UK border bosses seconded to Cayman
RCIPS vessel Protector
(CNS): Colin Brown, the head of the UK Border Force National Targeting Centre, and Phil Bostock, a commander in the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), will be arriving in Cayman in January to begin a secondment here to oversee changes to local border protection and search and rescue services. Brown, who will be here for an initial period of six months, will lead the modernisation of Cayman’s immigration and customs border procedures and advise on transforming the departments into an integrated Cayman Islands Border Protection Service, officials said. Bostock, who will be on a one year attachment, will help create a local coastguard.
Bostock came to Cayman last year to review the local search and rescue capabilities, following the loss of five lives at sea, including two children. Part of his job will be to ensure that the recommendations made in the comprehensive report that came out of that review will be implemented. The secondments result from the current government’s policy initiatives announced in the Legislative Assembly in October regarding the need to improve border protection.
In a press release issued by the governor’s office, Premier Alden McLaughlin said he was delighted that the services of the experienced professionals had been secured.
“This has been the result of close collaboration between the governor’s office, the RCIPS, customs and the Ministry of Human Resources and Immigration,” he said. “The formation of a new Border Protection Service and Coastguard in the Cayman Islands is a priority of this government, and as I mentioned during the budget session, it is a vital step forward in our work to counter illegal immigration and organised crime, including the smuggling of weapons and drugs. Improvements to the coordination of search and rescue services will also make it safer for everyone to enjoy our amazing natural marine resources,” he added.
Officials said a steering committee has been established to oversee both the development of the border agency and the coastguard, which will be chaired by the chief officer in the immigration ministry, Wesley Howell, and include the police commissioner, the head of the governor’s office, the collector of customs, the acting head of immigration and other key officials from the RCIPS and the civil service.
Governor Helen Kilpatrick said she and the premier were committed to the improvement of local security as well as safety at sea.
“These projects mark the start of this journey and we are grateful to Border Force and the MCA for providing us with experienced officers to help guide and shape the structures that we intend to develop,” Kilpatrick said. “We also have an experienced and dedicated local team that will oversee this work and I would like to thank them for their commitment and work so far.”
Category: Crime, Crime Prevention, Local News
yeah … just what we need…more bloating of the civil service….
Anonymous – This is what you get when you keep asking on CNS for more Coast Guard. Make up you mind. – Sincerely, Anonymous
I wish they would bring someone in who would teach the traffic unit how to apply the laws efficiently and effectively every single day, 24/7. Yesterday alone I probably narrowly avoided about 10 accidents between WB road and Savannah due to the utter stupidity of so many drivers who think it is only them on the road. On top of that, there are a dangerous amount of people driving without a valid license or valid insurance.
Maybe now the “untouchables” may be soon facing the same music as the rest of the miscreants entering illegally. There are probably hundreds of boats entering which marine police encounter but are told by handlers to lay off.
You know for a fact that Marine Police are told to “Lay off”????? I wonder what your source of “information” is!!!!
Given the statements from both the governor & premier on the importance of border security- when was the last time the national security council met? If not, why haven’t they met and when do they plan to do so?
CNS: has this been asked of the governors or premiers office?
No point in them meeting. That too needs to be brought into the 21st century.
When will we mature to a society that collectively supports our Civil Service in efforts to improve Cayman? The comments on this tabloid are a national disgrace.
We have matured and the people of this country have begun to pay more attention to the ‘hog wash’ that has been dished out for years and suffering of our people continues today! CNS isn’t a tabloid and if so why do you continue to read it and comment?! However, if it were a tabloid God knows it would have lots of scandalous material to publish that goes on in them bars, clubs and back door deals!!
Why didn’t we get an consultation on this matter of national security? Is that what we do with all matters now? Just spend another $100,000+ on a consultant to provide a report on how to address this issue.
Oh good god, no first world country has a public consultation on national security, we rely on the government to make the right decisions on our behalf.
Just because CIG are inept and inexperienced doesn’t give armchair experts the right to have a say on matters they neither understand or could comprehend.
Leave it to the real experts.
My my… looks like I hit a nerve there! Unna so called ‘experts’ would ensure that you adhere to the constitution and have regular meetings of the security council don’t ya think?!?! Instead of the continued lip service & photo opps. #justsaying
The first thing needed to establish a marine coastguard unit is a safe and protected marine station. Where would we keep the vessels? Boats cannot remain at sea 24 hours a day,7 days a week, 12 months of the year. They will need to be dry docked and serviced routinely. In order to have safe harbor, a channel will have to be dredged through the reef of the North Sound and continued into wherever the Coast Guard station will be established. This has been constantly and consistently opposed by the leadership of Department of Environment for the last 30 years or so. Any decent size vessel designed to operate in rough seas cannot access the North Sound because of their draft. This problem has prevailed over the years and has severely limited the size of vessels that the Government has been able to purchase for marine use. Therefore, in order to set up a Coast Guard unit, the North Sound will have to be dredged. For this to happen, the current environmental fanatics will have to change their archaic way of thinking.
1) The police marine unit already have their base in the North Sound to keep boats in-water ready to go. But, if they’re not big enough for you,
2) Have you seen the size yachts that come in at the GT Barcadere, Harbour House Marina and the Yacht Club? Anything so big it cant’ get in to the North Sound already is a blooming cruise ship.
But don’t let facts keep your anti-environmentalism from showing.
You have hit the nail on the head. That is the very reason that our Marine Unit flagship is a glorified river boat. Additionally, after reducing or looting the budgeting for the MU, and cutting the manpower to less than 50% of establishment, you are now going to bring in another expat expert to establish a border control and search and rescue unit. My question is this : Did we not have a fully functioning Marine Unit years ago? You have starved the dog to death, and now you are bringing in the RSPCA to help! LOL. How can you really be taken seriously?
Over the last decade the UK Border Force have constantly failed to perform their duties and wasted millions in the process. Should feel right at home working with Cayman’s government.
I guess those two will be sent off on an 18 month course. What a mess.
Cayman should be directing more resources to establishing and running a state-of-the-art and effective Coast Guard as opposed to an apparently endless tap toward policing – which, ironically, will arguably reduce much of the current need for the latter.
What say you FCO?
Ideally we should have been doing this by and for ourselves from ages ago – but unfortunately, the powers that be are constitutionally neutered in this regard but worst of all, are suffering from CIS (colonial inferiority syndrome).
– Whodatis
*Btw, there is nothing the “rule Britannia” wankers in the room love to see more than stories like these.
Wait for it … (they cant help themselves … watch)
:-p
If CIG wants to use the money it takes in from being a tax haven to fund the Royal Navy patrolling its waters then the UK would be more than willing to co-operate.
I must say, old chap, that I love to see more stories like these.
Christ almighty, Pit Bull, I have been in mourning worthy of Queen Victoria because I thought you must have left the island. Where have you been, old boy, eh what? I’m breaking out the bottle of Moët even as I type.
I liked the trema. A sign of a scholar and a gent. I have been distracted by the cricket, the time zones are so jolly difficult to accommodate, but thank you so much for the kind words.
Dearest Pit Bull,
Yes, we all know how much you love your beloved Britannia – yet refuse to leave this paradise and return to your supposedly wonderful homeland.
Make that make sense please.
– Who
Who, it has always been the duty of Englishmen to travel to the corners of the empire to accumulate capital for remittance back to Blighty. Many have suffered and endured hostile, backwards environs for the cause. It is and always will be an honour to follow in the footsteps of this fine men who went before me. True, no day away from England’s soil can compare to the joy in one’s heart on a fine English morning, but putting duty before desire is the very thing that embodies the spirit of an Englishman.
Tek dat Who. No ansa mon.
What answer could possibly satisfy the regressive mindset of a piracy supporting thug?
In any event, he is but yet another Brit lost on the seas of past glory – considering the woeful current state of the UK’s naval fleet.
Furthermore, they’d definitely need a ECB loan to carry out any degree of maritime adventure – for the next 20 years at least, according to recent official economic forecasts.
Bless …
😀
– Who
Lets get this right….so Cayman has not got it right on its own (according to you) and now CIG has woken up to that fact that it needs some assistance, asked for and received said assistance from one of the best in the world, and that’s not good enough. The only thing neutered around here is your thinking ability and highly mistaken belief that you personally are superior to everyone, albeit your musings clearly show otherwise. As for the insults, well, a sign of a weak argument if that’s all you got.
1.) The Cayman Islands government CANNOT implement a coast guard without the approval of the UK government.
2.) The absurdity of this situation, and many other related examples, is beyond ridiculous.
3.) Why do you feel insulted? Saw yourself somewhere in there huh?
– Who
😉
#StillNotScaredofIndependence
Increasingly Trumplike Who…and making even less sense than he does. Twisting things around to say what you want…trouble is no one really believes you any more, same as Trump…little boy who cried Wolf once too often.
So many insults but zero substantive counters.
Awesome.
– Who
There is no answer to mad men.
*hums Rule Britannia with enthusiasm*
Next Who is going to criticize the individual US states and local jurisdictions for getting assistance from the Federal government (in the forms of resources, funding and enforcement ironically enough).
Of course he forgets we are a micro-nation who would rather spend hundreds of millions of dollars on cruise berthing instead of on defending our coasts from illegal immigration/ and importation of prohibited items and effects
Same time next week Wholigan,
Actually, I am opposed to our reality of “a micro-nation who would rather spend hundreds of millions of dollars on cruise berthing instead of on defending our coasts from illegal immigration/ and importation of prohibited items and effects”.
However, as it has ultimate control over all of these matters, the UK government clearly supports these retarded policies via their responsibility for our “good governance”.
– Who
Correction – irresponsibility!
Go away already
Walls are so 2016. Cayman needs a bit deep moat.
Let’s get E&Y to report on the pros and cons of a big deep moat.
Let’s spend $1 million on reports just to find out we can’t afford the moat
This is good news. I hope now some of our local young men and women will try to apply for any opportunity that might come about through this initiative. As an aside, why do some of you grammar police out there waiting for a typo always assume that the writer does not know how to spell? Sometimes it is just that a “typo”. Who are paying you people to spellcheck every post any way?
Excellent boat pictured. looks like a steel hull, likely twin diesel engines.
Alas unlike the 1200+HP quad motor RIB, completely ill suited for the primary task of running as fast as possible from Kaibo to Rum Point and back on a Sunday.
Who purchased all those RIB outboards? Was there a maintenance plan? When will the motors and inflatable tubes need to be replaced?
Anyway… Nice stable boat in the picture.
The ‘Protector’ in the image is an outdated and outclassed vessel , for what the new coast guard would need, in any new coastal protection measures. Border protection in todays world requires 2 critical aspects , speed and fire-power. Then the necessary crew to deliver and implement such border protection. I am sure some new vessels will be on the board for consideration in this new venture, I wish the government agencies well in this advancement.
The Protector had a .50cal machine gun on the bow and used it.
I want that job for Christmas.
Really Anonymous? And what happened when you woke up? You had -50 cal shells all over your bed? Get your facts straight please before posting crap.
Ha ha! That “nice stable boat” in the picture is the rather old M/V Cayman Protector of the Marine Unit. She is aluminum, not steel. And obviously you know bugger all about this topic, and are simply adding to the rubbish pile posted so far. Stick to what you know about! And by the way, the collars (Not “tubes”) as well as engines have all been replaced in recent times. Again, you demonstrate that you know nothing of this topic!
Good, everyone should feel a bit more secure with this news.
The fatigued public are understandably skeptical, having endured years of chronic disappointment. We’re no longer comforted by meaningless unfulfilled RCIPS pledges, and reserve our right to verify performance on all of these seasonal lifeless self-promotions.
Cant we just build a wall?
Were going to need it anyway to combat sea level rise
We already have a wall around the Island but they didn’t make it tall enough .
You thumb downer just swim out straight from any part of Cayman shore and you will see the wall that was not made tall enough.
praise the gods something will finally be done. that police boats will not be tied to the piers for weeks and police doing nothing. britiania once ruled the seas, and can still do it here.
You do realise you are praising an era of piracy, inhumanity and regressive culture, right?
– Who
You truly are a racist scumbag.
This is and always has been British settled territory, so if you don’t like it, please leave and go somewhere you can be a culturally regressive whinger on your own.
I am all in favor of the Cayman Islands having a good Coast Guard, Search and Rescue systems . Until all the corruption and greed is cleaned up all this efforts will be a waste of funds and time , I believe the only good outcome would be some lives might be saved .
The guns and drugs and border protection I am not sure about unless some good Laws can come along with the training .
Another amazing project by our civil service. I’m so proud of the collaboration between the elected government Governors Office and the civil service.
What is the current status of the JMU staffing shortage and the diesel-fume boats?
Omg I’m a Brit and if any country is utterly useless in keeping its boarders safe it’s the UK ? I think trumps wall maybe more apt
Only if you forget that since 2011 there has been a net decrease in mexican immigrants in the US (aka more illegal immigrants leave of their own accord than cross into the US)
Relevance to UK is?
This statistic is completely unsubstantiated and constitutes fake news. The estimates for undocumented immigrants in the United States range from 10-30+ million, depending on who you ask. Not all of them come from Mexico, however a significant proportion of them gain entry over the southern border wall.
Even if we were to go off the assumption that what you are saying is indeed factual, a net decrease of (documented) illegal immigration in recent years is still a net positive influx of illegal immigrants. In other words, the way you present this fact implies that there are currently negative numbers of people illegally crossing the border annually, however this is not the case, it’s just that there would be less of a net positive number of them.
It’s also utterly useless at teaching its people grammar and spelling.
@ 7:54 Good enough to easily take all the highly paid jobs, with not a lot in the way of competition.
And you get paid extra for having to live beyond the pale.
And to happily split their infinitives.
There is nothing wrong with a split infinitive. It is an affectation of the ignorant to think there is a problem with them.
10.14pm I must point out that HMG is doing a great job looking after it’s illegal immigrant boarders who are all provided with accomodation and benefits and are even educated on how to fleece the system.