The police headquarters in George Town “has basically been condemned”, Infrastructure Minister Johany ‘Jay’ Ebanks told Radio Cayman on 29 Aug.
“We need to build the police a more suitable facility,” he said on host Orrett Connor’s show ‘For the Record’, adding, “It is something we will be discussing in caucus.”
He said officers are currently working “all over”, using the FLOW building, the RBC building and the Piccadilly Centre.
Long-serving Caymanian police inspector Courtney Myles, who retired in 2009 after more than 30 years in the service, subsequently called into the show and appealed to Ebanks and the government to invest in building police stations in the Cayman Islands.
“The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service is badly in need of a new police HQ,” he said. “I am glad they closed it [the police headquarters in George Town], because if they didn’t, they [the government] would have gotten in lawsuits because people would have been getting sick.”
He added, “It is imperative that their working surroundings are comfortable because that is conducive to proper policing.”
During his call into the radio station, Myles also expressed concerns about the condition of the West Bay Police Station.
“The West Bay Police Station was terminated years ago, and they brought it back online. It carries a particular stench that is not conducive to one’s health,” he said.
Myles then referred to a parcel of overgrown land on Batabano Road that for several years has had a sign on the property that says, “Future Home: West Bay Police Station”.
“We identified a spot in West Bay for a station years ago, but nothing is happening there,” he said.
The RCIPS website still describes the closed George Town Police Station on Elgin Avenue as functional.
“The George Town Police Station is the RCIPS’ main police station, located in the centre of the capital next to the Government Building. It houses the majority of the Service’s uniform police and investigative units,” the website says.
The situation with the police station on Cayman Brac also needs to be addressed. In May 2021, the police also moved out of their long-term police station overlooking the Creek Dock in Cayman Brac to a rented accommodation at the Kirkconnell Building opposite the District Administration Building.
At the time, the reason for the move was said to be related to safety concerns due to structural issues such as cracks in the walls at the station.
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