A chance to find out about life in the Uniformed Services

By Christopher Tobutt

Put on by the Ministry of Youth, Sports Culture and Heritage, Cayman Proud was a day to celebrate and learn from all of Cayman’s seven proud uniformed services who gathered at the Mariott Hotel on Thursday 22 September. Inside there were panel discussions and presentations, in front of all the flags and official colours of each of the uniformed services. They were there to explain something of what they did, and there were lots of booths where young people seeking career choices could come and ask questions about what it was like to be a police officer, coast guard, or a proud member of the Cayman Islands Regiment like Lieutenant Tyler Lawson:

“For me as the media officer for the regiment it is a good opportunity for me to grow as a medial officer as well as for the regiment,” he said, “This is a good idea because it allows us to meet in a public forum, so that people can come and ask questions and get a better understanding of what we do, as well as other uniformed services, and what they do. That is what this whole event is about, talking about our history and where we’re from, and what we’re going to be doing in the future. It allows us to meet the public in a public forum which allows them to ask questions to get a better understanding of what we do, as well as the other uniform services, what they do, where we’ve come from, where we plan to go in the future.”

Another officer appointed to carry their official flag was Captain Romaine Edman, an adult member of the Cayman Islands Cadet Corps. “We offer 11-to-17 year olds a comprehensive programme which helps them be more disciplined,” she said, “We also offer BTECH military activities such as drill and map, and we do a lot of community service, assisting the public in whatever they need, and we also assist the National Emergency Operations Centre,” she said.

Two Officers from the Community Policing department of the RCIPS, Calicia Burke and Sarah Joy Bodden, had a display showing all the things that an officer carries on their belt: “These are our handcuffs, two different kinds, pepper spray, we have a flashlight, we have our batons,” said Officer Bodden. My team is from the neighborhood policing department so what we do is partner with different agencies within the community like businesses.

“We actually had a couple of youngsters that came here and wanted to know how to become a police officer. So we told them about the process – at least 18 years old, and finished high school with passes, once you submit all of your documentation, the RCIPS vet it, and you go through a rigorous process of sitting in a physical exam, and face a board before finally being accepted as an officer.”

Able Bodied Seaman Garvin Dixon was talking to people about life in the Coastguard. “Typical responsibilities of that is to manage and train personnel as it relates to crewing a vessel. I deal within the marine operations aspect of the coast guard, because right now its split into two. You have the ORCC which is the radio room, and the call service aspects of it, and then the marine operations which is the body which deals with all the aspects to do with the sea. Such as search and rescue, drug interdiction and border control. Also regional support interacting with other coastguards in the region.”