Crime ‘the cost of doing business’ in Cayman

Since 1994, brothers Prentice and Stanley Panton have owned and operated the Reflections chain of liquor, food and clothing stores. During that time, they’ve grown their business from a single outlet with a handful of employees to multiple locations and a staff complement of 75 people.

Over the years, the men say they have learned many valuable lessons, but perhaps the most surprising is that robberies and other petty crimes are an apparent cost of “doing business” in Cayman.

“This has happened to me over 15 years now, so I would say, yes, this is a part of doing business,” said Prentice Panton, who added that he wasn’t desensitised to the situation, but, instead, had come to terms with the unrelenting scourge of crime he has had to deal with to keep his business afloat.

His comments came days after the latest robbery at his Reflections Food4Less store along Airport Road, George Town.

The incident, which was caught on CCTV, shows a lone robber rushing through two sets of doors, brandishing what appears to be a black handgun, then throwing a yellow cloth bag at an employee and demanding he “fill it with all the cash”. The robbery lasted about one minute.

The gunman threatened to shoot or kill Melvin Moran five times during those 60 seconds.

Moran, a father of five young children, is the sole provider for his family back in the Philippines. Three days after the incident, he was still visibly shaken by the ordeal.

“I’ve never been in a situation like that before, and all I could think was that one wrong move and either I will live or I will die because the guy is too aggressive,” Moran told the Compass, speaking in his native Tagalog.

Covered from head to toe with a hat, a long-sleeved shirt, jeans and gloves, the robber’s identity was concealed. After securing an undisclosed amount of petty cash, he fled on foot.

‘Frustrations’ with the system

According to the crime statistics released by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, serious and volume crimes have trended downwards in the past decade.

During that time, 407 robberies, 5,210 burglaries, and 7,229 thefts were reported to the police. However, there are no details on how many of those cases were solved, abandoned, or remain active.

“My frustrations, other than we have been robbed, is that really the persons have never been brought to justice… because we know who these individuals are,” said Prentice.

He pointed to a burglary that happened 10 years ago, during which the thieves were caught calling each other’s names on camera, as one of many incidents where the crooks were never arrested or questioned.

The Compass has seen CCTV footage of that incident at the store, located off Godfrey Nixon Way. Names are audible in the recording. No-one was prosecuted.

“We often catch people shoplifting, we always call the police,” Prentice said.

“I can say I have only ever been to court once in 28 years of business and we have caught hundreds of people.

“My fear is that others will see this and say to themselves that they can get away with it too, which is just going to lead to an increase in these types of crimes,” he said.

Jailed criminals should ‘serve full sentences’

Over the years, Prentice Panton has sought out ways to try to deter would-be criminals and to protect his staff and customers.

“We have spent millions on various security features, systems and upgrades, and still we keep getting robbed,” he said.

“At this stage, we would have saved that money if we hadn’t spent it and instead just offer up the petty cash during the incidents. In the end, our internal systems and policies failed, and we ended up helping the robber.”

He told the Compass that the majority of the offenders who have been caught either shoplifting or robbing the store are repeat offenders, who take advantage of Cayman’s judicial system to either delay potential jail time or get out early upon conviction.

“The system and laws are in place for a reason, and we need to jail these people and make them serve the full sentence before we consider releasing them back into the community,” said Stanley Panton. “There is no point in just releasing someone because they served a portion of prison time.”

Cayman’s recidivism rate currently stands at 42%, down significantly from 63% nine years ago. According to the latest data, as of 30 June 2022, 62 inmates, or 42% of the prison population, were returned to custody for reoffending within the past two years of being reintegrated into society.

Stanley Panton believes that a percentage of those re-offending inmates are fuelling the crimes upon early release. “I took the first and second persons to have ever been released from prison under the early release programme and gave them a job,” he said.

“At that time, they had served their sentence and, after being rehabilitated, they were ready to return to the community.

“But now we release them early to no jobs and no rehabilitation, so they return to a life of crime,” he added.

More protection needed

The persistent wave of crime has left Prentice Panton calling for his staff to be equipped with items such as bulletproof vests and/or pepper spray, to protect themselves – but he fears those calls are falling on deaf ears.

“I have always believed that bulletproof vests, even if they had to be licensed… or pepper spray for women leaving work late at night, or exercising early in the morning, these are things that could be used [for protection],” said Panton.

He said initial conversations with police about allowing the public or store clerks to access these items were shot down.

“My argument about that – they didn’t think we should have these things because the criminals could have it – is that the criminals have guns,” he said.

“If they have the ability to get these weapons, which they have, they certainly have the ability to get pepper spray or bulletproof vests if they choose.”

He says, going forward, he hopes police and lawmakers will reconsider their stance on protective items, which could help to deter robberies, or even save a life should a robbery go wrong.