Suspect arsonist sets police records office alight
(CNS) UPDATED FRIDAY: The office where the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service keeps all of its records has been severely damaged in a fire. The blaze at the RCIPS Business Centre at Windjammer Plaza on Walkers Road, George Town, took place on Monday night at around 8:30pm, according to the police, who have now confirmed that the fire is being treated as an act of arson and is under investigation. There was “extensive damage” to the office, which is now closed, police said.
No one was injured in the fire, which was extinguished by the Cayman Islands Fire Service. The fire resulted in extensive smoke and water damage to the premises, police have now revealed.
The RCIPS Business Centre is home to the Criminal Records Office, the Security and Firearms Licensing Unit and the Professional Standards Unit. As a result of the fire, all of these services have been temporarily suspended.
The police are warning that applications for records and licences will take longer than usual. The Business Centre was already experiencing significant delays in dealing with police clearance certificates and licences due to the backlog caused by the COVID-19 shutdown.
Given the likelihood of a much longer delay in the wake of the fire, Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman (WORC) had announced that it was temporarily suspending the requirement of police clearance certificates for those applying for work permit renewals until 12 November. However the agency has since issued another notice stating that after significant progress was made in the recovery and restoration efforts at the office the agency was reinstating the requirement, immediately for clearance certificates.
Anyone with any information or who may have witnessed the blaze is asked to contact the RCIPS Major Incident Room at 649-2930.
Anonymous tips can be provided to the RCIPS Confidential Tip Line at 949-7777 or the police website. Tips can also be submitted anonymously via the Miami-based call centre of Crime Stoppers at 800-8477(TIPS), or online.
The public is asked to direct queries on Criminal Records to 945-4924
or email RCIPCRO@rcips.ky.The Professional Standards Unit can be contacted directly by phone at
649-5300, 5301, 5302, or 5303
or by email at RCIPSProfessionalStandards@rcips.ky.
Category: Crime, Local News, Police
The delay doesn’t surprise me along with the no answering or returning calls service desk.
As it’s 99.9% with most government entities.
Worse services ever!
Well the UK wanted a change in the demographics in the RCIPS and now they have them! So don’t complain now of the outcomes and the terrible level of corruption now plaguing these little Islands? more to Come Cayman more to come! Truly sad to see terrible things going on this island whilst our leaders Fiddle with their themselves and their oversized egos!
Oh boi, the fee for a simple criminal record was 25ci (an absurd price increase from the previous 10ci a few years back), how much is it gonna be now?
The island is slowly going back to Third World status.
Can we use this a chance to improve? This should be fully integrated into a cloud based system. We up our fee at WORC and its accessed automatically by WORC when a permit is submitted. Cut out the middle man and speed things up.
i heard the staff sent out an SOS…
The Collier County Sheriff’s Office is the first public law enforcement agency in Florida to provide the community with the ability to text photos and videos to 911 dispatchers.
The cloud-based technology will give first responders nearly instant access to pictures and videos of suspects, suspicious vehicles, or emergency scenes.
The dispatchers can forward those videos and images to first responders….this is next-generation 911 technology that enhances public safety.
You can fool some of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. A lot of us are “woke”
Why dont they work remotely like from BT, EE, WB, GT, NS Police Stations? Or work from home?
When it was being done manually it took 24 hours. Now that they have to email the PCC to you, it takes 6 – 8 weeks. WTF??
Police records? Look no further than Roxanne as your main suspect.
Cops need to set up a Sting operation.
Should they put on a red light or not?
If it was a molotov cocktail, I think it’s a pretty clear message in a bottle.
I believe it is synchronicity.
There is no need to repair the office. The whole process should be cloud based and instantaneous.
Exactly!
Closing the office would also save millions. Get the system that places like Estonia use (it could be operational within a week) and be done with it.
Employees of the police department should be catching and prosecuting criminals, and keeping the community safe. Not shuffling paper with such delay and incompetence that people actually lose jobs and businesses.
So i think this is a great time to start emailing documents to the person who requested and the government agency that needs said document. Civil service is packed with useless jobs that can be streamlined by technology.
Exactly. I’m sympathetic to fact that there are certain people who rely on government jobs, but at what point is keeping a position open at a cost significantly higher that other feasible alternatives the right thing to do for the country? The government is there for the people, yet as a Caymanian myself, every interaction I have with the government for services I’m treated like they are doing me the biggest favour in the world. This is why I aim to never work in CIG. I much rather work in the private sector and have some evidence of output that I am contributing to.
Cayman will be stuck in this cycle unless we aim for progress. Its uncomfortable to be put in situations where one needs to overcome challenges, but it is in the challenges that people develop and grow. We can’t sit back and keep unnecessary positions open for the sake of it. We need to attempt to catch up to the world in regards to modern tech. Never in my life did I think I’d live in one of the largest banking sectors in the world yet I can’t deposit a cheque via a proper phone app, or even have some of the basic conveniences that other nations have had for almost a decade now.
Laziness and complacency run this island and its highlighted by the governments unwillingness to step into the 21st century.
I would love to contribute to positive change in the place I’ve called home for 25+ years, but alas I am just a paper caymian, so I am not allowed to run or hold public office at all. So the most I can do is better myself, finish my Accounting qualification so I have mobility in the world and wait to see if the leadership in Cayman forces me to leave the only place I’ve ever known due to poor management.
Yes, very off topic. I’m just mad
May be off topic but completely needs to be said over and over again.
Now, whose case is coming up soon?
Fire or no fire I’ve been waiting a whopping 6 weeks since I paid for my PCC! My WP was denied because the time restriction expired. Very frustrating and still none the wiser…emailed to query if it’s processed yet but no response. Not good!
We have a suspect!
Scan that document!
Surely our #worldclass civil service stores this information electronically with sufficient offsite backups? Why would there be resulting delays?
Because the entire two units had to relocate quick time to another location and new FF&E had to be acquired, installed, etc.
Ever heard of a contingency plan?
civil service does not understand the terms contingency or plan…
This is 2020 not 1920. Aren’t all the records stored electronically and backed up remotely?
But CIMA expects everyone to be able to work remotely in case of hurricanes/pandemics with off-site back up of data for business continuity. Even tiny offices of less than a handful of staff but this will cause a 2 week delay?!
CIMA doesn’t regulate the CIG – so their expectations have no bearing on the situation other than being a benchmark to strive toward.
The problem is RCIPS is managed by idiots. It will never improve without roit and branch review.
Many of the certificates ain’t worth anything anyway. They fail to disclose convictions, even where the law requires that a full criminal history be provided (visa applications, working with young children, seeking admission to professional bodies)…