Serious crime in the Cayman Islands was down by 39 per cent in September over the previous month.
And that information from Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ennis, who is in charge of operations, was not the only good news for new RCIP Commissioner Stuart Kernohan, taking up the job just days ago and being introduced at a Thursday press briefing.
Mr. Ennis said there were 140 people arrested for a range of 212 offences in September.
He said that just days ago, as a result of a pre-dawn raid on an apartment complex in West Bay, seven people from the United States, and believed to be in the construction industry, were arrested.
A total of 4.5 kilograms of cocaine – with a street value of $1.6 million – was involved, along with small quantities of ganja, he said.
In another incident, a man, also in the construction industry, was charged with 23 burglaries.
There were three arrests in connection with the armed robbery at L&L Jewellery and of the nearly 180 items taken, more than 80 had been recovered, he said.
There was also an attempted murder in which a man was severely assaulted with a machete. The suspect, who was wearing a mask, was unmasked, identified and arrested, said Mr. Ennis.
As far as the aggravated burglary at Patrick Island, there is no positive news about arrests but the investigation is being actively pursued and several leads are being followed, he added.
Deputy Commissioner Rudolph Dixon, who is in charge of organisational development, said the RCIP is looking at receiving 14 UK police officers. Seven of those were from the Merseyside police, which is Mr. Kernohan’s previous force. They have offered their assistance to help reduce crime.
Shortly after that, 14 officers from the Caribbean will arrive to bring the RCIP fully up to strength.
That full strength figure was 323, he said in response to a question
The government has approved the addition of 18 officers from overseas.
Those will provide East End and North Side with 24-hour policing, he said.
Mr. Dixon said police cars are on order and will arrive within three months. Radar equipment could be here in a week and police accommodations are being refurbished.
Mr. Dixon said an investigation is still under way concerning allegations made in Toronto against an RCIP policeman who had come from Canada.
Mr. Dixon said the public will be informed when the matter has been fully investigated.
A question of whether the police have an idea how much of the criminal element was imported and how much was home grown brought a reply from Mr. Ennis.
He said a joint intelligence committee, along with Customs, Immigration and others, has been set up and that officers coming here from the Merseyside force also have experience in intelligence gathering.
They do not want to get into racial profiling but they have to look at the demographics, he said.
It is a small number of people committing the offences and they have to be targeted with the public’s support.
Mr. Kernohan said he has already met the Chief Immigration Officer and Mr. Dixon added that all the departments will work closely together.
Mr. Kernohan said some of the officers coming here are used to tackling guns, gangs and drugs on Merseyside.
They will bring their skills to help here and when they leave it is hoped the RCIP will be better placed to deal with those issues.
He said policing problems are the same all over the world but his first impression is that things are better here than in the areas he came from.
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