CoP says curfew tickets will be reviewed
(CNS): A quality control office has been established at the RCIPS and all tickets issued to people for breaching the COVID-19 soft curfew and prosecution warnings for those breaking the overnight hard curfew will be reviewed before people are charged, Police Commissioner Derek Byrne has said. Public complaints are increasing over tickets being issued incorrectly because not all police officers are following the regulations.
CNS has been bombarded with messages, texts, emails and calls from the people claiming that police officers are telling them to go home or issuing tickets when they are not breaching curfew rules.
People exercising, in particular, claim they are being sent home or ticketed because some officers insist that people can only exercise on the day of the alphabet split, even though this only applies to shopping and banks. But in some cases tickets are being issued because police officers simply don’t believe that a person is doing what they claim to be doing.
There are also a growing number of complaints that some officers are increasingly rude when they stop drivers or those walking or cycling. However, the commissioner has previously stated that no formal complaints have been filed with the RCIPS.
But speaking at Monday’s COVID-19 briefing, CoP Byrne reported an increases in aggression towards police officers by those they are stop or talk to about potential curfew breaches, including one man who had to be tasered.
CoP Byrne said that anyone who believes they have been incorrectly ticketed should send the details of their concern to pr@rcips.ky. Every ticket will be reviewed before it goes to prosecutors for ruling to ensure that there are no mistakes.
“We are monitoring these difficulties as encountered,” he said, as he confirmed that an office and system has now been established to double check the tickets. However, the commissioner has not yet stated if people who are prosecuted for a breach of curfew will end up with a criminal record.
CoP Byrne has said every day for the last month that crime in the Cayman Islands is stable, with no evidence of any spikes. But during his update on Monday he reported two more commercial burglaries in George Town.
He said a pre-school was broken into on Walkers Road where IT equipment was stolen; an auto-electronics store was also burgled and equipment taken. Byrne urged business owners to contact the police to help them check on their premises.
He said that at the cockfighting bust over the weekend, more than 20 people were gathered together, posing a serious health risk, before the police arrived and the crowd scattered. Around a dozen people were believed to have been involved in the ring and two people have been arrested, while ten more will be prosecuted for breaching curfew. Two dozen roosters were seized, most of them very badly injured and 17 had to be euthanized. Police also found metal spurs and steroid injections at the scene.
Last weekend the police also broke up a group of people in West Bay playing dominoes, in breach of social gathering rules. One man became aggressive and threatened the police officers with a machete. They called for back-up but when the firearms unit arrived, the man continued to threaten police.
The commissioner said the man was then tasered before officers were able to arrest him. The incident has now been reported to the Office of the Ombudsman. That office has asked the RCIPS to conduct an internal investigation which it will then review.
The man has since been charged with various offenses. After appearing in court Monday, he was remanded in custody.
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I just don’t know how the police can look at a mentally disturbed person and give them a $500.00 ticket. What are they thinking about? This poor person can’t even get a dollar unless he beg for it. Whichever one or more did that they are really wicked. But I guess since he is a Caymanian and most likely they are not it would not matter to them. Most likely they would just think to themseves he is just another Caymanian to get off the street and put in prison. When there are people down here in West Bay still stelling numbers and congregating in numbers and breaking the curfew all the time and the police know exactly who they are and where they are and you hardly see a police car come around. It was bad enough when they were down here at the station. Because you would sometimes see them racing up and down the street. But now that they have gone up to Regatta Office Park theres almost no police presence in West Bay at all. Unless something happens down here or inless someone calls them.yet when you go pass Regatta Office Park you can see about 10 police cars parked up there. At first when we had the curfew you were seeing a lot more police presence at least on the main roads but now it seems as if they have gone back into retirement again and getting paid for doing nothing and even collecting overtime too draining the Government coffers for doing nothing. Just like the prison officers who get a salary of about $3,500 and get about that same amount in overtime. So they are taking home about $7000.00 per month and you better believe they are taking it home to their home overseas.Government really need to do something about all these expat police officers and prison officers because they are only here for the money and yet they have bosses who protect them too. After all their bosses are expats too.
I’ve seen it all my life unfortunately with selected people who put a uniform on or a star and turn power mad overnight. Fact
All the police officers I have talked with (many) at the road stops were nice and respectful but ready for the disrespect some people will show them. I am thankful for them doing the difficult job of keeping me and my family safe from those who will not follow the laws of a peaceful society. Thank you for enforcing the law.
That is my experience as well. However, some of them do seem a little too ready for the disrespect some people will show them. I remember being questioned by an officer going southbound around a roundabout after being questioned going northbound at the same roundabout and saying to the second officer “as I told your colleague over there” and he cut me off to say “sir I would have no idea what you told my colleague”. I was literally just beginning to get the sentences out of my mouth about why I was on the road when he assumed that I thought I didn’t have to talk to him because I’d already talked to his colleague and cut me off. So I had to backpedal from the beginning, clarifying that I didn’t expect him to be telepathic, I was just letting him know that what I was about to tell him was the same thing I had told the first officer. At the end of the interaction he asked my name, as if that mattered given my reason for being on the road was collecting food which is not last-name dependent.
Basically a very simple interaction was made somewhat unpleasant for no obvious reason, and the second officer appeared to be one of the reportedly many cops who think it has to be ‘your letter day’ to do everything.
There’s a company on island that was trying to bring in chemicals for pools for purchase. They already have authorization to deliver goods to peoples home so they thought they would help by adding another service for people. Apparently the cops showed up and told them chemicals are not essential and wouldn’t let them add that to their order.
Uprising soon come. I’m training my new mosquito friends to attack on command. There is also some crazed disease monster formulating in the corner of the pool. I’ll make friends and train it too.
Who’s with me?
Chemicals and home repairs are not deemed essential but alcohol is. What a Christian society we live in. Not.
Love that word ‘apparently’. Supposition. Conjecture. Rumour. Hearsay. CMR. BS….
Is that the fault of the police or is it a policy and law of the government which you selected, meaning, is it your fault?
I once had a beach party that attracted a noise complaint (we did not think that our music was being excessively loud and were really trying to be considerate of neighbors but were mistaken) and the coppas showed up. There were 2 of them; One younger and one older. We immediately complied by lowering music volume and offered them food . The older one rudely rejected it and kept a stern look and demeanor about him. The younger one was very engaging, took our food, asked us to please keep it down even after they left. He even promised to come back after his shift.
Two cops, two different approaches to policing, yet the friendlier one left a more indelible mark. I raise this to say that while there are cops who want to go on power trips and throw their weight around, there are also some pretty chill, engaging and community oriented fine officers out there.
I do think overally, the police force could benefit from some customer service training. You do not need to be an ahol to be effective at your job.
And you could benefit from some common sense and education. Since you think the ‘nice cop’ did such a great job, write a letter of commendation to his boss, the CoP. Don’t forget to include the name or regulation number. You will get an education about appropriate behaviour.
Stopped by the cops:
Cop ‘Name’
Me ‘Good morning, my name is Smith’ handing him my license.
cop ‘Where are you going?’
Me ‘To do my weekly shop officer’
Cop ‘On your way then’
Me ‘And a very pleasant day to you also’
Manners cost nothing, but sadly some of our cops are on power trips which means they treat you like a piece of Sh#t.
its always been that way. police force is for folks who could never get real jobs
While I agree with you, I think you will find some of these cops are standing out in the hot sun for hours at a time without shade and in a very sweaty uniform doing a very repetitive process. Let’s cut them some slack.
Cockfighting – who came first?!
Sorry couldn’t resist the terrible joke, it’s good for morale!
Why? You dealt them let them smell them
I hope they are also reviewing cases where people were arrested for wearing jeans and thought not to be exercising by police- They were hand cuffed placed in the back of the police car finger printed and DNA taken then placed on police bail- just because they were wearing jeans and the officer did not think they were exercising-
Police owe these young people an apology
So they are the reason we can no longer drive to exercise. Thanks, twats. They are the ones that owe us an apology.
…exercising in jeans?? Lol Right.
But you realize people go for walks in jeans all over the world right? Not everybody has 100$ designer athletic gear….
Yeah, I’ve got a pair of well-worn shorts I exercise in. Much better in Cayman than jeans. But I guess I don’t look as stylish when I join my exercise crew as if I were wearing my skinny jeans.
Yea this sounds completely made up.
I’m going back on the next BA flight so will try to get my last beach time in. Not coming back so will throw my ticket into the trash…
Your kind won’t be missed.
I have both passports. I am seriously thinking about leaving as well. Our Government, God love them, is not helping. They are just wasting our time. Cayman will not open for many months under this lack of leadership. Sorry, I love Cayman, but I cannot eat sand because I work in tourism rather than in Finance or for CIG.
honestly if you’re in tourism, you should have left long ago. Writing was on the wall, you just chose not to read it. Did you actually, I mean actually believe that you would have a job in a few weeks after the shutdown???
Means full employment for Caymanians when the tourist industry fires up again. Oops…forgot….bar work and suchlike is beneath a lot of them. Unless it says Vice Chief Executive Supervising Manager of glass collecting (Deputy).
Not to mention it would take us an hour to get 1 drink.
A small minority of police officers are too heavy-handed in their approach to dealing with the public. They have become drunk on what they perceive to be their increased power and control over the residents of this country. Physiological and polygraph testing needs to be quickly deployed so that we can identify and remove the small number of individuals that are not fit for service.
Polygraph testing is American pseudoscience garbage. Which is why intelligent countries don’t use it.
4.12pm My daughter was stopped twice tonight going to Ragazzi to pick up her order and again on her return and both officers were going to issue her a ticket for being an “A to L”. The Commissioner really needs to have a parade of all his officers and issue them with a set of the curfew rules and require they carry it with them at all times whilst on duty.This is happening constantly and he has been made aware of this at the briefings and still it is happening. This reflects very poorly not only on our police force, but also on the Commissioner himself. If the police need evidence of the take out they can take details and require the driver to produce a receipt to verify their pickup within a set time.
Really needed that Ragazzi huh.
Oh yes. Govt has mandated that expensive restaurant prepares food is essential while bacteria, algae and diseases lurking in your pool are of no consequence since having a pool is a luxury. Also, the use of debit cards is a luxury which we must pay bsnk fees for…..to buy essentials….like food.
Physiological??? Lord, help me get an education. That one totally escapes me.
So the police force is dysfunctional and can not be counted on to enforce any laws? Things could go bad very quickly here.
So you are back to not enforcing any laws here in Cayman. Is that just for Caymanians or Expats too? You can’t fix stupid. Apparently you can’t quarantine them now either. No laws with consequences means the UK better send more men. A lot more. Like soon. Governor you will need to step up before it becomes a war.
So everyone that is following the laws are paying for those that don’t. Caymankind. If there is no enforcement then there really is no laws is there. Now it really is time to leave but no one can but Americans and Canadians.
What is the plan for those live-aboard sailors still remaining at anchor (technically already in breach of the Criminal Code for them to live aboard), and what about the purging of their human blackwater and grey water waste into the canals since they cannot move to deeper ocean water to dump their tanks, and are not a marina for pumpout? Math dictates they must have dumped two or three times by now, directly into the canal. Who signed the permission for them to remain last month and why?
Find something else to do will you.
Tourists were asked to leave and were to have pushed off over a month ago, so someone’s clearly dropped the ball. It’s illegal to live aboard a boat in the Cayman Islands, yet there are dozens doing so. Looks like the entire Port Authority visitor buoy inventory is occupied with non-resident sailors and sketchy AF fishing trawlers. Meanwhile shuttered GT businesses continue to get broken into…why wouldn’t we want to reduce the suspect list? Are they supposed to stay there through hurricane season and 2021?
It is not illegal to live aboard your boat here. I know of a few.
And I know people who smoke weed. Does not mean it is legal.
Which law (quote section too) makes it illegal to live aboard a boat in the Cayman Islands? Please let us know, as this is news to me.
You are very small minded.
Is that all you have to worry about.
I’m just putting mine in the trash with my parking tickets
That’s pretty much what a friend of mine in the UK says (his version is slightly less polite) they’ll do if they get issued with an FPN. He’s got no issues with the lockdown over there, what annoys him is the way it’s being enforced selectively. Where he lives, joggers and cyclists aren’t getting booked for failing to comply with social distancing but his local police are pulling cars over and telling people they shouldn’t be out even though their journey is clearly covered by the current rules.
Enjoy your time in the poor house from all of the increase fines…and/or your vacation at Northward.
Send us a postcard.
Can you spell?
Need justice not law