A Royal Cayman Islands Police commander admitted last week that the service has not always done a good job of keeping victims of crime in the loop regarding ongoing investigations.
RCIPS Chief Inspector Brad Ebanks, who heads the Bodden Town Police Station, acknowledged publicly that lack of information from the police to the victims of crime has been a long-standing issue in the Cayman Islands.
“We realized that this is a major downfall that we have,” Mr. Ebanks told a group of about 25 residents at a public meeting in Bodden Town earlier this month. “We get so caught up in the day-to-day … sometimes we forget there’s a victim there that needs to know.”
Mr. Ebanks said it’s an issue the police service is taking steps to correct.
The Bodden Town station commander said the police are now attempting, in as many criminal investigations as possible, to get back to the victim who reported the crime within the first week to let the person know how the case is proceeding.
“Past one week is a long time before you hear anything [from police],” Mr. Ebanks said.
In cases where it is applicable, Mr. Ebanks said, police will endeavor to contact crime victims at least once a month to provide them with information about their ongoing matters.
There would be some instances where such scheduled updates would not be practical, but Mr. Ebanks said this would be the goal that all officers should seek to maintain, particularly when major crimes have been alleged. Such efforts would assist in bolstering residents’ confidence in the police service, Mr. Ebanks said.
“To the victim or the complainant, it sometimes seems like there’s nothing being done when that’s really not the case,” he said.
For one former Cayman Islands crime victim, it’s a positive change.
“I think that would be a great thing,” said former Cayman Islands resident Jeff Brammer, “because after [the police took] fingerprinting and stuff [from a burglary investigation at his home], we never heard another word.”
Mr. Brammer, now the sports editor for the Spirit of Jefferson weekly newspaper in West Virginia, had recently moved to Cayman when his West Bay apartment was burgled in October 2011. Some $15,000 worth of camera equipment was taken from the home of the former managing editor of the Cayman Compass, along with a laptop that had irreplaceable family photos stored on it.
None of the photo equipment was ever returned and it wasn’t until nine months later, in mid-2012, that he was informed that police had arrested and charged someone in connection with the break-in. That information came from a reporter at the newspaper who happened to be in court during the sentencing of the burglary suspect.
“[I was notified} after the hearing had already happened,” Mr. Brammer said. “It would have been nice to have been brought up to speed.
“It also would have been nice to get in court and address the judge. Let him know what the situation did to both my wife and myself. I would have liked to make a victim statement of some kind.”
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