Texaco robbers wore ‘police’ jackets
According to a statement from the RCIPS, the suspects were “two men, both wearing black masks, black jackets with ‘POLICE’ in white lettering and gloves.”
Both suspects were described as being 5’5” tall. One had a handgun, the other held a machete, police said.
The robbery of the Eastern Avenue Texaco was the fifth hold-up of an individual or business on Grand Cayman within the past week and a half.
RCIPS officers said two men entered the gas station’s convenience store around 10pm.
Police said the suspects threatened store employees before taking cash and the store’s register with them. They were last seen heading toward School Road, officers said. No one was hurt during the robbery and no shots were fired.
The suspects were both described as relatively short – about 5’4″ – wearing dark clothes and masks. Police said one man was dark complected and the other had a light complexion.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call George Town Police Station at 949-4222 or Cayman Crime Stoppers at 800-8477.
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We’re looking shocked and unbelieving and wait if and how the Government reacts.
But don’t be afraid – there will be no reaction. No shot was fired, none was hurt.
I read on the RCIPS homepage: Royal Cayman Islands Police Service – We care, we listen and we act …and sorry, I can’t hide a smile.
I will almost guarantee that almost all of these armed robberies are being carried out by the same people.
Just like you or I go to work every day at the bank, law office or construction site, they go to work at robbing.
Catch/ shoot them and the crime wave goes away.
Better forensic police work is the key here. Look for the people who were always unaccounted for at hte same times as the robberies.
The other solution:
1. Armed police of course. Ready and quick to respond.
2. Panic buttons under desks by cash registers that ring immediate alert.
3. Allow armed civilians, or at least permit such non lethal self defence items as pepper sprays.
4. Drop box safes for cash takings over a certain amount. So robbing becomes less profitable.
All of this costs money. In my view the simplest solution is to find this handful of criminals doing these robberies.
Nothing new here! Over a thousand Caymanians and locals without jobs. MLA’s not really helping the situation.
I’m sure you’re right Swiss Diver there will be no reaction because it seems that these guys are acting within RCIPS boundaries as they are allowed to Rob and Steal as long as they do not harm anyone or fire any shots. I wouldn’t be surprised if the RCIPS starts handing out a Stickup Mans rulebook that says we have no issues if you steal and stick people up as long as you don’t harm anyone or fire any shots. Wake up RCIPS if someone’s hard earned cash is stolen from them, that is Harm, so don’t go saying no one was Harmed that’s just a sorry explanation to draw attention from the fact that these guys have the upper hand on you.
You obviously have no idea how to deal with this, you need to face up to the fact that these guys are out smarting the whole police force at every turn.
How does it feel to live with the knowledge that petty thieves are smarter than your so called highly trained officers and able to outsmart you on a regular basis, they must be laughing in your face and calling you the keystone Cop force. Right out of a Laurel and Hardy movie tripping over each others feet and bopping one another on the head.
Go to Texas or Miami Dade County and get some pointers..
@ NJ2Cay: We just can react with cynicism. We actually see how since months some criminal human waste is playing cat and mouse with the police and the Caymanian people.
The criminals show their power and after every attack they get more malicious. It’s the beginning of a war against the Caymanian population and actually the human waste thinks that it will win this game.
And every time they get no proper (best would be lethal) response, they feel stronger and will spread out, attire other gangs.
The terrible of the whole is that all this happens on the back of your tourism industry. In the worst case the Cayman Islands will be economically thrown back into the Sixties. And the friendly island and people will have lost everything.
ACT FINALLY ! Everybody give a proper response to this trash and their surroundings who cover them !
Sorry for my bad English. In my language it was easier to discuss.
Is it just me or doesn’t the description of a 5′ 4 approx suspct keep recurring in various robberies. How many short villains can there be on this island?
My wife and I are coming to live on Grand Cayman in January. One of the reasons we accepted job offers there was the reputation of the Island as safe. Had these incidents occurred before we made our decision it would certainly have affected our choice. I’m sure others who are thinking of relocating to the island or choosing a vacation destination are watching what happens very closely.
Our sincere hope is these robberies are the work of a small group who will be quickly apprehended. If not, or worse if a tragedy occurs during some future incident, it will be a long time before the tarnish wears off of the image folks have of The Cayman Islands. That would be sad indeed.
It is well known that the Police are overwhelmed by the recent sprees. I cant understand all the money being spent on the police helicopter for nothing, not a single arrest for all these recent crimes. Police depts in the US have small remote control airplanes that cost 20K that fly for 7 hours with nightvision cameras. 100 of them vs 1 helicopter. Alot more coverage and airtime.
The police are doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Insanity?
Cant we get some non lethal stuff? Nets, tranquilizers, drop cages, super glue/pepper spray in a fire extinguisher something to slow them down atleast.
Every business should have a money dye pack in their cash register. Hand it to the thug and in a few seconds he’ll be tagged and identified.
For God sake, I love ya Aiki14 (by the way nice handle name), but can you please cut the bullsh%t about my wife and I stories or we visitors stories whenever we have some crime issue that comes up in Cayman. I know you’re local. If you want to make a heartfelt point and gain ratings on CayCompass, I would just simply say:
CRIME IS HURTING CAYMANS TOURISM INDUSTRY!
Voila! :o)
Unlike the proposed solutions from longtermresident below, one solution for getting more police on the streets available for real calls is to reform alarm systems regulations.
Panic buttons under desks by cash registers that ring immediate alert don’t work for their intended purpose. They have essentially the same false alarm rate as burglar alarms, something around 94% to 98% false. The Seattle Police department found the false alarm rate for panic/duress/robbery alarms is almost identical to the false alarm rate for burglar alarms. That is despite the fact that someone has to physically activate a panic/holdup alarm. (see: http://www.seattle.gov/police/programs/alarms/default.htm )
What we have now is police using an inordinate amount of their time chasing burglar alarms, many of them chronic false alarms, in a feel-good measure that takes officers away from patrolling high crime areas and reduces their response time to real crime and to the few panic alarms that might be real.
(NOTE: Panic/holdup alarms are treated differently for statistical purposes in the US than burglary alarms. )
The US Department of Justice, in an analysis study on False Burglar alarms (see: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/e05021556.pdf ) found the vast majority of alarm callsbetween 94 and 98 percentare false (higher in some jurisdictions). They note, officers responding to false alarms are often spending time away from locations where crime and disorder are occurring. The city of Chicago expends the equivalent of 115 full time officers’ man-hours responding to false burglar alarms each year.
But burglar alarms help catch criminals in the act, right? Wrong. A Charlotte, N.C., study, researchers found that police were slightly more likely to catch burglars in the act on premises without alarms than on those with alarms. In Eugene, OR police noted an arrest in less than 0.2% of report alarms.
Burglar alarms just don’t work to help police catch criminals. Call 9-1-1 if you see something happening and free our police to patrol the high crime areas.
At 5’4, I suggest The Baby Shoppe may need to beef up their security soon.
Blows my mind what is going on in Cayman. I think I’ve made my last visit there. This is the very reason that I won’t go to Jamaica.
I just retired from my job in Cayman.
Now that I am back home, I still want to maintain contact with Cayman contact and I read the headlines every morning. All I seem to read about is crime and its surgence since I first moved there years ago. It was a beautiful safe palce to live and work but that sure has changed.
Sine moving back, I could not help but notice the number of Police Cars out and about giving tickets to traffic offenders and thought about the presence of the Police here in general.We realized it doesnt exist in Cayman.
I understand there are some 350 officers employed in the RCIP and when I read about all the crime ( sometimes in broad daylight)and wonder where the 350 of them are hiding? If there was a presence of the Police force felt, there might be some deterrent to crime.
So get your butts out of the detachment and on to the streets!
No BS Apprentice, all true what I said. Been using Aiki14 for a long time, google it and you’ll find me, here in the suburbs of Philadelphia
Crime is out of control because the powers that be do not care they have body guards and we have none.
One question: How is it that all these West Bay Criminals of the highest level keep ‘WALKING FREE?
time for an inquiry.
NJ2CAY has a very valid point – the local Police are clearly not up to the task of sorting out these thugs-seem to remember that there was some kind of robbery just around the corner from a Police Station fairly recently; this just about says it all!
A total embarrassment- the Police Chief should hang his head in shame. The CI’s are not a ‘third world country’ – surely you can do better than this? For goodness sake get some Police in who do know how to effectively manage the violent crime that seems now to be an almost daily occurrence.
I’m thinking the next taget for the thugs is going to be the police station and really make the RCIPS look good…might be time to do something????????
But then again I was at the stoplight by the airport a few days ago – a red light came and a car blew through almost hitting the traffic that had the green light – first car on the other side was a RCIP’s car and they did nothing – mabey they should hire some police that aren’t too lazy to do there job!