The owner of Elizabethan Square, a retail-and-office complex in George Town, is seeking permission to build a barbed-wire fence due to a “recent alarming increase in crime”.
Rovida Estates Company said it submitted an application to the Central Planning Authority over concern for the privacy, safety and security of their staff, tenants and patrons.
The proposal is to replace a damaged 6-foot 11-inch chain-link fence and increase the height to 10 feet 2 inches with the top two feet strung with barbed wire.
It also asks to add a 2-foot 10-inch extension in height to an existing concrete wall at the Shedden Road site, making it 6 feet 10 inches tall.
According to the applicant’s letter, the $150,000 boundary changes will “aid in preventing numerous illegal and dangerous activities from occurring at this location”.
“Elizabethan Square has been targeted with numerous break-ins [and] theft, and is frequented by miscreants that climb over the existing wall and fence bordering the Scranton area,” it reads.
The letter adds that the proposed height addition will be in keeping with the adjacent properties, namely the Radio Cayman building and the George Town Police Station.
Sufficient reason
In response to the application, the Department of Planning said planning authority guidelines stipulate that, in general, barbed-wire fencing is only for agricultural sites.
However, barbed wire as a security feature on top of a masonry wall or chain-link fence may be permitted subject to Central Planning Authority approval.
The guidelines also say that in a commercial zone no part of a semi-transparent fence should exceed 6 feet in height. The proposed 10-foot 2-inch fence would exceed that by 4 feet 2 inches.
The department suggested the authority should assess if there is “sufficient reason and an exceptional circumstance” to warrant granting planning permission for the proposed fences.
The authority was scheduled to assess the application on Wednesday, 17 Jan., and the decision will be published online in the minutes in about three weeks.
Barbed wire is seen throughout Caribbean cities with high crime rates, such as Nassau in the Bahamas and Kingston in Jamaica, in a bid to protect property from criminals.
The Compass asked the police press office for the number of robberies in George Town in 2023.
However, a spokesperson said the figures will not be made available until the release of the annual crime and statistics report in March.
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If Cayman doesn’t crush the criminal element NOW when their numbers are small, you’ll end up with a situation we have in the big cities in the USA—crime affecting all income levels, rich and poor, with insecurity and fear for personal security invading all walks of life! I expect less than 1% of the population does 90% of the crime. The police know who they are. Put them away. Big jails are a good investment against a tarnished reputation.
Seriously? That is the 24 million dollar question. Only since 1989 has Cayman ever been eluded to the idea and need to be a part of; “Barbed wire is seen throughout Caribbean cities with high crime rates, such as Nassau in the Bahamas and Kingston in Jamaica, in a bid to protect property from criminals.” What has changed since 1989, when we first started going and forming a relationship with Cayman and its people? Is there an influx of foreigners coming in because of the building and not checking them twice? Does the police department need more manpower? Are the parents working with the schools to teach that crime does not pay, and what does respect mean? Bring in someone younger who has served time to speak to the children in school so they can relate to him/her. Take heed and warnings; families will stop coming and find another island. You have warnings and signs; the next step is to stop building because you will not fill those buildings.
Crime does pay. That’s the problem. Western so-called criminal justice comprises fines, community orders and short periods of relatively comfortable detention. Fines don’t get paid, community orders are a joke, and imprisonment cost the fortune and is thus unaffordable.
Singapore has the right answer: corporal and capital punishment. Apparently, however, most people would prefer that criminals be allowed to persist in offending until they rape or kill someone, only then taking them off the streets – at great cost to taxpayers, and only for a temporary period.
Seriously??? This is what we have become? Tall buildings surrounded by high fences and razor wire? Is this what we want to be known for? What’s next-peddlers up and down the beaches?