As Cayman heads into the high winter holiday season, tourism officials say it is imperative local authorities get a handle on the recent spike in robberies.
Cayman Islands Tourism Association President Troy Leacock, speaking on the Cayman Compass talkshow The Resh Hour Wednesday, said the situation is “very concerning”.
“Safety is one of the major features that the guests, for why they come back to Cayman repeatedly,” he said. “So, it’s important for us to work [on it.] The spate of robberies are particularly concerning, not because necessarily the degree of violence, but it just creates a feeling of ‘Am I going to be safe going to my ATM? Am I going to be safe going to my little store in the evening or whatever?”
Two men and a 24-year-old woman of George Town were recently arrested for the robbery at a West Bay convenience store on 19 Nov.
Though police have made arrests in the most recent robberies, Leacock said, “without blowing it out of proportion”, visitors are still being advised to take steps to remain safe.
He said that it is not hundreds of people that are committing the robberies, and it may be just “a handful”.
“That’s why you see sometimes when they actually arrest someone, all of a sudden, it stops. I think that it’s important that we are able to to arrest these people. I think that, for robberies, we need to be as forceful as we can. I believe that robberies create a sense of unease within the community that has a disproportionate effect on our quality of life,” Leacock said.
He said CITA is reaching out to Police Commissioner Kurt Walton to find out what the association can do to help prevent crime.
While he said all of the hotel properties have security guards and other security measures, he wants to know how can CITA can work more closely with the police to clamp down on robberies.
“It’s not about the fact that the person robbed and only got away with a hundred dollars,” he said. “It’s just the fact that I’m going into a store and I’m looking over my shoulder just to make sure there’s nobody, I look into the store before I go in. We shouldn’t have to live like that.
“I think that we need to really address the robbery situation and make sure that we can stamp it out and and enforce our laws as forcefully as we can.”
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How is it that certain countries have exceptionally low crimes rates/ What are they doing that other countries aren’t doing? Countries like UAE, Singapore and Japan.
Firstly, children are educated in school and by their parents to respect others.
Secondly, there are draconian sentences for wrong-doers.
Let me give a ridiculous example. How many of us have once or twice driven home after a glass or two of wine? What if you knew the law was that a high breathalyser test woud lead to a roadside execution? I guarantee there’d be no more drinking and driving.
Japan’s motor violations per capita is almost exponentially lower than my hometown Memphis Tennessee’s is and Grand Cayman Island. Been to Japan and been all over and the reason is that infractions are not tolerated and the laws are enforced. It’s all about police presence on the roadways and about the towns on foot. Worth the money.