of the Royal Cayman Islands Police to beef up its forces.
The new recruits will be paid for from an
additional $4.6 million in funding the government released last week when it
was evident gang and gun crime was heating up, especially in West Bay.
Unfortunately, on Monday night, there were
shootings; this time in George Town.
The money, which had been cut from the
RCIPS budget over the past two years, will be used to put extra officers on the
street and to pay for overtime.
Just this week several advertisements have
shown up in the Classifieds Section of the Caymanian Compass seeking armed
officers and detectives.
It is our hope that many of our former
Caymanian police officers who are no longer on the force sign up for these
positions and get the jobs.
We have many former police officers in our
midst who know the young men and women involved in criminal and gang activity.
They know where they live, who their family
members are and they know how to deal with these troubled young people.
A young Caymanian will show respect and
listen to an older Caymanian person in authority more than they will to people
they don’t know, whether those people are wearing a police uniform or not.
We commend Commissioner David Baines for
his plans to introduce a unit of police officers with higher trained public
order capability who could be armed with tasers and larger batons. Again,
though, we hope that unit consists of some seasoned Caymanian former policemen
and women.
While the United States is warning
potential tourists to Cayman that there is Jamaica gang activity here, we have
to honest and admit that this is a Caymanian problem and it has been for years.
It’s unfortunate that our politicians in the 1990s denied that gangs existed in
the Cayman Islands when gang activity was obvious.
If we hadn’t buried our heads in the sand
then, we may not be dealing with this latest spate of shootings that are
without a doubt gang related.
Gangs are real in the Cayman Islands and
it’s time to put a stop to them.
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