‘Community wardens’ on the cards

| 19/09/2017 | 19 Comments

(CNS): The RCIPS management and the government are both keen to boost community policing to try to get a grip on crime in Cayman, and one idea that is under discussion, according to the premier, is that of ‘community wardens’. These would be uniformed officers but, similar to the auxiliary police, not necessarily fully trained police officers, and they would be assigned to a specific community to ensure continuity of neighbourhood policing.

Premier Alden McLaughlin explained that one of the issues with community, or neighbourhood, policing is that when there is a crisis in another area, the community police officers get pulled out of their beat to be reassigned, and then there are complaints because people say they have just got to know the community officer. So the answer may be to have community wardens — or whatever name they are given; it may not be ‘wardens’, the premier said.

Speaking at a Red Bay community meeting last weekend, the premier reminded attendees of his statement in his strategic policy statement last month that government was committed to providing an increase of 75 officers over the next three years, many of whom will be assigned to neighbourhood policing, he said. McLaughlin noted that Police Commissioner Derek Byrne was of the same view that community police officers were the “key to getting crime under control”.

The government is also providing additional funds for improving coastal defence with the establishment of a coast guard unit, better border control at the airport, as well as a new police station in West Bay and a new police headquarters in George Town. However, they wanted to ensure that the additional resources go to where they are intended and are not diverted elsewhere.

As a guest speaker at the meeting, Chief Inspector Courtney Myles, who has been brought back from retirement to head the RCIPS Neighbourhood Policing Department, said it was critical to get a handle on safety and security, even for petty crimes. As part of that effort they want to develop neighbourhood watches in all the constituencies, and beat officers will be going door to door to that aim.

“We want to get everyone involved,” Myles said, and pointed to the neighbourhood watch in Prospect as being very effective.

One of the main concerns of Red Bay residents was the violent rape that happened recently in the neighbouring district of Prospect. There was disappointment that the press release about it did not contain any warnings for people, especially young women in the area who live alone, or more information about what happened so that they could protect themselves.

Myles said the police were confident that they would “get the perpetrator” but, taking the criticisms on board, he said that in the meantime the RCIPS would be issuing advisories on security, including alarms and lights that come on when they detect motion. He said a recent spate of burglaries happened where people did not have proper security in place.

Chief Inspector Courtney Myles can be reached at
326-1642 or courtney.myles@rcips.ky

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Category: Crime, Crime Prevention

Comments (19)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    If the 400 police we do have actually did shit crime would be mitigated.

    • Stop blaming victims says:

      Yes and blaming the victim “recent burglaries happened where people do not have adequate secutity.
      Yes the police doing zero patrol and poor clear up rate in solving crime especially burglaries which is only about 25% is no deterrant to crime.
      RCIPS please work on that and stop blaming victims if you want the community help.
      Mylles should have stayed retired instead he comes back to insult victims that it is their fault and they become a victim a second time.

  2. wawa says:

    I see police officers at west bay ,and George town police stations driving their taxies to work, when their shift is over they jump in their taxi and work how many more hours?
    CAN THESE POLICE WORK THEIR REGULAR SHIFT AND PREFORM AS THEY SHOULD. I SAY NO. they are the new caymanians . PREMIER, C O M POL, do something about this its just GREED.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    Rather than wardens, perhaps community liaisons might be a better name.

  4. Anonymous says:

    So they still haven’t got the the black guy, 5’10”, driving a white Picasso ?
    Unf..ngbelievable.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    The local police recently parked their car at the Bodden Town post office beside a car with TOTALLY blacked out windows. I sat and waited to see if anything happened. A cop seeing the law being broken? No. The drivers of both cars paid no attention to one another and drove off. This is why criminals in Cayman have no fear or respect for the police. They know they are utterly useless.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Fundamentally, too few of the full-time patrolling constables seem to carry familiarity with our laws or what constitutes a ticket-able infraction. When rarely spotted in the community, they are driving around blindly like ghosts in PacMan, returning to base, just waiting for their shift to end. What could be more permissive for opportunistic criminal behavior than this? Perhaps putting toy cops on foot and learning their names door to door would tie for most pointless deterrent exercise. The RCIPS need to understand that the public is extremely frustrated and pessimistic, already paying $30mln a year for uncertain results. At best, most have low confidence in even a passing standard of enforcement or follow-up, and at worst, some fully expect that a portion of the serving officers are moonlighting for the gangs, or politicians, or possibly both (ie.$25mln in drugs walking out of a secure hold at West Bay Police Station). The only way to fix this is to get out there and start issuing tickets and enforcing our laws like the public expects – when more serious calls come in, the officers are already in the field ready to prosecute the law and the response time is lowered to seconds, not tens of minutes.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    Can we please call them Sheriffs?

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  8. Ex officer says:

    Hope they will bring back other retired officers who can help!

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  9. Anonymous says:

    ABOUT TIME! Policing is just like parenting and managing. When the cats away the mice will play! Always be vigilant, on guard and prepared as they are waiting for an opportunity.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    I hope part of this includes keeping the load music disturbances in the neighborhoods under control! This has got to be the most annoying thing to deal with after a hard day’s work!

    THIS IS A CRIME!!!!

    IT IS JUST NOT FAIR THAT OTHERS SHOULD HAVE TO LISTEN TO THE EXTREMELY LOUD BASE THAT EMITS FROM THE CAR MUSIC SYSTEMS! If the person playing the music wishes to hear it then keep it to a bare minimum. PLEASE!!!! I suffer from SEVERE headaches after having to deal with this particular noise for approximately 5 hours every evening!

    The law is as follows:

    “The Towns and Community Law (1995 Revision) states that any person who makes any noise in any town or district which is likely to cause annoyance or discomfort to any inhabitant of that town or district, after having been required by a constable to desist from making such noise, is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of five hundred dollars for first conviction, a fine of one thousand dollars for a second conviction and a fine of five thousand dollars and imprisonment for six months for a third or subsequent conviction.

    The law also states that any occupier of premises from which noise is emitted, which is likely to cause annoyance or discomfort to any inhabitant of the town or district in which the premises are located, and who is requested by a constable to cease such noise, and if the noise is not ceased forthwith is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of five hundred dollars for a first conviction, a fine of one thousand dollars for a second conviction and a fine of five thousand dollars and imprisonment for six months for a third or subsequent conviction.

    Following any convictions, in addition to any penalty provided, the court may order forfeiture of any equipment or device that was used when the offence was committed.”

    HELP!!!!!!!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Stop shouting… That may clear up your headaches.

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    • Beaumont Zodecloun says:

      This law also applies to bars, taverns and pubs, however, what it really lacks is a measurement in the form of allowable decibel level. Such a measurement is long, long overdue, and Cayman could do worse than to adopt applicable legislation from the UK; no reason to reinvent the wheel — the UK has been through the learning curve and growing pains — let’s adopt the same laws and quickly.

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  11. Sharkey says:

    How come the Premier always think that by putting in more people in would solve the issue ? He must really believe that bigger is better . No just opens up more corruption and problems .

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  12. Anonymous says:

    We also need to change our laws to make burglary less profitable. At the moment, the professional criminals and organized crime networks acting as middle men buying from local burglars and selling stolen goods both inside the country and outside the country are almost never prosecuted because our laws are out of date. We need to make simple possession of stolen property without a lawful excuse a separate crime punishable by 10 years in Northward.

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    • Anonymous says:

      True. We have tire-fire-fueled foundries, right downtown – with large, noxious plumes of smoke – melting stolen jewelry into untraceable raw cast metal, and then walking that material a matter of yards to the “cash for gold” store, or pawn shop. It couldn’t get more blatant or convenient – for thieves. We are also taking in stolen goods from cruise ship passengers that are using our brick and mortar infrastructure to launder their stolen loot – with a free holiday in the process. You can’t even make this stuff up.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    It’s past time we allow law abiding citizens to properly protect themselves and family / property! This should include pepper spray and firearms (properly trained of course!)

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  14. Anonymous says:

    Burglaries do not happen because the victims have improper security in place, they happen because the community response time is measured in the tens of minutes, rather than in seconds, and because there is a prevailing tolerance of illegal activity. That’s still the problem, and building a more comfortable dominos clubhouse is not going to fix the problem. Getting daylight 9-5 volunteers to learn the names of peaceful law-abiding residents won’t help either. Our thieves have many nocturnal hours to bring heavy and loud equipment to ease entry, without fear, knowing there is little chance of getting caught, and that being part of criminal enterprise pays – more often than not! There doesn’t even need to be anything of value inside – they will break in, just for the idle curiosity of it! One really wonders if the RCIPS understand the criminal environment and prevailing public opinion on this, when they fail to do what the public repeatedly pleas for them to do.

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