RCIPS CLAMPDOWN ON CRIME SPURT

Faced with a growing spate of serious crimes, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service(RCIPS) is moving to take tough action against the perpetrators.

In the past several months there has been a noticeable uptick in reports of shootings, armed robberies and other serious offences which have placed the community on edge.

Outlining the scale of the issue, Commissioner of Police Derek Byrne, speaking at an RCIPS press conference on Thursday referred to the “heightened concern in the community with the number of reported robberies in the past weeks” with 23 instances of serious criminal offences mainly involving firearms.

He reported that the police have a handle on who is mainly behind the crime spurt which he said has occurred in three main waves since March this year.

“We have identified what we believe are three groups involved in this. We do a lot of background work on at least 10 persons comprised of these three groups that are known to us. Most of them have served time in custody and are known to the prison population. Some of them are not long out of prison having several sentences for other related crimes and as well as being involved in robberies. They are involved in other types of crimes as well,” Commissioner Byrne reported.

Two arrests have so far been made.

CRIME PROFILES

Police files show that the recent crime surge has targeted mainly small retail businesses with 15 reported in the capital George Town, four in West Bay and 4 in East End.

Investigations have identified three vehicles used in the robberies which have involved switching of numbers plates and the use of number plates stolen from other vehicles.

The RCIPs is urging any vehicle owner whose number plates have been stolen to report it to the police as a matter of priority to aid in their investigations.

The RCIPS says there have been what it describes as three distinct streams of robberies this year since March which it has been vigorously investigating, but notes that “it then takes us months and months of hard work and searching for matching clothing, matching descriptions before we eventually get a charge.”

It was disclosed that most of the perpetrators of the current criminal activity are of local origin.

There is an indication that illegal gambling is one aspect that fuelling the current crime surge, an issue that the RCIPS says is of growing concern and for which it credits the government for moving aggressively to stamp it out.

VIGILANCE

With calls for an intensified police clampdown, Commissioner Byrne is urging the public to be vigilant to deter criminals during the upcoming Christmas period with its corresponding increase in economic activity.

“There’s been a significant increase in police patrols both overt and covert (ed: uniformed and plainclothes) over the past number of weeks,” he assured.

“I think we need to highlight too that we are coming into the high period of commercialisation - the Christmas period, the festive period - so there are several crime prevention messages to be delivered; protect your goods, protect your cash, don’t be hoarding large amounts of cash.”

The Commissioner is also urging the public to report suspicious activity to the RCIPS which could include information about firearms, ammunition and drugs.

“Please tell us and let us work to reduce the impact of harm in our community.”

While public concern is heightened about the increase in crime, Commissioner Derek Byrne maintains that Cayman is still a safe society.

“We have relatively very small numbers of crimes in all categories relatively small, so it still continues to be very, very safe place. But the important part for us is that our tourists are protected and we're also protecting our communities…We have a small group of people involved in crime and our job is to get these people, get them before the courts, prosecuted and convicted. I think they deserve custodial sentences for their actions and I think that's what's going to happen as we've done in the past,” the RCIPS head stated.