Police chief to make case for more cash
Derek Byrne, Cayman Islands Commissioner of Police
(CNS): The RCIPS is under-resourced, the new police commissioner has said after three weeks on the job, and he plans to make his case to government for more cash for local policing. Meeting the press Wednesday for the first time since he arrived in Cayman earlier this month, Derek Byrne told reporters that he was going to put the community at the centre of policing, but he said there was a shortage of funds and he needed to make the case to government for a budget increase.
Byrne said he wanted to see an RCIPS that was “highly visible, highly accessible, progressive and responsive”.
He said there was a lot of work to be done to create a neighbourhood community-based police model, but there was some semblance of community policing to build on, though it would require more resources.
“I don’t think it is any big secret that there is a shortage of resources. We have to work hard, and I have to make the case to government that we need additional resources and that is going to take a little bit of time.”
Byrne said that there were ever-increasing demands on the police service. New crime trends, such as sophisticated cyber-crime, and open borders with huge amounts of visitors to the island, which all contributed to public safety costs.
The commissioner said it he would have to come-up with a matrix of the type of policing model that would fit best in Cayman with the costs required to fund it to present to the Cayman government. He pointed out that some 80% of the current budget goes on paying salaries, which doesn’t leave a great deal for all the other costs required to fight sophisticated crime in a modern community.
He said his goal was to transform the organisation and he would need some time to work out what was required to do that and then present that to Cabinet. Byrne said it was up to him to make the case and he could not go them with “fragmented problems” but he needed to bring a business plan to government.
“I feel I am going to be supported …when I can make a satisfactory business case in terms of what I believe it is that needs to be delivered to make us a modern progressive policing service,” Byrne added.
He also said there were some morale issues among the staff and it would be “foolhardy to suggest that there weren’t any difficulties”. However, he said there was also a great deal of good going on and “not everything is broken with the RCIPS”. He said it was his job to build on the good and deal with the not so good.
The commissioner also spoke about the need to build trust and be more transparent. He said that as a police service, and not a force, the RCIPS has to be an “ethical, progressive and accountable” service, and he emphasised the need for more visible community policing across all three islands.
Byrne said that the RCIPS was making use of its community and neighbourhood officers in the current murder enquiry following the shooting of Dwayne Seymour on Monday. He explained that community policing in “times of need”, such as a serious incident like that, could really pay off with the information officers could gather when they were well-connected and immersed in the community.
The commissioner outlined some immediate priorities, which included dealing with the two most recent murders, as well as the growing public concerns about the increase in the reckless use of illegal bikes on the roads by young men.
The Police is just one pillar which determines how sturdy this country is. In order to maximize the (if any) progressive change in this society there also has to be adequate change within the education system (Pillar 2), NGOs like Red Cross and Churches (Pillar 3), etc.
You can’t improve just one part of an interconnected infrastructure.
Saw 4 illegal bikers messing around on WB Road and Esterly Tibbets on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, wheelying and causing chaos on…not a policeman in sight
Cops never pull over when cars park in the middle of the road on a double line – they just drive right around and continue on to who knows where. Start enforcing the traffic laws and things will start to fall in place. I feel like the cops actually think traffic citations are below them. They want more money? HERE IT IS.
The police are afraid of the gangsters. Period.
There are nefarious powers behind the gangs in Cayman. The youth know it, the police know it and they just leave it alone.
The top of the Cayman pyramid is full of surprises.
People value their lives, so they don’t speak.
It doesn’t matter how efficient the police are if the courts system takes so long to process the criminals that everyone forgets what the crime was and/or if the criminal happens to be a born Caymanian and knows someone who knows someone.
I went to pay a parking ticket and was told I could NOT pay it because the constable that wrote it didn’t enter it in the system. I had to go to another building to have it ‘entered’ before going back once again to line up to pay it. Put a stop to this antiquated nonsense and make the cops do what they are supposed to do! I was told by an official at the courts building that many of the cops don’t process the tickets. I filed a formal complaint with the standards department but of course I was ignored. This is a major contribution to the poor image of the police service, lazy and ineffecient!
I wouldn’t have bothered… if they can’t file the ticket then don’t pay. Make them accountable.
You shouldn’t be getting a ticket in the first place! Shame on you!!! It was LAZINESS that made you end up with that ticket.
You should think before you write and jump to conclusions. I did not park my vehicle illegally. It was the person driving at the time who was visiting, and simply made an error. The ticket goes to the registered owner which is me. But you have missed the point I was making anyway.
I would start with having each and every RCIPs member taking an IQ test, followed by professional qualification tests. Then I would focus on technology being currently employed by RCIPS. Only after analyzing IQs, qualifications and technology I would move forward. One need to know what he has first. One highly experienced detective for example can easily replace 10 or even more useless officers. Technology is so sophisticated now that every sqi of this island can be monitored 24×7. Online payment options would free many man hours now wasted.
Can we expand that to the whole of the civil service?
Enforcing traffic rules will bring so much money, they would not know what to do with it. Taking into account people pay online, not sending 2 officers after each offender.
Didn’t they get a raise pay last yr after they told the government they needed more $ to hire more police and when they got it they gave themselves a pay raise rather than getting more police as requested! JOKERS!!
Oh……..My………God. We hired a new English COP who appears to have been chosen based on his demonstrated ability to “justify” and “pretty up” the art of weaseling more money out of the Caymanian people for his department.
He has been here for only 3 weeks and already he has analyzed the police department which he now heads up, and determined that the most pressing problem they have is that they are short of money …………. How depressing.
He steps completely over the crime fighting initiatives introduced by Acting COP Anthony Ennis, and my hope that he would be able to enhance this, through more efficient use of the resources he now has, as Ennis appeared to be doing…………. and goes straight for the purse strings.
How often did we hear that his predecessor could not put community police into the districts and man the district police stations ………… because of a shortage of resources ………. yet Ennis appears to have found a way to do so.
Mr. Byrne, I beseech you, first make the RCIPS more efficient and extract more value for the money you now spend, before demanding more money from the people who you are hired to serve ………… with it’s built in excuse for failure….. not enough CASH.
The police force you inherited can, and MUST, do a better job with the resources at their disposal, in terms of the basic tenants of Policing ……….. after you have done that, come back to us with extra enhanced services you would like to introduce and explain the amount of additional cash you will need to introduce these services ………. But Sir, please continue to improve the basics first.
WaYaSay
He is Irish, good grief, not English.
I have read the many blogs on this issue and here’s my take. First I’d like to say that this COP seems very qualified and in like the way he has stated that the communities is the key focus as he knows that without public assistance his job is more difficult. I also applaud his stance on these tugs on illegal motor bikes. This is no Baines this man is qualified so let us give him a chance, finally we know that traffic unit and community police was disbandant during Baines times and only God knows what else went wrong, so this maybe the reason for the request for cash.
Quite definitely “disbandant”. What a great word, may I use it?
Don’t forget the “tugs” on the motorbikes!
He White.
He is Irish. Calling him English is like calling a Frenchman a German.
English, really? You write a lot but I suspect you cannot read.
You moron, the new COP isn’t English, he’s from the Republic of Ireland, so he’s not British either.
Uneducated, racist and nationalistic crap like that only demonstrates why you actually need an expat based police service in the first place.
Ennis wasn’t interested in the top job and was merely marking time until a replacement for Baines was found. He wasn’t going to upset anyone just in case it reflected poorly on any future aspirations he may have, and crime certainly didn’t stop or abated under his brief tenure.
I do agree that smarter use of existing resources is necessary, however, as criminals get more sophisticated and daring, resources will have to grow to maintain the levels of deterrence, investigation and prosecution.
It is true that the basics are failing, but that’s because Cayman chose the cheap option and recruited from the wider Caribbean, where standards are much, much lower and the reasons for transferring to Cayman far more complex than from the UK, US and Canada.
I know what I would do if I were a poorly paid cop in Kingston, having to carry an M16 at all times and wondering where the next dead cop will be found. I’d come to Cayman in a heartbeat, but Kingston, the Jamaican police service and their training is a different world and a different policing model from anything required here.
What did you expect when you treated the highly trained and experienced expat officers from 1st world countries with such distain and hostility, how did you think this would pan out?
I would suggest by the state of your service and the appalling standard of basic policing, not too well.
The RCIPS is failing because your society is failing, it is your behaviour that requires more resources, so accordingly, you should pay more. It’s simple economics.
Mic drop…
We don’t need any more Kingston cops. Got too many now. This is a British territory, so our cios should be from Cayman or the U.K.!
preferably from the uk……
My dear sir, how exactly are we to attach any credence to what you say if you are oblivious to this Irish gentleman’s nationality? Surely you had the opportunity to hear or read about his particulars. Please do your homework before saying another word. Thank you.
sell some planes.
A really easy step to get the cash flowing for our Islands would be to legalize ganja and make a tourism product from it, Colorado, Amsterdam and a host of other countries have proven that clearly. It would also free up the RCIPS to do a lot more instead of wasting everyone’s time and resources.
Legalize and tax it or keep it illegal and spend thousands on futile attempts to prevent black market importing from jamaica, while giving incentive for gang related violence to control the black market.
Simple choice, yet they choose the idiotic latter.
He is setting the stage for his failure…Says he needs more cash, the politicians will say No, and when he fails in turnign the RCIPS around, he will say its because he never got the cash…Just wait 2-3 yrs and see. Just put Kurt Walton in the damn job, sink or swim at least its a Caymanian at the damn helm.
“a police service, and not a force” – Brilliant! This is exactly what RCIPS needs to be – it needs to a part of our community – our trusted friends. You catch more flies with Honey. Now lets see them put this into practice not just sweet talk.
I wonder just how long it was going to take before we heard this same old game. More Money yet again ???? A Motorcycles Crisis now to justify yet another fleecing of our Budget by the Police wow!!! I suggest we make contact with the Chinese officials now to get a cheap version high tech Drone because the American one is way too expensive. We have bought everything thing this UK run Foreign Police service has desired and paid then 100 times what they would make in their countries with the benefits to match. All we see and have gotten in return is BS and when they depart business are set up or law degrees paid for by us. Time to drain this SWAMP of the critters that have now infested and invade it
Err! This COP isn’t British or from the UK, and I believe he is employed by the CIG.
Oh yes, and this is still a British Territory, so it’s definitely not foreign run either.
And I don’t know how long you served in the British police for, (because you sound so confident, although you sound like a local rock hopper) but I don’t know any officer who would come here for the money. The cost of living here cancels out any advantage they may have on paper, so try again with you anti everything diatribe.
And I agree, lets drain the swamp of those who don’t respect their historical heritage or their British or Jamaican roots, or the only flag EVER to fly over these islands.
You’d have a better point if the UK did a halfway decent job with the RCIPS. It’s all on the FCO and the governor, and for the past decade it has been one embarrassment after another–the recent motorcycle gang outing being just the latest example. Btw Cayman has shown more respect than most of your other colonies, past and present, allbeit undeserved what with the common Brit trait of calling people rock hoppers.
Really, it’s actually on the fact that your dishonest society cannot be trusted to police itself, otherwise you wouldn’t need so many expats to bolster a service that fails because you fail.
These are your gangsta drug dealing killers, your baby mamas, your junkies, drunks, unemployable, sexual deviants, domestic abusers and every other criminal wannabe floating from the swamp.
Yet you, on an island of 60k people, many of whom are honest, hard working foreign workers, fail to reign in your feral off spring, educate your kids to acceptable standards and care for your sick, elderly and poor.
So before you do what you do best and blame everyone but yourselves, think about why a place no bigger than a small town cannot police itself with its own people.
Ps: for your info, I’m not a ‘Brit’, unlike you who has no other nationality, as ‘Caymanian’ isn’t one, it’s descriptive of someone, anyone, who comes from the Cayman Islands.
And btw, rockhopper is a term for a blind, ignorant, nationalist with a huge chip on his shoulder and who blames everyone but himself or his kind. It does not apply to the majority, they are far too smart to worry about the whinging, whining anti everything league, and definitely understand where their best interests lie.
So if the cap fits, wear it!
Anon 9:46pm. As a Caymanian National ……….. I am so proud that we as a society are able to attract smart, respectful, gracious, people of gratitude such as yourself to our beloved shores. Are you even living here? Or, are you one of those who was on the Cayman gravy train who have been rolled over.
You do not even seem to understand that in a British Overseas Territory, the FCO and the Governor are directly responsible for the Police Force, so you must be living somewhere else today.
Got a chip on your shoulder for Cayman, much? Sir/Madam.
WaYaSay
They may be responsible for internal security and crime, but CIG employed him, an Irish national.
No chip, sir. Just a realisation that this ‘beloved country’, (in fact a territory) is being destroyed by those from within. You have singularly taken all the riches offered, squandered them and formed a society that is both disfunctional and corrupt.
You have turned this quiet, decent and pleasant place into a killing ground for your own kids, you have encouraged disfunctional and anti social behaviour from your young, you treat visitors to these islands as a facility to extract more cash, and you care little for the future of your own people.
Okay, yes, I’m angry, but I’m angry with those who come out with self denial and blame for their own incompetence.
It’s you sir who have destroyed this place, it’s welcome and its charm, and you did it in the name of self determination, greed and ignorance of your place in the world.
As a Cayman national you must be so proud of your achievements.
They are not exclusively our kids. Check the facts. Many of them are in fact foreign nationals.
So they’re not ‘exclusively’ your kids, so that makes it okay then?
That’s exactly the kind of mentality that’s being pointed out here and why this place is on a fast downward spiral of disfunction and criminal behaviour.
These kids have parents, and I bet one of them is Caymanian, if only they knew who.
I tried wearing that cap full of BS for years sir……….. sorry it does not fit. You can have it back as small brains usually mean a small head!
Do you have small hands too?
Northward and your graveyards tells another story, shame you don’t understand that simple fact and do something about it yourselves.
Obviously didn’t finish human biology at school, if you actually went to one that is. You’ve been watching too many zika reports on tv.
The only BS here is that exiting the mouths of those in denial at their own failure to police themselves and control their feral kin.
Listen bobo, some of us actually understand what we see, we don’t live in a Eutopian dream world that believes that Caymans crime and societal problems are everyone else’s fault but that of Caymanians.
But hey, that BS you talk of must have run into your eyes, because you are clearly blind to your own disastrous failings.
4.17-who are the UK policing? Caymanians it would seem…Northward full of them…
Many of the so called Caymanians in Northward are in fact not.
Oh yes they are, and living in a bubble of self denial because you don’t accept your own immigration laws doesn’t change a thing.
As ‘Caymanian’ isn’t a nationality, what’s your point, as anyone who comes from Cayman can be referred to as such?
If the cap fits ….
Use what you have at your disposal, tighten procedures, improve your reporting and this will indicate where the resources are needed.
Do you have any talented database jockeys down there? You know, someone who makes sense of all the data. I am not talking about IT staff that love to spend the public purse on toys, rather clever people who can put key information at your fingertips in real-time.
Dear COP,
Why are you allowing RCIPS officers, of any rank, to apply to other CIG law enforcement depts when you are trying to maintain critical staffing levels yourself?
Surely it is not right for an officer with several years of service and a potentially large pension, to just give up for a softer life elsewhere. If staff are so dispirited and of such low morale, stressed etc.. why are they not counselled by the service and retained, why are they willing to give up seniority to claim a second pension and sit out their remaining days doing very little?
This must be a huge drain on experience, training and finances.
Regards,
Very concerned local officer.
The scuttle butt in GT is that a very senior officer is applying to DOE as an junior officer, is that true?
His fellow officers believe so.
How can this happen?
Shame.
Because they get paid twice as much have decent working environment for less responsibility and a cushy 9-5 number.
Someone told me that the RCIPS was described as the bastard child of government
So a senior police officer, (or any police officer) earns less than the $3.5k to $4k a month a DOE officer starts on?
I don’t think so, what’s the real reason?
You don’t join any law enforcement for a cushy 9-5 number, what does that choice say about the cop involved, should he be in law enforcement if that’s his attitude?
Loyal RCIPS officer.
Maybe you should ask Ex Supt Scotland his reasons
They should all explain why they are prepared to waste tax payers money by off loading their experience in the name of a cushy life.
The people need an explanation from these officers who think they can disregard their civic duty and the money invested in them, only to live out their remaining service with little responsibility.
It is our money they get in their pay packet and pension pots, they must supply a reasonable explanation for their disrespect.
No serving police officer should be able to effectively abuse his publicly funded position and reduce himself to a lower rank for nothing more than self interest.
There are too many police officers, local and expat, who consider the RCIPS to be an easy ride. And there are far too many who clearly do not know the laws they are charged with upholding, and probably don’t care anyway.
There are several noticeable cuts than can be made, first, stop purchasing over powered cruisers that few are actually qualified to drive at high speed. In fact, how many cops are qualified to any acceptable standard to drive a police vehicle?
Utilise smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles and avoid chases by smarter use of technology.
Get cops on the same bikes the local lunatics use as potential deadly weapons and patrol the outlying districts. NS had 8 break-ins over 2 days, 2 weeks ago, where are the damn police. Where are they on a Sunday when houses are being robbed and motor bikes race on 1 wheel along the length of Rum Point Drive?
Come on COP, there’s one road in and out of Cayman Kai to Old Man Bay, how difficult is this?
Too many excuses when minor adjustments would make a difference, such as a cop or two in wave runners at RP and Kaibo at the weekends, a cop or two on motorcycles all week to catch speeding locals, residents and tourists.
The most noticeable problem, is getting cops out of their cars and on the ground doing their damn job by communicating with everyone and not just the friends, family and pretty girls that appear to get most attention.
I’m all for more resources, but smarter policing has to come first, and at the moment there is little sign that any kind of thought has gone into utilising existing resources in a more cohesive and smarter way.
I think its sad that 80% of the budget is just to pay the cops. Like this is just some kind of “make-work” program. Policing is serious and life-threatening business when the police are actually doing their jobs. Instead of buying pretty police cars they should be investing money on actual policing of the community.
You always need money. Its just that where that money goes to could be an issue :/
Agree Unison, the ONLY thing we hear is that
1) we need more cops (Jamaica’s official employer but the same Caymanians scared to say no, will feel the wrath of that decision) AND/OR
2) then they need more money!!!
Maybe if they hired quality over quantity and sent the Jamaicans back home vs transferring to other departments or keeping them in the service costing us more money, then we would finally get a decent ‘service.
I would be interested to hear his view on the 800 plus tickets which are outstanding and how he plans to deal with that situation. Also, what changes will he implement to ensure that traffic laws are going to be enforced again on a daily basis? we need to make a change to the existing process regarding traffic violations, issuing tickets and collecting the fines as the current process of having to go to court etc is obviously not working. Also, besides the funds which he claims are lacking, morale and motivation within RCIP seems to be also lacking. It is beyond frustrating when serious traffic violations occur right in front of a police car and they just carry on like they didn’t see it. I have come to conclude that police themselves don’t know what the traffic violations are. In addition please move this country to the year 2016 and install automated speed trap around the Island,
I hope some of the funds are used to install automated speed traps around the Island
Oh the nay Sayers are out in force, probably the same people who criticize the RCIPs day in day out. The police here do not just do police work. They over time have become an extension of social services and that is probably what needs to stop. Give the man a chance.
Geeesh, like any sensible person, he is coming in and assessing things and carefully moving forward – he said he has to make the case for what he sees to be the problem. It’s clear he’s smart enough to see the problems already. Give him a chance and stop leaping to conclusions based on your prejudices against the police. They are 70 officers down at the moment, the boats are broken, lots of other issues, the guy has inherited quite a piece of work and you know it. Why do you think the other two didn’t apply for the job? Ever ask yourself that? Anyone who knows anyone in the police knows that there ARE serious resource issues. This island wants a first class police service on no money. Grow up. And yes, sorry, their budget sounds like a big number but in the scheme of things it is not a lot. The police are called for everything. You keep comparing the numbers here to the numbers elsewhere, but that’s not such a simple thing to do. I would like to see some real research on that issue – some of those other places have other law enforcement as well that are responsible for some of the duties this police service has to deal with. This one is responsible for almost everything plus the kitchen sink. I think the guy is doing what needs to be done – a top to bottom assessment – and I hope they let us read it when it’s done. I’m sure it would make for some very interesting reading that flies in the face of all your offhand, ill-informed comments.
It is not uncommon for salaries to be the biggest spend…it’s about the value we’re getting for that 80% of the budget that I’m worried about!
You would think after the central heist they would have enough “resources”.
Non sesnse
oh yes, quite definitely “sesnse”
Spelling?
Too many police officers on the payroll maybe. Here we go again.
He asking for more money already. Here we go again.
Salaries are 80% yet he needs more cash. With all the auxiliaries doing menial jobs there are surely cuts that can be made. Let’s do away with the the overtime and waste.
Start with the unnecessary Criminal Records office on Walkers Road. Why can’t an immigration officer check a record when processing the application of a foreign worker, why does it need an unqualified misery, sat behind glass, eating her Patties to process a meaningless piece of paper? I bet the $10 is purely for their wages as it takes at least an hour to process 4 applicants each. That office must be making a huge loss.
All police checks should be done by the agency requiring the information, not by the employee who is wasting their employers and their own time standing in an unnecessary queue.
How many thousands of man and productivity hours are lost to this bureaucratic nightmare?
Stop finding paid and pensionable positions for those who are really not needed and use the money on fighting real criminals.
How come Mr. Ennis was doing such a great job with RCIP and crime without any increase in budget, and the new COP needs a budget increase . Baines not gone yet.
I wonder if he is going to need a pay raise next week.
Ennis was treading water whilst awaiting the arrival of the new COP and as such was working on the resources he had at his disposal. Whether he did a good job or not is up for discussion but let the new COP do his job before getting stuck into him! He is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t whilst Ennis will be seen as a hero. If he was so good then why is not the COP?!!
Mr Ennis did not want the job of Commissioner. He did not apply for it…..That says something….
He didn’t apply because he didn’t want the job.
Yes….because he then didn’t want to be held responsible
The majority of officers are Jamaicans so to have a Jamaican CoP asking for an increase is too obvious, across the board, they get their Caymanian lackey boys or some fool-fool British/Irish person to be convinced they are ‘victims’ in Cayman, works everywhere, poor expats think Jamaicans are with them.
cash is not the answer….read miller shaw or e&y reports…..
The motorcycle problems have been going on for years and the police haven’t done a thing about it. Why all of a sudden now “its a big thing”….cars tinted illegally, loud music coming from cars..same same…just different day…oh yes and they all come in with the “we need more money”….what happened when Baines asked for more money that was suppose to have stopped our problems when it was approved.
So we were right about Baines then ? He wasn’t doing a damn thing was he ?
Yup!
“He pointed out that some 80% of the current budget goes on paying salaries.” Fair comment Commissioner Byrne but why not try this – make your officers work for their salaries.
The problem with RCIPS as I see it is too many officers happy to wear the uniform, drive the fancy cars and take the pay checks but very few of them prepared to do the job they are being paid to do.
Commissioner, don’t come begging for more money until you can prove to us that you are doing the best possible job with the resources you have. If you want to be taken seriously get out there kicking ass, taking numbers and getting rid of all the dead wood.
It is refreshing to hear a CoP that can listen to the community, without honking his own horn like a circus clown. I like this guy already.