Polack Post: Cayman Islands Becoming Unsafe
By Peter Polack
Peter Polack
The Cayman Islands has been the subject of two mass shooting events in 2021 and 2024.
In the first, one person was killed and five injured. In the last multi shooting, seven people were shot at a stadium in the home town of the political leader of that country.
Most recently, the leader of the police announced general crime was substantially up along with his budget which increased by US$12 Million compared to 2021. This was also paralleled by an increase in serious crime. The Cayman Islands spends 700% more on crime fighting than Jamaica with worse results. This has been of no concern to the ultimately responsible freshmen, the Premier and Minister of Home Affairs, both of whom are blindly stumbling around this crime crisis.
Visitors should be aware that merchants have been told to secure their businesses while not to worry, the police are on patrol for peak offender times. A new concept from LaLa land.
Perhaps they are hoping the division of statistics into more and more categories will confuse the voting public into an imaginary world where progress is being made, not.
The bright shiny objects, or the frequently deployed elsewhere, police helicopters saw over US$1M increase in budget since 2021 with a diametrically opposite effect on crime. You read that correctly, Cayman has not one, but two police helicopters, all recently purchased as crime rises. Nearly ten percent of the budget for British imperial aspirations on display and paid for by the Cayman Islands. This is what colonialism is about, paying for the master’s presence. The Commissioner of Police must be grinding his teeth.
A great instrument for British political power in the Caribbean and not much else.
Perhaps there could be a trade of one helicopter for the renown Jamaican crime fighters, so good, even one UK colony has secured the talents of thirty Jamaicans. No more English Met police officers running to the sunshine. Local officers are unable to solve a political problem.
Recently, there were two tourist robberies in Grand Cayman that achieved world coverage as a warning of safety first in the once peaceful island. As a major tourist destination, the Cayman Islands appear to be oblivious to the root causes of crime in their society. This is especially so when several members of their parliament are experienced in the commission of crimes.
The high end, premium and high income stay over visitors to these pristine islands are no longer above criminal interventions to their holiday.That ship has sailed.
People travel to the Caribbean for a nice visit, not a revisit to the American problems in the inner cities. It is not meant to be a boxing or UFC match.
Tourists should not have to be told, defend yourselves at all times.
They only want rum, jipijapa hats and banjo music, not sirens.
Notes
https://www.caymancompass.com/2021/07/09/one-killed-four-wounded-in-shooting-on-seymour-drive
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/26/grand-cayman-islands-shooting-football-match-soccer
https://www.rcips.ky/upimages/ckeditor/1747254643_RCIPS2024CrimeTrafficStatisticsReportFINAL.pdf
https://www.rcips.ky/new-rcips-helicopter-arrives-on-island
Peter Polack is a former criminal lawyer from the Cayman Islands for several decades. His books are The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War (2013), Jamaica, The Land of Film (2017) and Guerrilla Warfare: Kings of Revolution (2019). He was a contributor to Encyclopedia of Warfare (2013). His latest book is a compendium of Russian espionage activities with almost five hundred Soviet spies expelled from nearly 100 countries worldwide 1940-88.
His views are his own.
