Police are recruiting additional officers

Police are recruiting about 50 new officers, including 20 armed police, to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Force to help combat the rising gun crime. 

The new recruits will be paid from an additional $4.6 million in funding released by the government last week, following meetings between the police commissioner, the governor and government officials to address the rise in armed robberies in Cayman. The spate of fatal gang-related shootings in the past week has added more impetus to increase the size of the police service. 

Governor Duncan Taylor, speaking at a joint media briefing with Police Commissioner David Baines on the steps of the Government Administration Building on Monday afternoon, said the reinstatement of the funding, which had been cut from the RCIPS budget over the past two years, meant that police had already put extra officers on the street and was being used to pay for overtime for police. 

Police this week began recruiting just under 50 more officers to the police service, including 20 armed officers and 12 detectives for surveillance and investigation, a move that may take a few months to complete, Commissioner Baines said.  

Additional forensics officers are also being recruited to the crime scenes unit.  

Commissioner Baines said he also planned to introduce a new unit of police officers with “higher trained public order capability” who could be armed with tasers and larger batons, and who would be tasked with closing down areas where police are seeing additional criminality.  

“You drop in as a team and you control the ground and it’s to stop that free movement of individuals in some of the areas that are vulnerable… because of the high number of suspect individuals or criminal individuals who live in that community where they garner support from their own community, who see the police presence as an unfortunate presence rather than a supportive element,” he said. 

Laws  

Governor Taylor said Cayman’s laws were being examined to see if any legislative changes would assist police in tackling crime. He said these include, for example, the Firearms Law, which is being examined to determine if it needs to be changed to enable police to enter a premises without a search warrant if they have reasonable suspicion that there are illegal firearms on the property. Police have the right, under the Misuse of Drugs Law, to detain and search a person or search a premises without a warrant if they suspect illegal drugs are on a person or in a premises. 

Mr. Taylor said any changes that are deemed necessary to the existing laws would be done quickly, which would involve the Legislative Assembly returning to meet before its next scheduled meeting on 28 September. 

“We need to make sure that a small number of criminals are not able to destroy or disrupt our communities and we’ll do everything possible in order to ensure that… I’m not going to rest until we’ve got some of these people put away properly,” he said, adding that Cayman had to operate within the law. 

“I hear people calling for serious action to bring in SWAT teams from overseas who can sort the problem out. In my view, we need to work with the RCIPS within the law, enhancing their capabilities,” the governor said. 

He added that he planned to visit communities in West Bay this week “so I can hear directly from people what concerns they have”. 

Arrests  

By Monday afternoon, police had arrested three people in connection with the West Bay killings over the past week, Commissioner Baines said. Two of those arrested were still in custody and one had been released by Monday afternoon. 

Mr. Baines, speaking at a joint press briefing with Governor Duncan Taylor Monday afternoon following a high-level meeting of officials to discuss the latest killings, said police had the names of gang members suspected of being involved in the killings. 

“Our challenge is to actually decipher rumour and speculation and turn that into evidence. In some cases, we’ve arrested and detained people, processed them forensically and sought to link them to any of the offences that are ongoing. Some are still in custody, some have come in and gone out and are awaiting forensic results to follow that up,” he said. 

The police chief said the search was on for several individuals involved in the shootings. “In each instance, there have been at least two gunmen seen and at least two separate weapons used at each venue,” he said. 

He added that there was also a suggestion that a third offender had been seen at one of the scenes and that there may also have been “spotters” directing the gunmen to specific locations. 

Three different types of weapons had also been used in the killings – a shotgun, a semi-automatic pistol and revolver, he said. 

Alarming  

Describing the murders of 18-year-old Preston Rivers, Andrew Anthony Baptist, 24, and Robert Macford Bush, 28, as a return to the “gang-related tit-for-tat” violence that exploded in Cayman in early 2010, Mr. Baines said: “Three deaths in five days is quite rightly alarming for anybody.” 

Hours later, 18-year-old Jason Christian was shot dead in George Town district and another young man, 22-year-old Keith Montique was shot and wounded.  

“It only takes two or three toxic individuals who are able to take the traditional venom that exists between gangs, push it over the level… to a level we’ve never seen before,” the commissioner said. 

He said police were concentrating on trying to stop retaliation between the two gangs at the centre of the recent violence that has shook West Bay – the Logwood Crew and the Birch Tree Hill Gang. 

However, as police move into areas frequented by gang members from both sides, those gang members are moving elsewhere, he said, making an imposition of curfews or cordons in the district pointless. 

No curfew  

A small group of concerned citizens who demonstrated in front of the Glass House on Monday called for a curfew to be imposed in parts of West Bay to help tackle the escalating situation there, but the police commissioner and governor ruled out the immediate imposition of a curfew or the cordoning off of certain areas of the district for now.  

They said, though, if they felt it would be helpful to police investigations or in apprehending the shooters to impose a curfew or cordon in the future, that would be done.  

“If I use a curfew or cordon, I have to police it,” Mr. Baines said. “As we’ve gone out actively looking for people [we believe are] associated in this, people have disappeared.” 

He told reporters that in locations where gang members have been known to hang out, “they’re not there anymore… for fear of retaliation and, secondly, they know we are looking for them as well.” 

“I am unable to identify or request to the governor a specific cordon or a specific curfew that will complement the police operation at this time,” the police chief added. 

Governor Taylor said curfews and cordons had been discussed at Monday’s meeting, which was attended by Premier McKeeva Bush, Attorney General Sam Bulgin and Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryll Richards.  

“I made it quite clear that, as governor, I have the power to order a curfew or a cordon… I’m quite happy to do that if and when the commissioner reaches a point where he believes that is going to complement and assist his operation. At the moment, he has not reached that point, but if he comes to see me and says I really do think we need a curfew in this area or that area at this time, I will sign the necessary order,” Mr. Taylor said. 

He said he had already spoken to some people from West Bay and he felt from them “the level of anxiety and fear and concern and outrage at these crimes” and that they had communicated a “very strong sense that something must be done and something must be done quickly to put a stop to this”. 

BBMs  

Referring to a slew of BBM messages and social media alerts of other shootings and killings in West Bay on Sunday night, Mr. Baines said: “Thankfully, there weren’t any further shootings last night but it’s just an indication of the level of concern and threat. What is apparent is if some of these names circulated are active and are associated and people are putting two and two together and circulating names, our challenge is going to be that that does not become a reality so we are engaging with those people. We’re using every aspect of the law to either prevent them from being involved in any further activity, to arrest them if they are required for any and all of the legislation that we have at our hands and we will continue to increase our presence for the foreseeable future in the West Bay area.”