Tags are working, officials claim

| 02/12/2020 | 33 Comments

(CNS): The electronic monitoring technology used by local law enforcement agencies is working and the Department of Public Safety Communications’ processes that support the tags are also operating as designed, officials have said, despite last week’s departure of 14 Cuban migrants who were being monitored using the devices. By the time DPSC spotted the unlawful movement, the group had already gone. A follow up statement on the inquiry by the Customs and Border Control Service (CBC) into the recent departure of the migrants suggests that timing, rather than technology, was the problem in this case.

The tags, normally reserved for offenders, had been given to CBC so they could monitor the migrants, who had been released into the community on human rights grounds while their asylum claims were processed.

According to the statement, the Electronic Monitoring Centre, which is operated by the DPSC, contacted border control when alerts were detected from the tags that the migrants appeared to be “engaging in movements outside of the terms and conditions of their release from detention”. But given the circumstances, the range of movement for the migrants would be much wider than the parameters given to offenders.

No timeline has been confirmed by officials as to how long it was before the CBC, with the assistance of the Cayman Islands Coast Guard, responded to the alerts, but officials said that following the investigation it was clear that the Cuban migrants had already left the Cayman Islands territorial waters by the time the CBC was alerted.

In addition to the DPSC and the coast guard, the CBC is also receiving international cooperation with their inquiry. The Cubans turned up in Mexican waters at the weekend in a 30ft vessel named Capt. Joshua, where they were rescued by the Mexican Navy.

Officials said that the migrants were not considered criminal offenders and their treatment and processing are governed by the UNHCR 1951 Geneva Convention and its 1967 Protocol on the Treatment of Refugees. 

The tagging programme has now been used successfully by various government agencies within the criminal justice system, including the police, courts and prison. And while there have been a number of cases of prisoners tampering with the tags in order to breach curfews, in some cases to commit more crime, the tags have provided a sensible alternative to remanding everyone charged with a crime given the pressure on the local prison system.


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Category: Local News

Comments (33)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    They sure are working… hahahahaha!

  2. Anonymous says:

    Well I say good riddance to the Cubans. And fire the people that supposed to be monitoring them. But of course Mr. Manderson will say again they doing a good job.

  3. Anonymous says:

    I’m sure those tags work just as well as those HD cameras all over the Island.

  4. Anon345 says:

    If they are working so great then why did I sit and listen to a person who recently came out of quarantine, tell another person that theirs slipped off in the shower and the thought did cross their mind to break quarantine, but they did the right thing and stayed put! They just put the tracker in their pocket for the duration of their time! But never broke quarantine!!

    • Tina says:

      These ankle monitors are not the same as the flexible white quarantine bracelets, you can’t really compare the two.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Tags work. Paid government workers CBC and DPSC to monitor tags, DO NOT WORK!

  6. Anonymous says:

    Can the CI Port Authority confirm who is the registered owner of Captain Joshua?

  7. Anonymous says:

    The tags work. Everything else not so much. But that is normal here. Why the big surprise?

  8. Da Bracster says:

    No worries Moses da Ole Grinch Drone $$$$$$ Scam will soon lift off on the Brac .Folks you can’t make this $#,% up .The problem is it’s our money and his really bad idea is going shoot down Poor old Santa And his reindeer about to deliver gifts for all the boys and girls on the Brac.

    • Anonymous says:

      I just saw a guy in quarantine driving his truck down South Side, Cayman Brac. Fa true.

      • Anonymous says:

        9:57 pm, then u should called 911. I would certainly called 911 on him, if i had saw him and you should had did your civil duty an called 911 t00.

  9. What’s New ? says:

    The Tags and those who monitoring are working fine no Doubt it those folks enforcing that are completely asleep at the wheel as usual. NO Radar yet how long or we going to continue without a proper system in place .of course still waiting for these hair brain drone scams and air strips we hear our resident political nuts keep touting and be all and end for their own $$$ benefit no doubt.
    .

    • Anonymous says:

      No radar…but 14 detainees wearing GPS anklets, swimming out to a fully-fueled trawler that could make max 7kts. With a $200mln/year defense and security budget; fully-staffed and operational helicopters, JMU, coast guard, and port authorities…what does this say about our managerial/administrative competence? Do we think the bigger illicit transshipment economy isn’t listening and laughing?

      • Anonymous says:

        My bet it was a collusion.
        Cubans are not stupid. Cuban education is great. They quickly, on their own, figured out how to legally get what they need and want. I’d say good for them. If there are laws, including international, then why not to use it to one’s advantage?

      • Anonymous says:

        Where was the regiment that day?

      • Anonymous says:

        Isn’t it obvious someone somewhere don’t want a proper surveillance system here.

  10. Anonymous says:

    I heard them blaring Thrift Shop on their way out the channel.

  11. Anonymous says:

    The tags are working, the monitoring staff is not! Lol

    Kinda easy to say the parameters are breached when they leave the territory!

  12. Anonymous says:

    its working but u can take it off anytime you want and leave ur residence….zzzzzzzzzzz. our world class civil service strikes again.
    welcome to wonderland

  13. Say it like it is says:

    As usual Govt claims the system is working fine, but just read the last paragraph of this article for the reality. More incompetence as always.

  14. Anonymous says:

    CBC ? No body are held responsible in Government, no accountable, mr. Manderson will always say what a good job everyone is during

  15. Anonymous says:

    Tags are working just as well as tourists doing home quarantine they mean.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Did the Cubans return the trackers or are they in Mexico too? For all the good they do we should just leave them in Mexico

  17. Anonymous says:

    So CBC is also going to explain how these guys obtained a boat as well? Wasnt the one they arrived on, was it.

  18. Anonymous says:

    I use one of these for mine and my daughter’s car honestly. She won’t answer me at 1am but the gps does.

    • Anonymous says:

      If you were in the UK or USA you could be arrested for stalking!

      • Anonymous says:

        She’s a new driver and fully aware that I’ve installed it. That’s my condition if she wants me to continue paying the insurance etc for it. Told her when she’s grown enough to pay for everything then she’s free to do as she pleases.

        Oh, and a neighbor down the road had their vehicle stolen from their yard, so there’s that, too.

    • Anonymous says:

      She by my house mostly

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