Crime down but slight increase in serious offences
(CNS): The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service has reported a less than 1% drop in the overall crime rate for 2017 when compared to 2016 but there has been a just over 1% increase in more serious crimes. For the first time the RCIPS has produced a comprehensive breakdown and analysis of both crime and traffic statistics, giving the public a much more detailed look at the types of crime being committed, where it is happening and what the police are doing to combat the offending. The RCIPS recorded 3,870 crimes in 2017, just 31 less than last year, but noted that some 44% of the crime being committed is serious.
The detailed report shows that burglary, one of the crimes causing the most concern to the public, was up by around 17% compared to 2016. Police were able to break down the numbers showing that the majority (290) happened in George Town.
Bodden Town remains the next most troubled district, with 156 burglaries — a significant increase on just 68 in the previous year. Break-ins in West Bay were relatively steady, with 87 reported burglaries last year compared to 2016, when there were 82.
Little Cayman remains the least impacted, with just 2 burglaries there, but is still of concern as there were no break-ins at all in 2016.
Gun crime, which has been at the top of the government’s list to tackle, has dropped from 36 incidences in 2016 to just 25 last year. While this equates to a decline of 31%, half the proposed target that had been pronounced by Premier Alden McLaughlin, the actual seizure of weapons hit the bulls-eye on the premier’s target of 60%. Officers seized 29 illegal guns in 2017 compared to the recovery of 18 in 2016 — a 61% increase.
Although drug offences account for only 4% of the overall crime in Cayman, there was a fall in the number of people arrested for using ganja but an increase in those arrested for selling it. During 2017 police seized more than 1,635lbs of ganja and almost four kilos of cocaine.
The amount of other drugs seized remains extremely small, with just a few grams of amphetamine seized and less than a gram of ecstasy. Cayman does not appear to have an opioid problem (which is at crisis levels in the US) and no drugs from that category were seized last year, nor was anyone arrested.
The police said that the goal of the new and far more transparent reporting of crime is to empower the community and has its roots in the need to keep the public informed, given that it is the people who foot the bill for the police service.
Engaging the community is an important element in the fight against crime. Police Commissioner Derek Byrne said the RCIPS would not be giving away any “operational secrets”, but he said that, going forward, the police would be a lot more accountable to the public about how they are going about the business of tackling crime.
Check back to CNS for a closer look at the state of crime and measures to combat it throughout next week.
See the full crime and traffic statistics report in the CNS Library
Category: Local News
Any stats on solved crimes ?
Strictly speaking this headline should read – ‘REPORTED’ Crime down but slight increase in serious offences – because not only do a lot of crimes go unreported by RCIPS also have the power to disregard crime reports if they choose. This is the same problem they’ve had in the UK for years – crime figures that don’t reflect what is actually happening on the street.
What is the Traffic Dept budget?!?
Ohhhh no not this foolishness again Mann come onnn please don’t jinx us again you know ting bad when Dey start wid these numbers and stats
Crime is down but serious crime offense increase, then did you read what Alden said about crime and ganja and cocaine and guns . Do you think that he’s right , or a bit delusional ?
Northward is full. The police has no where to put these damn criminal punks. Build more space it’ll help reduce crime.
The current policy that someone has to be let out of jail in order that they can take a new criminal in is simply ridiculous. So the more crime there is on the island, the more people we allow out of prison early – leading to more crime. With a 73% recidivism rate in Cayman, every time we let someone out there is (at least) a 3 in 4 chance he will go on to commit another crime. Most likely multiple crimes before being caught again and convicted again, sent to jail – and someone else has to get out of jail free in order to open up a space.
We need tougher, longer sentences, a much bigger jail, and inmates should serve their full term. The more criminals there are in jail, the less there are on the streets. Crime falls. Everyone is happy 🙂
Am I the only one doing the math?
And while I am on a rant, jail should be more like the workhouse. A person in jail should earn money for the government to pay for their keep. They should be put to some sort of work while inside, not left to idle about on the country’s purse.
Agreed, but also, why are so many foreign nationals (or persons who have been granted status) not immediately deported following their release? Many such persons are allowed to remain, and then offend again!
I am Waiting to here that expats are causing the crime problem
Where is the LOL button?
No ricky 619 for some very odd reason or deliberate policy they are never arrested and when they are they are never prosecute unless it is in extreme circumstances. and leniency is rollout on the red carpet. You know the old wink and a nod ain’t corrupt bloke!
So you are saying that the very same people that complain about expats this and expats that, are the very same ones that turn a blind eye?
there’s some …. lets just be fair … criminals dont have a nation. criminals come from all nations
In the last month I recall at least
6 Jamaican drug importers
1 Honduran bigamist
1 Canadian gold-digger
1 Jamaican PR fraudster (albeit seemingly granted status)
6 other foreign nationals charged in the Immigration English test corruption cases.
At that rate, then yes dammit, expatriates do cause crime problems, not all by any means, but a very substantial part.
That is even before we take into account any abandonment of Caymanian children they may have “sired” ( and the resulting increased likelihood of that Caymanian child finding themselves in trouble themselves) and the many persons who are known to be criminals and are wrongly assumed to be Caymanian when in fact they are not.
The burglars are all Caymanians, so that blows all these numbers out of the water.
Bullshit, and in any event left at least one Eastern Caribbean kiddie porn king out on my numbers for the last 30 days.
10.08am Why don’t you list all the Caymanians that have been flooding the courts recently and mention all the Caymanian men that procreate and take no responsibility for their offspring. Face the facts and explain why Northward is populated mostly by locals.
Time to deport Caymanian
So who Let these criminals in, not Caymanians
Was it not Cyamanian Immigration officials involved the English test as well?
DId the Immigration dept do theit back ground checks on the bigamist, Immigration always asking for a ton of paper work to process ppl.
down 1% but up 1 % … wtf !!!
you all doing a great job! police catching drug runners from jamaica…drunks y speaders off street…keep it up…you all doing a great job!☺?
Every single story on CNS Home page relates to crime today; RCIPs trying carry April Fools for the entire month; from nets discarded, PR scams, police cars burned out, gold diggers, bigamists, 70yr olds trying stab police, safes being stolen and dads molesting daughters. Cam they please define crime? Or are they just quoting crimes charged that end in guilty verdicts because only then can they say crime is down?
DUI’s are not criminal offences, nor is speeding or not wearing your seat belt and those are the only offences they are capable of busting people for. Next up they going claim that the earth is flat and criminals have nowhere to run.
They must be referring to statistics in our Sister Islands, smoking all the sh*t they seizing on the Mainland or are now operating the Kool Aid factory? Crime is down? Now yuh tek man fi eediot like dem criminals doin wit unnah. Only way crime is down on paper is because the majority of crime that occurs daily is not even recorded by the RCIPs because they too f**king lazy to right the f**king reports! I know because i been broken into twice in the last year as have thousands of others. Now the RCIPs publicly stating they suffer from Ostrich Syndrome. The fassyhole criminals are pi**ing their pants laughing at everyone. You got to be a real clown to get caught, busted or convicted of anything down here and everyone witnesses it on a daily basis.
It’s true that Sister Islands police fairly pathetic. I went to cops knowing full well who broke into my house and stole jewery. She admitted it. But police have yet to prosecute….2 years later.
Eventually the integrity of CNS and the dishonesty of the government will cause a parting of the ways.
Detected crime, not actual…clearly.
This sounds like an infomercial for the government.
Well done CNS. Carry on.
This article read like a public relations media release for the CIG and the RCIP.
Sorry but I don’t buy it.
Ask people on the street if they feel the crime rate is down or if they feel safer in Cayman and the response may upset the Alden apple cart.
Maybe you can just READ instead of immediately clicking the comment button. This is a STATISTICAL report, which means, it is based in NUMBERS. Not as easy to understand as fractured, biased comments, I know, but give it a try. Crime is down by 1%, which is basically saying that nothing cumulatively is different year on year. They own up to the fact that burglaries are up over last year, no dissembling there, but they are still less than they were a few years ago. Other categories are up too, no one is saying they aren’t. I know it takes EFFORT to read more than the headline, but give it a whirl. You might learn something NEW.
As for CNS’ coverage, it seems fair based on the report I read. They are releasing more information than in the past, why shouldn’t that be observed? Or to your biased ears is it just too grating to hear that the police just might be doing something better?
Consider this: until you honestly evaluate all that the police and even government do, both the GOOD and bad, you are never going to have a true sense of what is going on, and will just marinate in a worldview of your own bias.
Apparently a lot of incidents aren’t reported.
Exactly. Facts > feelings. Thank you for your sensible comment.
Well “professor” you have certainly put me in my place with your clarification of the articles meaning which I disagree with in its entirety. Whether you work for government or the RCIP as an apologist. Numbers and reports can be fudged. Statistics in any field are notoriously manipulated. Given your huge cranial capacity you must have read that somewhere. Cayman is now a more dangerous place than 5 or 10 years ago you opinion be damned.
You mean the same “5 years ago” (2011 actually) when a 5 young Caymanians were killed in one week?
The point here is that crime fluctuates, it is more than an emotion-based phenomenon, it is a bit complex actually, and you can’t just say you “feel” like it is up, based on headlines that CNS puts out. Yes, as the other commenter said, fact>feelings. Try to be a bit more objective, rather than coming to it with your pre-formed opinion.
If your position is that you believe nothing because numbers can be fudged, then why should CIG put out statistics on anything? Let’s just all sit around in the dark then, having no factual basis to how our opinions are formed about things, and just go off the headlines that CNS chooses to put out. Then you will all yell that that CIG is hiding numbers.
Grow up. You cannot have it both ways.
It is actually a very serious thing to fudge numbers or crime statistics, and it is not something people would risk their job over, just to sway the “opinions” of people like you.
Consider that one of the reasons you think there is so much crime is because it is an easier subject for the media to report on, so it fills up the media space. There is stuff in court every day, it’s an easy story. Go listen, jot it down, and file it.
Also consider that for all those cases you hear about, that there was a police officer, a detective and a prosecutor who found the culprit, got the evidence, put the case together and prosecuted it successfully. The very cases you point to as indicating the crime is up and the place is going to hell is actually an indicator of a lot of good, honest work being done by several people to keep you safe. If there WASN’T anyone in court or being arrested THAT is when you should worry.
This is all for your consideration and for the consideration of everyone else reading this before you sit down to write your next knee-jerk police-bashing comment.
The crazy part is how vehemently people will espouse their opinion as fact while simultaneously dismissing the facts presented, as lies. The scary part is it’s safe to assume they cast their political votes with the same mindset. *Shrugs*
You have made a very lucid argument as to the fact that crime fluctuates and the manipulation of statistics is a risky proposition in a transparent society such as we have here and now I would say that you work of the Department of Tourism based upon your belief in the statistics which anyone who has any knowledge of statistics or accounting can be readily manipulated. As to the fact that as you say crime is stable the new governor has made crime reduction a primary mission of his tenure and the National Security Council being resurrected with an overflowing Northward. Anyone who is naive enough to believe these are accurate statistics do not understand the culture or live in Cayman. It is like the RCIP media spin that traffic laws are enforced in Cayman but I am sure you probably believe that.
As for transparency the Rich Report will clarify that issue.
I wish I lived in your blissful trusting world of naivete but unfortunately I grew up.
WTF? Happy are back?
Crime down? Seriously? In which place? Can’t be Cayman…
What a load of BS crime down???? Where? Sure it not Cayman we are talking about. All I see happening is a hype up on DUI for statistics because no real detection is needed to catch drunk drivers. There is more unreported crimes in this country because of lack of confidence in the police.and to come to this country and it’s citizens and boast of a 1% reduction in crime is ludicrous.
Oh yes, and the sky fairies will be handing out free ice cream at Camana Bay on Sunday afternoon.
Really, where?
The break down needs to be by electorial districts. George Town where? Not enough detail.
Lies.
Damned lies.
Statistics
I call bullshit. All crimes are up! Especially gun related crime. Speaking of which, I wonder when our premiers 60% reduction in gun crime is due to take place? Has he specified a date yet?
Only will happen when marijuana becomes legal.