Police have seized 15 firearms over the last 11 months, and while Deputy Police Commissioner Kurt Walton says that is a “good result”, he wants the community to help officers get more off the streets.
“I would encourage members of the public certainly to come forward” about any individuals they know or suspect are involved with illegal firearms, Walton said Wednesday when he appeared on Cayman Compass talkshow The Resh Hour.
He added, “We are a very small organisation, and I’m confident that there are persons out there who know officers that they can talk to. If they feel more at ease speaking to an officer they can trust, please do so,” Walton said when he appeared on the 30 Nov. episode of ‘The Resh Hour’ talkshow. He said there is also the confidential tipline, through which information can be shared.
“One gun on the street is too dangerous,” he said.
Over the last seven years, Walton said, 107 guns were seized by police, but he knows there are more guns in Cayman as there is “certainly an insatiable appetite for guns on this island”.
“There are individuals involved in a criminal fraternity. They just, for whatever reason, need to have a gun,” the deputy commissioner said. “Whether it’s a sense of empowerment… They just need a gun. It’s really not a good position for us to be in as a small island. … We continue to target these individuals… it is not a lot of them.”
He added that there are persons who are not only in possession of firearms, but are also supplying them to others.
“They’re involved in the process of, whether [it’s] some sort of conspiracy, to get guns into the island and that in itself is, for me, equally as culpable as the person possessing the gun, or that individual who’s put that gun to someone’s head during a robbery or, God forbid, has used it in murdering someone,” Walton said.
He lamented that as firearm-related offences continue to grow, it is critical the community steps up.
Firearms, he said, are being used in the commission of robberies, which have spiked in the last few weeks.
He pointed out that 37 robberies have been committed so far this year, and 28 of those have involved the use of a firearm.
Additionally, he said, 25 of the robberies were carried out since the beginning of August.
He assured the community that police are working to stamp out the spate of robberies, which they believed are being committed by four groups of individuals.
Walton said, of the 25 armed robberies since August, there were no instances where the weapon was discharged.
Nonetheless, the robberies are concerning, he said, adding that police are going to be more visible in the run-up during the holiday season and are working to turn the tide on the surge in robberies.
“We have implemented a number of robust proactive strategies,” he said. “We have arrested at least four individuals, executed about five warrants. Those investigations are ongoing at the moment. I can’t speak a lot about those. We have recovered a number of materials from those search warrants, so it’s going to take a while because it’s quite painstaking… detectives have to go through all the evidence,” he said.
On Thursday, 1 Dec., the RCIPS kicked off its annual Winter Guardian operation, which will involve higher visibility patrols and increased traffic checks.
Sergeant Lenford Butler, of the Traffic and Roads Policing Unit, speaking on the show, said while the community may be inconvenienced by the traffic checks, these operations are for the public’s safety and help to crack down on errant drivers.
Additionally, he said, road checks have also yielded firearm seizures.
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They need to offer a substantial reward ($1000 – $2500) to people who report someone who owns a firearm and that person is found in possession of a firearm. Make it worth their while. Then people will come forward.