RCIPS runs crisis de-escalation course
(CNS): Retired US Marine Corps veteran Lieutenant Mark Lowther, who has 31 years of police and public safety experience, held a crisis intervention and de-escalation course hosted by the RCIPS last month. Lowther, a professional crisis and hostage negotiator, was invited to conduct training sessions for local police officers and others who deal with vulnerable and at-risk people in their jobs to learn how best to diffuse difficult situations.
Staff from the RCIPS, Customs and Border Control, HM Prison Service, Cayman Airways, the Cayman Islands Regiment, Hazard Management Cayman Islands and the Health Services Authority attended the series of one-day sessions, one of which was conducted in Cayman Brac.
The training focused on identification, understanding and verbal de-escalation of those in crisis, as well as suicide intervention, autism awareness and the lawful powers under the Mental Health Act. There was also input on the Mental Health Court from Community Psychiatric Nurse Dympna Carten.
“De-escalation is an important tool for anyone that comes into contact with someone in crisis,” said Sergeant Jonathan Kern of the RCIPS Training and Development Unit, who helped facilitate the course.
“We want to empower our officers and the community with more skills that will enable them to diffuse a situation. While de-escalation forms a key part of the training for all RCIPS officers, these specialised sessions served to further build on that training, allowing our officers to have a deeper understanding of various situations they may find themselves in,” Kern added.
During the training, Lowther spoke about the degree to which someone’s personal circumstances can influence how they respond to a situation. “Everyone has a story to tell. Let them tell it when you can,” he said.
The RCIPS Training and Development Unit facilitates various forms of training on an ongoing basis for RCIPS staff and frequently extends this to staff from partner agencies so the best tools are available to all those who work together to keep the Cayman Islands safe.
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Category: Police
This course was an excellent initiative, however it needs to be backed up by rapid response in many cases, and this is where the police let the public down.
We will need these skills if we don’t change this government next year. Vote them all out.
We recently had a visit from the Police about a reported burglary. The female officer was quite adamant she was at the right place. Turns out she was at the wrong address. We also had a break in at a premises opposite our house. When the police attended they never came across to see us to see if we had heard or seen anything. There was also an action the early hours of the moon Bodden Town and it took them approximately 30 minutes to attend the scene from a Police station that was less than 2 minutes up the road.
So, you want response officers in the police station, or out on patrol?
I get the frustration, but if officers were tied up elsewhere, it can take a while. Bodden Town is a big district.
The other stuff… yeah, there’s some idiots in the uniform. The ones in this training though, not so much. These are the officers we need to praise.
There are more than 400 full time RCIPS officers on our public payroll on an island 20x10mi. For that, there should be the expectation of a whole team of on-shift officers ready to do their job, regardless of the hour of day. Perhaps even more officers during pay-day crime hours, near the areas of predictable routine trouble…
It’s great to have such a shallow view. There are many different units. Detectives, K9, firearms, financial crimes, traffic, community, process, training, detention centre etc. Some work office hours, some work shifts. On any given day, the BT district, from Spotts to Frank Sound, may only have two or three units. These units have no say in how other staff are deployed, so don’t be so quick to judge.
Is RCIPS inefficient? yes. Are there terrible officers? yes. However, for all its faults, there are some excellent officers, they’re just a minority.
This is a story about a BRAC course. It was a good thing. As you can see by the photo, it involved several layers of CIG employees and the RCIPS.
NOTHING to do with Bodden Town or any other district.
Read the original comment, numbnuts, it references BODDEN TOWN.
and if you read it again, it mentions that one of the series was in the Brac. So, it was mainly NOT the Brac.
You don’t have much to do over there? I’d suggest a reading comprehension course.
Leaving the police clubhouse a/c and getting in the cruiser is the first step to deterring any situation that could escalate in the public’s world. If something is escalating, it’s because the police weren’t expected anywhere nearby to deter or intervene. Deploy.