Sex crimes edge up 2019 crime rate
(CNS): An increase in reports of sexually related offences pushed up the 2019 annual crime statistics marginally, while other serious crime was in decline. According to the yearly crime figures released by the RCIPS this week, serious crime was down 14% on 2018, which would have reflected a decline in the overall figures but because of a rise in sex-crimes, the annual rate of criminality rose by 1%.
However, the significant increase in reporting for this type of crime and more cases being prosecuted, leading to a rise in this crime statistic, was not seen as a negative result by the RCIPS.
“Increased reporting and awareness of sexual crimes allows better understanding,” Police Commissioner Derek Byrne said in a report about the latest crime statistics. “Increased recording is a positive for RCIPS to allow improved prevent and deter opportunities as well as to catch and convict offenders and support victims.”
The increase of 29% in sexually related offenses was driven by the number of indecent assaults, which grew by more than 80%, and a marginal increase in grooming and pornography cases, though there was a substantial reduction in the number of rapes, which declined by 52% compared to 2018.
There was also a 33% increase in child safeguarding referrals in 2019 compared to 2018, and while not all resulted in a criminal findings, each case was investigated and reflects the trend of increased reporting about vulnerable victims.
In general, crime in the Cayman Islands remains steady, with no other significant spikes. There was a small increase in the total number of crimes recorded last year, at 4,146 compared to 4,111 the year before.
But there was a significant and welcome fall in burglaries, which were down 34%, and robberies also fell by 37%. While there was an increase in lower level violent crimes, such as assaults, serious crime like murder, rape, robbery and burglary were at their lowest levels for the past five years
The volume of calls for service has remained stable over the last two years, at approximately 35,500 in 2018 and 2019, with a variation of less than 1% in the total volume over the two-year period. Around 12% of all calls for service in 2019 resulted in a recorded crime.
Police also dealt with 887 public order cases in 2019, a 12% increase on the year before, with crimes of anger, such as causing fear of violence, threats to kill or do harm and harassment, accounting for well over three quarters of this type of crime.
A reduction in cases of possession of ganja led to an overall drop in recorded drug crime by around 19%. But police still seized a considerable amount of drugs from the streets, including 4,759lbs of ganja with an estimated street value of well over $4 million.
Police also seized 320.9 grams of cocaine but recovery of any other type of drug was negligible, as Cayman is still not impacted by opioids or other serious drug. Meanwhile, drug interdiction at sea turned up another 4,102lbs of ganja.
See the crime report below and check back to CNS for a closer look at the damning traffic statistics, which revealed a 45.7% increase in speeding tickets and an overall increase of crashes on the roads of more than 16%, which included eight fatal collisions in which nine people died.
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Yes this elaborate and overwhelming and overkill show of force and manpower and expensive equipment when a simple Radar system monitor by adequate personnel is probably all that is need, for 60,000 people these crime stats are both ridiculous and Alarming. Yet we have those promoting and implementing idiotic population expansionist policies destroying the environment and creating socio economic problems. What happen to good governance transparency and sustainability Cayman????
A radar system will never work as you think it would. Are you going to intercept every single fishing vessel more than 5 miles off the coast? Be real.
Almost every evening when I water my pots (pun intended) outside my backdoor, I wave to my adjacent neighbor who sits on his backstep with his ganja spliff. I know how cigs smell, and it na that lol. Either he’s growing it here, or the supply of ganja on the street has not been impacted despite so much seizures.
He’s actually a very sweet young man that doesn’t blast loud music with a bunch of people, so I really don’t have any problems. I wouldn’t call the police if he was smoking tobacco, so, why be a hypocrite? If wearing hats were illegal I’d break that stupid law too!
Off the headline topic but interesting to see RCIP on average managed to issue less than 10 speeding tickets per day. They could do that on the ETH in an hour each morning not to mention the rest of the roads. And less than 5 DUIs per week. Get real.
And we wonder why we continue to have road deaths on an island of this is size and population.
Unfortunately Cayman’s police department is only focused on fighting a war on drugs which they are loosing badly. They are always so proud to show off their “drug busts” of weed. While the entire world around us has decriminalized or legalized it in some way and are reaping Benefits, Cayman still lives in the past. Stop the abuse of women!!! Stop the drug war!!!
Wouldn’t legalizing cannabis force the police to direct their efforts an funds to other areas of crime? No war on cannabis maybe officers would have the chance to follow up with victims of abuse. Maybe when my house gets robbed they won’t just say I should have a better lock. But I guess like the old saying goes it’s easy to get a conviction when it comes to drugs. Testing, being in possession but sex crimes are harder. Go for the lowest fruit
Every year RCIPS budget increase and they waste money. First it was one then two boats then four, then jet skis, one helicopter, then two, now none is here working. This is the problem the RCIPS is not held accountable. It is a waste of money. All the RCIPS is good for is wasting money to employ expat and oppress Caymanians.
So you want a police service without the capability to be in the air or in the water.
A helicopter or long range drone is the only way you’ll stop a motorbike if the ground units can’t knock them to the ground.
The helicopter is also multi role, and has saved the life of a few people.
As for oppressing Caymanians, big lolz. Give me one example of any caymanian here being ‘oppressed’. I’ll wait!
Exactly. 8000 lbs of ganja seized over a year, not counting what didn’t get seized?! Does anyone even stop to think exactly how many people on this island has to be consuming it to fulfil that sort of demand??
Yet I can get piss drunk Sunday night, throw up with a hangover before work Monday morning, take 15 minute breaks to go smoke tobacco on government property, but god forbit I relax with a spliff I grew myself after work on my property.
They fail to understand just how much weed is being grown indoors on this island, and how lucrative it is. Jamaican weed sells for about $3-5 a gram here, while indoor can sell for up to 10x that price, literally.
You can bust the boats all you want, but you can’t find all the indoor grow ops here. My friend pays his rent doing so. Just legalize it and make it a legal industry here.
Can put whatever spin you want on it, an increase in sex crimes is never good.
You can see it positively. You could say that the sex crimes may be just as prevalent as before, but people feel more at ease reporting it.
What about violence against women? Perhaps this is something that should be asked of our leaders at the next press conference?
Can’t wait to see the squeaky bums there.
Better question, what about violence against women by the politicians?
Common knowledge apparently, yet they tell us what to do. Something is not right.
Sex crimes ARE violence against women.
Except when they are against men?