WIN BIG! over $40,000 worth of prizes E s t . 1982 i n C AY M A N ~ 40 YE AR SANNIVERS AR Y ~ 40 Scratch card with every purchase over $4! T&Cs apply. Purchases over $4 will receive one scratch and win card per transaction. While stocks last. Available on all purchases over $4 from the 23rd of December 2022 - 1st of February 2023 at all Cayman locations. Valid until 23rd December 2023. Can not be redeemed with the same transaction. cayman compass Your most trusted news source Established 1965 $1 | Funding local journalism | Weekly, 13-19 January 2023 ‘Frustrated’ Lockhart resigns from Mental Health Commission Page 3 254 collisions during road safety campaign Page 8 Chief justice plans to add district courts Pages 14-15 Rethinking Cayman’s voting system ‘Frustrated’ resigns from Mental Health Commission Is it time to go back to the drawing board on electoral reform? 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Compass Centre, Shedden Road, George Town, Cayman Islands SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman, KY1-1108 Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@compassmedia.ky ADVERTISE WITH US: T: (345) 949-5111 E: sales@compassmedia.ky W: caymancompass.com NEWS EDITOR CAROLINE JAMES BUSINESS EDITOR MICHAEL KLEIN ISSUES EDITOR JAMES WHITTAKER HEAD OF SALES CHERYL BIRCH-GILLIES weather Friday Forecast FORECAST Partly cloudy skies with a 30% chance of showers. SEA STATE Rough with a wave height of 5 to 7 feet. A small craft warning is in effect. WINDS East to northeast at 20 to 25 knots. 88°F HIGH 77°F LOW Kenneth Bryan talks man off roof in police standoff Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan added the role of negotiator to his list of duties on 7 Jan. when he intervened in a police standoff in George Town, talking a man off the roof of a building. However, the minister, speaking with the Cayman Compass about the incident, said he did what any “other good human being” would have done. “I knew it was the right thing to do because I knew him. He is a childhood friend. I’m just happy that it ended safely without anybody severely hurt,” Bryan said. He added that he was happy he was able to assist the police and the 41-year-old Bodden Town man who was “distressed” at the time. The incident occurred on Mary Street – which is in Bryan’s George Town Central constituency. Officers were on foot patrol on Martin Drive, George Town, when they spotted the man whom, police said, was wanted in relation to theft offences and outstanding warrants. The man ran from the officers, who pursued him on foot to McField Lane. He allegedly resisted officers’ attempts to detain him, and threw objects at them. He then climbed onto the roof, leading to the standoff. Bryan said he was at home when he got a call. The Cayman Islands Fire Department, police said, attended the scene to assist officers in their efforts to negotiate the man’s safe descent from the roof. Bryan said the inspector on site allowed him to speak to the man. He said he climbed onto a wall near where the man was and they had a chat, after which he agreed to come down, ending the incident “without any severe injuries or anything else”. Bryan said he wanted the community to remember that “no matter how bad it gets, we’re all in this together”. “If we continue to appreciate and support each other, when things are hard and people can understand and get through it, it may never have to get to a situation such as the other night,” Bryan said. The incident ended around 9pm with the man being arrested. The RCIPS, commenting on the incident, said they were grateful for assistance in resolving the situation. Police said two RCIPS negotiators were present on the scene during this incident and conducted the initial negotiations with the wanted man. An officer, prior to the standoff, received minor injuries. That officer attended hospital for treatment and was subsequently discharged. American tourist gets $1,000 fine for ganja An American tourist who arrived in Cayman to celebrate his one year wedding anniversary will return home with a fine and a conditional discharge after he was found with nearly three grams of ganja and a THC vape pen. Appearing before the Summary Court on Wednesday 11 Jan., Ruben Tsigutkin entered a guilty plea to the single charge of possession of ganja, stemming from his arrest at the Owen Roberts International Airport on 8 Jan., minutes after he and his wife arrived from New York aboard a Cayman Airways plane. A Customs and Border Control search recovered a silver grinder with a small portion of ganja, along with a pill bottle with three other small portions of ganja, in addition to a THC vape pen. The collective weight of the ganja was 2.798 grams. Tsigutkin’s lawyer told the court his client needed the cannabis for medicinal purposes, having undergone a procedure in December. “I understand the unique circumstances that surround this case, and I accept that this was a mistake,” Magistrate Philippa McFarlane told Tsigutkin. “However... you must learn to respect the laws of the land, and ignorance of the law is no excuse.” McFarlane imposed a fine of $1,038, to cover the cost incurred to test the seized drugs to verify their authenticity. She also imposed a conditional discharge as a “measure of deterrence for other like-minded individuals”. No conviction will be recorded, so long as Tsigutkin does not commit any further offences in Cayman for the next six months. Little Cayman flights cancelled due to fire truck breakdown Four Cayman Airways flights to Little Cayman were cancelled on 9 and 10 Jan., after the sole fire truck on the island was deemed “inoperable”. The truck needs to be in place at the Edward Bodden Airfield for all departures and landings of aircraft. Flights resumed on 10 Jan. after repairs to the truck were completed. CAL said in a statement that it had been working with the Cayman Islands Fire Service to help get the fire truck back up and running, by transporting the necessary truck parts from Grand Cayman via scheduled flights to Cayman Brac on 10 Jan. The parts were then sent to Little Cayman on a boat. On Monday, 9 Jan. the national flag carrier cancelled its Cayman Airways Express flights KX4624 and KX4424, and the next day, its morning flights KX4420 and KX4421, also had to be cancelled since the fire truck was still not working. “Affected passengers were safely shuttled from Little Cayman to Cayman Brac by boat, where some were flown to Grand Cayman via an extra Express flight that was added to accommodate the need for additional seats,” it said. Rape and defilement charges sent to Grand Court A West Bay man accused of rape and defilement will have to go to the Grand Court for bail following a brief Summary Court hearing that ended with him being remanded into custody. The 33-year-old man faces two counts of rape which allege that in October and November last year, he raped a child who was under the age of 16. The rape charges are separate from a single count of defilement which is said to have occurred sometime between February 2020 and February 2021. It is not clear if it was the same complainant in both cases as no other details were made public during the hearing on 10 Jan. The ‘Category A’ charges were transmitted to the Grand Court, where the defendant will have the right to a jury trial. The man was initially taken into custody by police on Wednesday, 4 Jan., after he failed to pay a $1,000 fine for an undisclosed conviction. While in custody, he was subsequently charged with rape. Although he told the court he was in a position to pay the fine, and was keen to be released, no bail application was made. He was remanded into custody and is expected to make his next appearance on 20 Jan. The breakdown of Little Cayman’s only fire truck, which is stationed next door to the Little Cayman airport, led to the cancellation of flights. news in brief cayman compass 2 N news WEEKLY, 13-19 JANUARY 2023Prompted by a lack of progress at the long-delayed mental health facility RESHMA RAGOONATH rragoonath@compassmedia.ky Cayman’s most prominent mental health professional Dr. Marc Lockhart says not enough is being done to address the “mental health” crisis in this country. He raised the red flag on the issue after being frustrated by a lack of communication and the slow pace of progress, and opting not to return as Mental Health Commission chairman, a decision which he says was not easy to make. “I do not feel that we as a community are doing enough from a mental health standpoint. I feel that statements are made, words are spoken but the action aspect of things falls way below what is spoken,” Lockhart said as he explained the rationale for his decision to the Cayman Compass in a recent interview. Lockhart's term as commission chair expired at the end of December. There has been no word on his replacement. After speaking with Lockhart, the Compass reached out to the Ministry of Health and Wellness for comment on Friday, 7 Jan., but had received no official response by press time on Thursday afternoon, 12 Jan. ‘Major construction’ complete, but no plan in place Lockhart has been pushing the construction of the facility for years. Finally, the “major construction” has been completed, but he stressed the physical structure is only a small part of the facility. He said lack of movement to resource the facility properly is fuelling his frustration. “There are no plans for staffing, there are no plans for preparing the facility to receive the patients. There are no plans for training, for hiring staff, for job descriptions. In order for us to properly move forward, we need to have clear plans, clear communication, clear strategy about what is required,” he said, adding he is not getting this from the health ministry. Opposition calls lack of progress 'unacceptable' Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart, in a statement following Lockhart’s comments, criticised the government for the delays in the project. He said it is “unacceptable” and “concerning” that there is still much work required to get the long-term residential mental health facility up and running. “I urge [Health] Minister Sabrina Turner not to let this critical project fall by the wayside, as occurred with the Waste to Energy Facility project,” McTaggart said, referring to delays in the proposed ReGen facility at the George Town landfill. He added he had hoped Premier Wayne Panton would have pushed his minister to get the mental health facility opened. “Amazingly, the Government has still not provided for all that goes with starting up a facility such as this, including hiring staff for the facility,” McTaggart said. The $15 million facility in East End consists of cottages with two major buildings on a 50,000 square feet site. The facility initially broke ground in October 2019 under the then Progressives-led administration, with a projected December 2021 completion date. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed construction for a year, along with several other capital projects. “It is concerning that there is still much work required to recruit and train the necessary staff for the facility, to work with families and clinicians on plans for the safe return of patients from overseas, and to develop the necessary community mental health services that will support the effective operation of the residential facility,” McTaggart said. Lockhart said getting the facility to the next stage has been a struggle. “We get the guidance from the political leadership in terms of the minister herself, and others that entertain us, discuss things and push for certain things. We, the Mental Health Commission, as the advisory body, can give advice and information… We’ve helped every step of the way in terms of guiding this facility,” he stressed. The commission, he said, has written multiple times to the ministry, offering to meet. “We’ve sent in plans as to how things should be done to get the facility properly opened,” he said, but there has been nothing forthcoming. Decision fuelled by frustration Lockhart assured his decision was not a result of conflict or infighting with his colleagues on the commission, but he said he felt like he had “hit a wall” and could go no further in the role. “The Mental Health Commission has supported me and they’re very upset with me not continuing with them, and I understand that, but I felt that this is the only way to make progress for those that need it,” he said. He said remaining, and maintaining the status quo, was not going to work. “Writing, trying to get things… no answer, no clarity, no appreciation of the level of work that is required to run a 54-patient facility…” he listed as some of the reasons he decided to step away. “Based on where things are currently, I did not feel that the level of communication that I was receiving from the ministry was adequate – especially based on the mental health crisis that we are experiencing in this island, in our region and in the world as a consequence of COVID and the aftermath,” he said. Cayman, he said, has seen sharp increases in mental health issues especially involving young people. Yet, the community is still forced to work with the existing, limited capacity. “Suicide attempts among teens… went up by 72% between 2020 and 2021. We had over 100 suicide ‘Frustrated’ Lockhart leaves Mental Health Commission PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 13» “There are no plans for staffing, there are no plans for preparing the facility to receive the patients.” Dr. Marc Lockhart, on lack of progress at the long-term mental health facility in East End Dr. Marc Lockhart The main construction work on the long-term mental health facility in East End has been completed. - Photo: Taneos Ramsay cayman compass 3 news N news WEEKLY, 13-19 JANUARY 20231234567 89 101112 13 1415 16 171819 20 212223 2425 1234567 89 101112 13 1415 16 171819 20 212223 2425 ACROSS 1 Enchant (7) 5 Steep rock-face (5) 8 Traditionalists (3,6) 9 Fall behind (3) 10 Face of a clock (4) 12 To challenge (8) 14 Large tusked Arctic mammal (6) 15 Buffoon (6) 17 Assume burden of (8) 18 Sudden cold spell (4) 21 Be indebted to (3) 22 Ruthless (9) 24 Flavoursome (5) 25 Contemptible (7) DOWN 1 Ponder resentfully (5) 2 Bundle of paper money (3) 3 Diplomacy (4) 4 Jinx (6) 5 Loss of nerve (4,4) 6 Obtained unlawfully (3-6) 7 Boxer (7) 11 Everyone who arrives (3,6) 13 For all to see (8) 14 A complete failure (7) 16 Dilapidated (4-2) 19 Part of flower’s corolla (5) 20 Closed (4) 23 Awkward lout (3) The Compass Crossword Puzzle The Compass universal kakuro Puzzle 17213 The numbers in the black cells are clues. Numbers above the slash are across clues. Number below the slash are down clues. The goal is to enter digits 1 - 9 in the white cells to add up to the number clues. You cannot enter any digit more than once when adding up to clue. TODAY'S SOLUTIONS Puzzle 17213 ACROSS: 1 Bewitch, 5 Cliff, 8 Old school, 9 Lag, 10 Dial, 12 Confront, 14 Walrus, 15 Jester, 17 Shoulder, 18 Snap, 21 Owe, 22 Cutthroat, 24 Tasty, 25 Pitiful. DOWN: 1 Brood, 2 Wad, 3 Tact, 4 Hoodoo, 5 Cold feet, 6 Ill-gotten, 7 Fighter, 11 All comers, 13 Publicly, 14 Washout, 16 Beat-up, 19 Petal, 20 Shut, 23 Oaf. Ten years on from the campaign for ‘one man, one vote’, it is time to consider further electoral reform. The step towards electoral equality that was made through that change solved one set of problems, but without further tweaks, it risks entrenching an entirely different set of issues. Cayman’s single member constituencies are simply too small. In multiple districts, the margin of victory can be as slim as the number of cousins each candidate can count on to show up at the polling booth. The reality is that Cayman is no longer the islands that time forgot. We live in an inter-dependent world, where our fortunes are tightly intertwined with those of our neighbours and trading partners. The decisions required of Cayman’s leaders are increasingly complex, long term and national, with broad international implications, yet our politics is driven by goals that are short term, simple and local to the point of being parochial. A good political campaign needs simply target a handful of community issues, as Roy Bodden points out in today’s cover story. Fix the pot-holes, ensure the bins are collected and send a turkey at Christmas, and that should be enough to guarantee re-election in many constituencies. The system requires politicians to think local. A good political decision involves simple, bite-size content that can be put in a WhatsApp message and shared with a targeted group of specific constituents on their cellphones. Fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with that. Voter participation is to be encouraged and, as Premier Wayne Panton’s campaign slogan attests, ‘community builds country’. But the current system does not offer a counter-balancing imperative to think national. Presenting a coherent plan to reform Cayman’s health insurance system or to protect and expand its financial services industry, for example, might win votes nationally but won’t resonate as powerfully in a series of mini district elections, which is what Cayman has. If we want leaders who have a long-term, mountain-top vision for Cayman’s future, for how the islands develop and how they grow, who have a plan to improve our education system, reform healthcare and set national goals for tourism, then we need a system that encourages politicians to campaign island-wide. That has to be through a national vote. Every Caymanian should have a direct say in who leads the jurisdiction and who forms the government. And those campaigning for that job should be incentivised to prioritise those fundamental areas that impact everyone. At the moment, the opposite is true. Arguably, no one knows that better than the sitting premier, whose Cabinet work between 2013-2017 as environment and financial services minister feasibly prevented him from doing the constituency glad-handing necessary to ensure re-election, when the voting system changed for the 2017 poll. Single member constituencies One man, one vote, one more set of problems Letters to the editor Editorial In response to the story headlined ‘Frustrated’ Dr. Marc Lockhart leaves Mental Health Commission’: Along with my previous letter to the editor, in your May 13, 2022 issue, titled, ‘Lamenting lack of mental health facility’, on page 4, you also quoted two other readers who gave their opinions online, one of whom was Cathy Rivers. Ms. Rivers discussed that there are patients who have been in a facility in Jamaica, one for 13 plus years, waiting to come home to the new facility here in Cayman in order to be closer to their families. In your most recent article, Dr. Lockhart is quoted as saying, there are “12 patients in Jamaica and in the US and they, together with their families, are pleading to get care at home.” This truly is tantamount to neglect on the part of the Cayman Islands Government, and warrants legal action. I would recommend that the families of these patients, some of whom may know one another, get together, contact an attorney, pool your financial resources together and sue the Ministry of Health. You have had years of pain and suffering and hardship, and this cannot be allowed to just carry on. There was an article in the Compass, ‘Free legal assistance clinic launched’ in May last year, where persons can seek legal advice on a range of matters. While this may be a good option for these families to explore, I certainly recommend that they contact a strong private-sector attorney that can empathize with their plight and their cause, and can help them ascertain the appropriate remedial action and reach the objective they wish to achieve. It is also important that the public is made aware of why this is such a crucial issue. As it is, when a person is at the current 11-bed facility at the Cayman Islands Hospital, they are kept in a holding pattern for days to weeks, to months in some cases, doing nothing in particular and placed on meds if necessary. The new mental health facility, in addition to offering the proper medications, will also offer rehabilitative programs, scheduled activities, life- skills learning, and regular in-house counselling assistance. All of which is not offered at the small 11-bed facility currently. Sandra Tomlinson Mental health is in crisis in the Cayman Islands. The new and large facility in East End, built to address the mentally ill in Cayman, was started in 2019. Construction of the facility was held in abeyance during the coronavirus pandemic. It is now set to open in March 2023. Mentally ill Caymanians are being held in Jamaica and the US until the long-term East End facility can receive them. Dr. Marc Lockhart, chairman of the Cayman Islands Mental Health Commission, has resigned from his position. The concrete structures have been built in East End, but the facility isn’t functioning, isn’t staffed, isn’t connected to utilities, and is unavailable to receive mentally ill Caymanians who are being held abroad. Dr. Lockhart said he will not stop advocating for mental health patients, but that he will be more effective working in the community than as chairman of the Mental Health Commission. We wish Dr. Lockhart well in his efforts to open the new East End facility as soon as possible, Nan Socolow Mental health in the spotlight bring other risks, too, like creating ‘garrison politics’ where competition for services becomes a zero-sum-game between districts, and resources are allocated on the basis of political patronage rather than according to need. That’s not to say that local issues should be subordinated. The long- promised district council system would offer an alternative platform to allow community issues to be raised and resolved. Perhaps some hybrid of local and national votes, à la BVI, could also offer an alternative route to the same goal. The means and the method remain open for debate. But the Compass supports a discussion of electoral reform that helps create politics that prioritises sophisticated solutions to the many challenges faced by one of the world’s largest financial centres in the 21st century and puts our billion-dollar budget in the hands of those who prove themselves most qualified to spend it. cayman compass 4 news N news WEEKLY, 13-19 JANUARY 2023Make good health your resolution for 2023. Book a consultation with Dr Kayes at Cayman Surgical Group today. (345) 945-8380 As part of our expanding partnerships with international board- certified experts and fellowship-trained physicians, we are thrilled to announce the newest member to join our team: Urologist Dr Oliver Kayes. Dr Kayes brings 20 years of clinical experience to CSG, helping patients across all areas of urology. He is globally recognized as an expert in men’s health concerns, infertility, benign prostate conditions, reconstructive surgery, and male sexual dysfunction. Dr Kayes is motivated to deliver clinical innovation and first- class care to his patients in Cayman and across the Caribbean. World-class Urology is here at Cayman Surgical Group. CSG Kayes Ad-03.indd 1CSG Kayes Ad-03.indd 12023-01-04 4:53 PM2023-01-04 4:53 PM cayman compass 5 WEEKLY, 13-19 JANUARY 2023JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@compassmedia.ky Criminal charges are being considered following an independent report into the death of a “fearless” service dog in police care. The German Shepherd, Baron, died in kennels at the George Town police station in July. A file has been referred to prosecutors and a decision over charges is expected to be confirmed next week. One of a team of four dogs in the K9 unit, Baron, was highly trained, responsible for sniffing out drugs, helping track property and chasing down criminal suspects. He was initially reported to have died of heat exhaustion after being left in the kennels overnight. His death sparked public outrage, especially from animal welfare groups. The ombudsman, which is responsible for investigating police complaints, launched an ‘own motion’ investigation. The unit confirmed in a press release on 10 Jan. that it had concluded its inquiry and made multiple recommendations to the police to improve the conditions in which dogs are kept. The ombudsman declined to give details of the circumstances of Baron’s death, saying it could not comment, as criminal charges were being considered. “At the conclusion of the joint investigation into the death of K9 Baron, a file was submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions on 13 September 2022,” the statement from the Office of the Ombudsman read. It added, “We will not be substantively commenting on our own findings until the completion of any action taken by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and/or the Cayman Islands court system with respect to this matter as a result of the legal ruling recommendation on 6 January 2023.” The ombudsman did not indicate what charges, if any, were recommended or who they were against. Police did not return requests for comment by press time or respond to questions over what action, if any, had been taken to deal with the incident. The inquiry was carried out by the Department of Agriculture animal welfare unit with oversight from the ombudsman, which also led a parallel investigation into the conduct of the police officer involved, who has not been publicly named at this point. The ombudsman’s statement did highlight some more general recommendations about canine welfare, which it had made to the police and which it said had been “promptly actioned”. These included a new roof outside the kennels, the creation of a welfare and observation log for each dog handler and the need for air conditioning maintenance in the kennels on a regular basis. Further recommendations were made around clearing debris from unused kennels for quarantine areas and to prevent rodents from getting in, the removal of chemical and cleaning supplies and the need for an enrichment and exercise area for the dogs. RESHMA RAGOONATH rragoonath@compassmedia.ky Five possible positive cases of bird flu have been detected in a local poultry flock in Grand Cayman, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed. The DoA said the flock in question has been “humanely euthanised” and the area placed under quarantine restrictions. Local poultry farmers are now being advised to “enhance on-farm biosecurity protocols and restrict access to their poultry facilities” as the department awaits results from further testing of the suspected affected flock. The DoA, in a statement, said as of 9 Jan., the suspected cases all came from one flock. Further testing done It explained that as part of its routine surveillance for the “possible introduction of Avian Influenza into the local poultry population”, its veterinary staff conduct preliminary rapid testing of all domestic poultry that have died of possible respiratory illnesses. After initial and subsequent testing of additional birds in one flock, the possible positive cases were detected. “Further samples have been collected in accordance with standard international guidelines for suspect cases of Avian Influenza and are being sent to an international reference laboratory in the United States for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing. PCR testing is the globally accepted method for confirming the presence or absence of this viral disease,” the DoA said. Testing, eradication of the flock in question and quarantine have been carried out “in accordance with the World Organization for Animal Health’s guidelines for eradication and management of Avian Influenza and to protect the local poultry population from the possible introduction and spread of this disease”, the DoA explained. About avian influenza The DoA pointed out that, according to the World Organization of Animal Health, transmission of avian flu from birds to humans is rare and sporadic and happens in a specific context. However, “people who are in close and repeated contact with infected birds or heavily contaminated environments are at risk for acquiring Avian Influenza.” The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that avian influenza (or bird flu) is a disease of birds caused by infection with avian influenza A viruses. “Infected birds shed bird flu virus in their saliva, mucous, and feces. People rarely get bird flu; however, human infections with bird flu viruses can happen if enough virus is inhaled or gets into a person’s mouth, eyes, or nose,” it said. The CDC said signs and symptoms of bird flu virus infections in humans range from no symptoms or mild illness such as eye redness or mild flu-like upper respiratory symptoms to severe illness, such as pneumonia, requiring hospitalisation. Other symptoms may include fever or feeling feverish, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, it added. Less common signs and symptoms include diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, or seizures. “While awaiting test results, the Department is advising local poultry farmers to enhance their on- farm biosecurity protocols and to restrict access to their poultry facilities.” Department of Agriculture 5 possible bird flu cases in chicken flock “At the conclusion of the joint investigation into the death of K9 Baron, a file was submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions on 13 September 2022.” Office of the Ombudsman Criminal charges considered over police dog death Affected flock euthanised K9 Baron died in the police kennels. 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RSVP to admin@dormandday.ky | 345.936.3676 Wednesday, January 18th | 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. | Presentation starts at 7 p.m. Compass Loft, Shedden Road, Georgetown, Grand Cayman The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service says there were 253 traffic collisions – more than seven a day – during its month-long Winter Guardian holiday road-safety campaign. Police, in a press release detailing a roundup of the operation, which ran from 1 Dec. to 2 Jan., noted that officers had made 35 arrests for DUI and recorded more than 180 speeding offences during that time. There was one fatal accident among the 253 collisions in December, bringing the total number of fatalities on Cayman’s roads in 2022 to 15. This year’s operation also focused on combatting the growing number of armed robberies on island. Between August and mid-December, there had been 32 armed robberies reported on Grand Cayman. In response to this, police increased high-visibility mobile and foot patrols in both commercial and residential areas, and armed officers were often present at vehicle checkpoints across the island. Since the start of the operation, police arrested and charged six people offences such as firearms, drugs and robbery, and executed five search warrants at home addresses in relation to the spate of robberies and other firearm- related crimes. Police said there has been no reports of robbery on Grand Cayman since 14 Dec. The RCIPS said there had also been six other searches in relation to drugs and other criminal activities. One firearm was recovered, along with several rounds of ammunition, as well as several vehicles, clothing and masks recovered for forensic examination. According to the press release, there were also a number of serious assaults during December, and several arrests were made in relation to these, with one man being charged with attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm. The RCIPS said a number of its administrative offices were closed down to boost the number of police officers taking part in the Winter Guardian operation. “Our officers were committed to keeping the public safe and providing the reassurance they needed to go about their holidays without fear,” Deputy Commissioner Kurt Walton said in the release. “I want to thank all our officers who sacrifice their holidays, a time of family and celebration, to keep us safe every year, and thank the community for their continued support. On behalf of the Senior Command Team with the RCIPS we wish everyone a Happy New Year ahead.” Police made 35 arrests of DUI during the Winter Guardian campaign. - Photo: File 253 collisions during holiday road-safety campaign The number of fatalities on Cayman’s roads in 2022 Officers had made 35 arrests for DUI and recorded more than 180 speeding offences . cayman compass 8 news N news WEEKLY, 13-19 JANUARY 2023Walkers scholarships give you MORE The Walkers Scholarship and Legal Training Programme is focused on preparing Caymanians like you for a career of excellence. Mentorship, opportunities, reputation, experience - there is so much MORE to discover at Walkers. Bermuda | British Virgin Islands | Cayman Islands | Dubai | Dublin | Guernsey | Hong Kong | Jersey | London | Singaporewalkersglobal.com Making financial services work Ashani Francis-Collins, articled clerk, 2022 recipient Applications for legal scholarships, legal internships and articles of clerkship/QWE are now being accepted. Please visit the Careers section of our website. The deadline for applications is 28 February at 5 pm (Cayman time). @WalkersGlobal@WalkersLawFirm cayman compass 9 WEEKLY, 13-19 JANUARY 2023Next >