, Ministry of Home Affairs and the Premier.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Why are you only auditing child sex cases? You cannot even deal with illegal window tint in your own car park! Inexplicable incompetence is not an isolated issue. It is however not just an issue that plagues the police. It is an unfortunate reality accross a wide range of government services.

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