Premier to cut failing social interventions
Police Commissioner Derek Byrne and Premier Alden McLaughlin at the meeting in Scranton Wednesday night
(CNS): Government is spending millions of dollars on social intervention projects, initiatives and programmes that are failing the people they are meant to help, according to Premier Alden McLaughlin, who now has responsibility for community affairs. At a public meeting in George Town, he said he had begun a review to find out what is working and what isn’t in an effort to focus public money on successful projects to improve communities and keep kids out of trouble.
Speaking at the Scranton public meeting Wednesday night, he said he was determined to address the range of interventions government has funded, in some cases for years, without results.
McLaughlin pointed out that it was not just the large number of programmes that government established and funded directly but the many church, NGO, community or club projects and initiatives that it gives grants or contributions towards that he feared are wasting public cash. He said it was no exaggeration that people come to government on a near weekly basis for financial funding for one idea or another but there has never been a way to measure what works and what doesn’t.
“We need to take a long hard look at what is happening,” he said, adding that without a matrix of measurement he was not prepared to pour money into failing initiatives. “It can’t be business as usual for funding these programmes that are not working.”
The meeting was hosted by Dale Ramoon, the chair of the Scranton Community Committee, who had invited Police Commissioner Derek Byrne, RCIPS Superintendent Robert Graham, George Town Central MLA Kenneth Bryan and the premier to discuss the increase in crime, the negative impact on the neighbourhood and how it can be addressed. Social issues were recognised by everyone as a major challenge, and McLaughlin said he was well aware of the issues that the Scranton community was dealing with and the tragic incidents in the area.
The neighbourhood has been the scene of two murders and several serious violent incidents in the last few years. But McLaughlin said the problems plaguing the area were also broadly affecting the whole of Cayman, as there has been an undeniable upward trend in violent crime for many years.
He said this was fuelled by a number of factors, but intervention attempts over the years to stem increasing crime had, without doubt, failed. He said the recidivism among young Caymanian men was alarming, and the reality was that some 80% of the population of HMP Northward was made up of Caymanian men under the age of 30. Accepting that the community deserved to have a much better sense of security and safety, he told the small crowd that came out for the meeting that he knew there were deeper issues at play regarding the causes of criminality.
The premier said he would take on the challenge of addressing the multitude of failing programmes and use the money more wisely. He said he knew people in government were going to be upset but he would be asking for people to justify the projects they were getting public money for, and if the programmes could not demonstrate success, the cash would be diverted.
Although he made a commitment to fund the police during the next budget round to enable them to expand the community policing department, he warned that pouring money into the RCIPS was not a solution to the increase in crime. It was the social issues that had to be addressed, the premier said, as he made it clear that government was looking for ways to target spending at solving the root causes of crime.
Category: Crime, Crime Prevention, Local News
But cut from the top levels please. that’s where the failing plans and lack of business cases are.
Except what can be farmed out lucratively to consultants
The cream rises to the top. but so does the crap too.
Gotta be done Alden, you may lose your job next time around be you may save the country from ruin.
Sometimes you gotta take one for the team. Good on yuh.
Government roll is to rule and guide the nation. This type of authoritarian attitude is doing a pretty poor job here. Perhaps instead of new candidates we need a whole different approach on how to run a country.
It’s simple…. instead of Social Services handing out a check $ to every lazy Tom, Dick and Harry…hand out condoms…..
George…………ouch
I guess they should also hand out certificates for pedicures.!,
Condoms for Dick only, Tom and Harry can buy their own.
Especially to Dick
Helpful hint for the room;
Approaching an issue from a position of clear disdain for the people in question never ends well.
I hope some of you are left ashamed and humbled subsequent to reading your own hateful words.
A bit of self-analysis would go a long way. Failing that, you may want to consider yourself going a long way (away).
I would never emigrate to a society that I held is such low regard.
However, clearly that is the reality for many in our circles today.
Sad.
– Whodatis
4:15am, physician, heal thyself.
Solving the root causes of crime, well let’s make a start with illegitimate kids, parental failure, generational lack of education, small gene pool, mental health, inbred attitudes of self entitlement, unaccountability, lack of responsibility, alcohol, drugs, lack of aspiration, poor work ethic, victim complex, chip on shoulder, envy, and good old badness.
And a whole lot more besides.
You sound chipper today old boy. Somebody got a weed up yer ass?
Are you listening bobo, 80% of HMP population Caymanian under 30’s. Add another 10-15% over 30 and that destroys the myth of a prison full of foreigners.
Wrong!
These are CIG generated stats.
Oddly, bobo, I’ve lived here 17 years and I’ve never heard that myth except when someone (like you, frinstance) refers to it as a myth.
You can’t read CNS very often then. The suggestion that Northward is full of foreigners who should all be deported is fairly common, as is the response that the Caymanians in there are all paper Caymanians.
All public schools should be all year round. There should be no summer. Summer time off was created for farmers and needing all members of the family to help on the farm.
Keeping the children in school all year round allows for longer time spent in school and they are able to learn a variety of courses. Have the teachers in shift work or even better. Just keep them on year round as everyone else works all year round and has vacation days allotted.
Now that you have a longer school year. Parents won’t have their children at home doing nothing and unsupervised. Then you can introduce all of these trades programs as part of the curriculum. Now there is time to learn the maths and English and the sewing, cooking, AC, woodwork, auto mechanics, electrical, plumbing, construction, legal secretarial work, diving, boat repair, thatching, basket weaving, painting walls, gardening, basic nursing, entrepreneurial skills, public speaking skills, personal finance, customer service skills, bartending and juggling that goes with it etc.
Plus add in mandatory volunteer work with the charities on island. There should be a mandatory 10 hours a month for high school to volunteer their time. The primary level can be an hour a week.
Now this means that the next generation of children will have the knowledge and ability to take care of themselves. Maybe with all those skills, they will be inspired with the entrepreneurial spirit. These skills are not restricted to the high school level. This starts at the primary level all the way to graduation.
At the moment, each public school child is allowed the privilege of learning to swim at the lions pool. Now up the level to make it mandatory that each child has to be scuba certified by graduation. If for medical reasons they can’t then that is the only allowable reason. For the children that fall in love with the water can continue on and make diving a career as a dive master. Eventually own their own dive shop. It also gives the children an appreciation of the underwater environment and teaches them the importance of protecting it. At the moment, decisions of the sea is being made by people that don’t dive or rarely if ever go in the water. There is no appreciation.
Children in primary school can be taught to juggle. Once they get older they learn to juggle bottles. Then, voila – fancy juggling bartenders that are local. Not the influx of Canadians that we have. If they don’t go on to be bartenders, then maybe fun street shows or in the batabano parades actually have choreography of people juggling or doing fancy routines. Rather than just the raunchy drunk dancing.
Same with the basic house skills, many parents don’t know how to cook or have time to teach their children how to cook. The next generation don’t know what to do and waste money at restaurants. They don’t know how to take care of themselves. Teaching the children how to cook will help cook for themselves and maybe even give inspiration to open a restaurant.
Sewing is another skills all boys and girls should have. Simple ability to repair their own clothes and advance to making clothes. Cayman may have many designers that just don’t have the basic skills.
I could go on. But if the govt really wants to fix the problem, then they need to get serious about it. Most of the people that aren’t working and asking for money is because they do not have abilities which are valued. They have low self esteem and no ambition to do better.
Stop that by giving the next set of children a wide range of skills. If the children come out of school with all the above abilities in addition to the regular subjects, Cayman can improve vastly.
At the moment, we import people for a lot of things that can be done at home or that just requires a little knowledge for the simple skills.
Now before anybody jumps on this that it is only for blue collar work. I did suggest legal secretarial as something the children should learn. This mandatory education is only up to high school. Once these children start high school, they should be encouraged to continue onto university. But now maybe they can work in one of those trade jobs and go to university at the same time and pay their own way. It gives them the tools to be responsible for themselves.
The plus side is that you now have a steady flow of Caymanians working in various fields and do not need the lower income work permits. There is no need to raise the minimum wage. I didn’t agree with having one in the first place, because it is young students in these fields who don’t intend to stay in the field. For the ones that do, can enhance their trade and open their own or have multiple skills and have multiple streams of income.
All these low skills jobs with the exception of nanny jobs, are not intended to be permanent jobs for life. Fast food places in first world countries are usually staffed with high school and university students as first jobs to get into learning the working world.
School all year round…parents won’t have their children at home doing nothing and leaving kids unsupervised, have the teachers in shift work or even better, just keep them on year round as everyone else works all year round and has vacation days allotted.
When was it ever made on God’s green earth that teachers should be parents to students all year round as well as be parents to their own children…all year round. Why should government accomodate parents laziness during the summer, wake up!
If you made a responsible decision to have kids I would only assume that you would make the responsible decision not to leave them home alone unsupervised either.
Teachers on shift work…have you ever been in a classroom full of 25 students with 10 of them having special needs…I would take it that you haven’t. Twenty-five students is a lot but having ten of them who need special attention based on their behaviour, academics or social interactions is a lot for one teacher to deal with. Not all classrooms come with a Teacher’s Aid so one teacher must be a police officer, lawyer, doctor.
Students fight and a teacher has to maintain control of his/her classroom, if there is an incident in a classroom or on the field, they have to be doctor getting a band aid cleaning cuts and brusies, then you have the arguments of bullying where a teacher must maintain order of what is right. Students bring their issues at school and a teacher and many support staff have to follow protocol in order to insure confidentiality and proper procedures are followed to enable the safety of all students.
Stop blaming teachers for failing students, Respect starts at home. Humility starts at home. Charity starts at home. Look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you are doing something to make a difference.
Blame isn’t on the teachers. It is to fix a problem which the parents don’t know how to do or care to do. External parties will now step in before it becomes a systemic problem throughout the island.
All year school happens in some public schools in California. As does shift work of teachers. Teachers still work 8 month cycles, it is just a matter of when their 8 months start.
Think outside the box and you will get a solution. This is just a start of the conversation.
I also believe public school should not finish until 5pm.
Wow. Jugglers……
Cayman is a tourist destination and the Cayman Islands has to up its game. What does the hospitality industry offer? Any bars with fires shows? And bars with exciting sexy bartenders doing anything other than standing around? Why not have locals provided with skills from a young age to fit these roles? Even if it is just for a part time position or supplemental income. At the moment, many won’t consider it an option and bars and restaurants are full of Canadians.
This is the kind of radical thinking we need to revolutionize Caymanian education. we will be world leaders in new educational theory – no one else has compulsory juggling and scuba as part of their education system.
ppm will do nothing….. as usual….
Premier – stop importing poverty!
Wow. It sounds like a corrupt, third world culture going on.
It time Cayman we send this foreign component in our police service back to their homeland instead of hiring more to come here and do the same. This colonial experiment has obviously failed and all we keep doing is pouring more and more money on this BUL$#@*& How much more money are we going to give them???? Cayman they now have the budget of a small country. This is absolute rubbish and bringing foreign nationals to police themselves is a recipe for serious upheavel and civil unrest in any place. Careful what you paying for Cayman you just might purchase your own demise.
Sounds like More real police and less pretend police is going to be a big problem for you. Cayman is not third world enough for you? Its a big world out there. Maybe get some stones and do what most people here ( including your ancestors) already did. Move to a country with more opportunities for you. Try it. Please.
I have chosen to put my kids through private school and have made many sacrifices along the way, including driving an old car and doing without regular restaurant visits, beauty salon visits and “toys” many other families seems to have.
It irks me beyond believe that I see so many families who pay zero $$ towards their kids (at times as many as 5 per household) education, not even buying school books or school supplies or paying towards transport, yet they have brand new vehicles parked in front of their house, a boat in the yard and every latest gadget and toy available.
This foolishness needs to stop!
Hear hear, hard work not hand outs are what we need to teach and live by. I am disgusted by the women who moan to me their situation should be addressed by the government? Yes, the schools failed you, but it was your choice to have multiple children, no job, and ask for handouts. The rest of us live within our means and scrape by.
Sounds like a Corrupt third world problem. How did the last third world country that solved this problem do it?
Private sector ripping off government and then complaining of fees too high.
Premier the civil service is right behind you on this. This is first time an elected official has actually been brave enough to take this action.
We have tried for years to get ministers to cut funding.
1. We criminalize and convict young, marijuana-consuming Caymanian males.
2. We have a record of successive sub-par education system.
3. We have a shamefully low presence of vocational training on island.
4. There is ZERO SYNERGY between the industries of our economy and the preparation for OUR OWN PEOPLE therefor.
5. We have created an undeclared 3RD INDUSTRY of work permit revenue.
6. Said 3rd industry contributes in a major way to the removal and absence of opportunities for our young adults.
7. Government policies have effectively led to the mass importation of poverty.
Dear Premier,
The 7 points above not only represent reasons for the current state of affairs but also issues that can be addressed by legislation and government policy.
Just trying to be of some help.
– Who
We need stop smoking PERIOD. Marijuana or otherwise….
For education we need an education minister who involves himself personally into the system. Who actively sits with teachers and all education to find out at the roots whath the issues are.
We need to get kids who are having issues from young and make sure they are able to move up. This allowing them to progressive year to year just because of age does not cut it. I am not saying hold them back and I am saying CATCH THEM and help them.
Work Permits will be work permits. What we need is to use the tools we have more effectively. These tools are 1. Roll over 2. NWDA web site.
1. We need enforce roll over period.
2. NWDA Webs site – No more Compass ads accepted by Immigration for permits. Labor Board collects all unemployed people info and uploads to NWDA backend database. Any new job coming in that matches an unemployed gets flagged and emails go out to Immigration Chief or designate, Labor Board Chief or designate and perspective applicant. AUTOMATICALLY. Job get flagged as one that MUST be filled by Caymanian unless approved by both Immigration Chief and Labor Board chief. A report is then then sent monthly by the system of approvals to Minister in Charge, Premier and head of opposition. This way it gets followed up on.
Again I say NO MORE WORK PERMITS BACKED UP BY COMPASS ADS….They don’t work. Employers throw away good applicants and only show Immigration bad ones to justify permit and Immigration is none the wiser unless someone reports it.
STOP NEWSPAPER ADS!!
I don’t think the Importation of poverty is the issue as much as the administration of minimum wage. Think about it for a second. If the minimum wage was enforced then both would be offered the same rate. Nanny jobs will NEVER EVER be filled by Caymanians because we don’t want to work for that quantity of money. Businesses are always looking to be able to either increase revenues or lower cost. Unless we get into job price fixing we have little choice.
Well what about the employment agencies? Some places don’t even advertise in the paper, they just hire temps through the agency.
you’re right on all 7 points Who. that’s a near first!
people also need to stop giving away money to other people who don’t even need it just to shore up votes for the next election . Remember if you have to pay people to vote for you then you must be a very pitiful person with money.
I am sick and tired of reading about the “sub-par” education system. The education system is only “sub-par” because we have too many lazy assed parents who can’t be bothered to be involved in their children’s lives to teach them some motivation, work ethics and discipline. The schools are not responsible for raising kids. It starts at home.
It’s time people understand the problem starts with the laws. When a person is convicted they are written off . Most I do understand not all but most of the convicts that leave the prison want to make a change in there life some of the prison officers at northward treat the inmates like the are human and give them hope to be a better person.. I know of inmates that leave northward hoping for a chance to give bAck to there service to the prison as officers and can’t do so due to laws prohibiting them , why serve your time and still be punished for the rest of ur life the government is setting inmates up to go and do the same thing over again. When they leave prison the society writes them off inmates ppl with a past that may have made mistakes and trying to live right can’t do so because there past is all is seen not there ability to change so if u want the crime to stop start giving these ppl s chance to change.
What these people need to do is work on people who can’t get work for having a record, yes I know you never told them to do any crime but we only human in life things happen but you live and learn, Mr. Premier please work on something for offenders give them a chance, once u know you did your part then u can sleep in piece, you have a voice..
Agreed. An ’employment for room and board’ programme is what is needed. Nothing fancy. But something where people can build up experience and a record of working (without worrying where they will sleep or what they will eat) that will allow them to get a real job and pay for real accommodation.
Long overdue…..these approaches never work…never…
A step in the right direction. One of the issues that needs to be looked at is when foreigners marry locals, then bring in their non Caymanian children and spouse and children end up on welfare. I know of several where the Caymanian and foreign spouse are not living together but the foreign spouse is receiving welfare.
Report them. Defrauding the government is a crime.
Thanks but the government already knows.
Foreign spouses and their children should not be eligible for welfare anyway!
Yawn
Also need to stop expecting teachers and aides to deal with mental health among children.
I agree we need to spend our money / resources more wisely. However if there is no way to measure (as the premier says here) then how does he know that things might not be even worse without many of these programmes? And it’s a bit of salt in the wound as the political elites have only just increased their number, and where is the measure that they are worth what we pay them?
With so many decades of Government neglecting mental health and child / sexual abuse needs in Cayman is it really any wonder that social ills have increased?
This I am afraid is yet another effort at those responsible (politically) at pointing the blame towards others. The premier (current and past) and other politicians also first needs to accept some responsibility….and reduce their own remunerations for lack of results.
Cayman Government is long overdue to show its residents some tough love. Stop the coddling of the residents:
1. Make fathers pay for the offspring they sire – not have them drive around in big cars, having the latest gadgets and claim they have no money
2. Make parents responsible to pay for their children’s school books and transport to school
3. Make Cinico work with Shetty referrals rather than sending patients overseas for procedures which can be done on Island
4. Stop giving money to sports clubs without getting anything in return. Sports clubs can do mandatory beach clean ups, road clean ups etc in order to earn Government funding
5. Stop scholarship funding for kids of wealthy parents
I ditto point number five. Scholarships should be means tested just like it is in every single other country. If you earn over a certain amount then you don’t get funding, or you only get 50% of the money. Without a tax system bringing money in, we cann’t afford it.
Actually, there are merit scholarships as well. If they work hard for their good grades, they should be rewarded.
For number 1, why is that not tied to automatic jail time or the immigration system at the airport. When they try to exit or enter and the deadbeat father is in arrears, an automatic arrest happens when exiting as it should be treated as fleeing the jurisdiction and running away from paying outstanding debts.
One week grace period should be allowed, thereafter an automatic warrant for arrest is sent. Release from jail is only once the outstanding amounts have been paid.
Those two options alone adds siginificant value. The mothers won’t have to turn to the govt for assistance that they should be receiving from the deadbeat fathers. If these same women have to turn to the govt after they receive the maintenance, then the women should be sent to personal finance classes and job training to improve skills to get a better paying job. If that doesn’t solve the situation, back to court to increase the amount.
cut it so we can pay them more??
it is about time that the Government stopped giving away money and resources to these able bodied people who are too lazy to work and sit about looking for hand outs from anywhere they can get it. There is no way anyone can say there is no work to be had. For heaven’s sake we import labour from the far ends of the earth. Instead of handouts teach the natives that there is pride in hard work. Teach them that having children is a big responsibility and not be be used as a means of getting more money, housing etc from Government.
Let’s hope the Government means what it is saying,
Put the money into trade programs, start them at the prison and not leather making. they should MEP, Construction, cooking, A/C and Automotive. Simple to do.
I would love to see a list of the churches that are being funded. I bet 80+% of them collect enough in tithes and offering every saturday/Sunday to find all their charitable endeavors locally but somehow it always seem to go to mission funding in nowherelistan.
Who in government is going to be upset? Ministers make decisions on funding of projects. The civil service delivered you a return as premier. I actually got tired of you saying for 4 years we are a government that gets things done but what you really meant was the civil service got it done.
Stop blaming everyone. You won!
Exactly he won by whatever means necessary and this is the first we have heard from him. Always blaming someone else for his own ineffencies. Reminds me of the Great one up north!!
HUH
CNS can someone say why there is an MLA working at Harneys?
Really? Who Cause they don’t list any on their website.
At last a police commissioner who is on top of things and is quite clearly showing how inept ineffective and blind to social issues this government and previous governments are.
Just look at the PM in the picture wringing his hands and totally out of his depth..
The first thing Alden needs to do is stop paying rent, groceries, medical etc…..through DCFS and NAU for all them able bodied Caymanians XXXX, who don’t want to work or look a job.
Our criminals in the Cayman Islands are coming directly through many of these welfare funded programs. However, it’s not unique to Cayman but all over the world.
Politicians allow this to happen over and over again to protect their voter base every four years.
Exactly
moneys that are spent on Policing needs to be spent on assisting the youth so that they can be good citizens. For years I have been preaching that with so many churches each member should assist with the rearing of one child and we would have a better Community.We need to prevent rather than cure. Only wish I had got invited to that meeting. We need to know these familys first hand then one would know exactly what I am talking about. In fact it dosent take an University student to deal with these mattersor the most of them we need people within the Communities that know them and feel for them. We need to get our youth educated that’s the main thing. Im tired of blaming and hearing about more Police. With all due respect some of them might have had the same life as our youth. Whats the use when the calf is already out of the pen. Church folks lets do our duty, no time for running around in those suits and driving in BMWs and the expensive mansions etc etc lets spend the moneys on our youth. Each church member please assist with one child.
The church isn’t going to solve this problem. Crime is a symptom of the greater problem. Children are not properly raised, beating children is considered a normal form of punishment and the public schools are failing.
I liked your post, my only thoughts on it are that these kids may well see the Church as another authority and one trying to bring them to a God that they feel does not exist for them…
one day of praying then 6 of having fun -odds against going to heaven 6 to 1. Kids will play the odds, When your young it is always the other guy that gets caught. When you get old get religion.
What you get old and lose your teeth, get the tooth fairy too.
The Civil Servant “manager class” types have never met a spending programme they don’t like. Nothing is ever stopped. The funds just get approved. Year after year. After year.
And the politician who puts a stop to it will be a brave soul indeed.
Good luck Mr. Premier!
The first thing he can do is make birth control free through the women’s HSA clinic. It cost $300 just to get assessed by that unit before they will even prescribe the pill and then you have to pay for the pill and come back every three months to be tested for pregnancy and then pay for more pills. This is absolutely ridiculous. Birth control should be free and so should the consult. Kids having kids is on the top of the list of our problems in this country. 15 year old mothers, 30 year old grandmothers and 45 year old great grandmothers and not a father or man in sight. Not rocket science
And so should legal abortions.
This is the thin end of the wedge!
About time.!! Some of these programmes are nothing but scams. Going forward a balance sheet and receipts should be asked for on a semi- annual basis. Some of these people are pocketing the funds. Certain ministers and the Premier have been made aware of this practice for years to no avail.
Aren’t most of the prisoners in Northward Jamaican?
Possibly, but the moment they get status or a spouse of theirs is Caymanian or a parent becomes Caymanian the FACT that they are Jamaican miraculously disappears.
The poster at 6:48 was being ironic or sarcastic as some people would call it. Everyone knows the vast majority of prisoners are Caymanian born and bred despite some commenters refusing to believe it.
Factcheck! And understand the facts!
Coming from the prison authority itself: Over the last 5 years 88.6% of prisoners processed were Caymanian.
So be so kind to stop making non-factual comments.