Colin Wilson

Whilst the persons behind the No Confidence Petition for the removal of Cayman Island’s Police Commissioner David Baines is well meaning it is actually wrong.

People rightly feel crime is out of control and the head man is the one who must take the blame.

Right?

Wrong!

We, the public are to blame. We are the culprits. Every single one of us.

Do the persons who sign this petition really think that that by Baines’ removal and someone else fills his seat instantly crime will cease or at least become less?

It won’t.

The petition should be aimed at us. We should sign a petition stating we will provide responsible guidance to our children, to our relation’s children, to our friend’s children, etc.

From “Helping Your Child Learn Responsible Behavior” (www.athealth.com)

“Our children deserve to learn important lessons from us and to acquire important habits with our help. They need help in learning what matters to us. We want our children to grow up to be responsible adults. We want them to learn to feel, think, and act with respect for themselves and for other people. We want them to pursue their own well-being, while also being considerate of the needs and feelings of others.

“Today, there is wide recognition that many of our children are not learning to act responsibly while they are young. Studies show that many children see nothing wrong with cheating on tests. Some see nothing wrong with taking things that don’t belong to them.

“If proper attitudes and behaviour are not learned early, problems can mushroom with even worse consequences when children are older. As crime has increased, teenage offenders have shown less and less feeling for their victims. But even for the youngsters who will never commit a crime, it is better to learn responsibility when they are young, rather than when they are older and they have to change bad habits.

“Many parents will also want to share with their children deeply held religious and moral convictions as a foundation for ethical behaviour. This [material] discusses habits of fairness, respect, courage, honesty, and compassion that responsible people share and it can be used by parents with different beliefs.

“As parents, we can give our children the best in us by helping them acquire habits and character traits that they can rely on in their own lives. If we help them learn to take pleasure in thinking and behaving well, they will have the best chance to lead good lives as individuals and as citizens in the community. This will be true no matter what unpleasant situations or bad influences they come across.

“None of us is born acting responsibly. A responsible character is formed over time. It is made up of our outlook and daily habits associated with feelings, thoughts, and actions. Responsible people act the way they should whether or not anyone is watching. They do so because they understand that it’s right and because they have the courage and self-control to act decently, even when tempted to do otherwise.

“We want our children to appreciate the importance of being responsible. We also want them to develop the habits and strength to act this way in their everyday lives. Learning to be responsible includes learning to:

respect and show compassion for others;

practice honesty as a matter of course;

show courage in standing up for our principles;

develop self control in acting on our principles;

maintain self respect.

I wrote an Editorial headed “Violent Crime – Does Anyone Care?

I started off the Editorial saying this:

People are very quick to lay the blame game for the increase in violent crime on the backs of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) by some harsh words on the media house blogging sites or calling into the Radio Talk shows.

However, when it comes to actually getting up from their comfortable surroundings albeit at home, at a restaurant or propping up a bar, to actually go to a seminar and hear first hand what is being done and how they can help overcome the violent crime wave in Cayman, they actually don’t care that much.

That can only be the conclusion from the astonishingly low turnout at a crime prevention seminar hosted by the RCIPS on Thursday (3).

Gun crimes, robberies, home invasions, muggings, bag snatching, door step holdups and two murders all taking place inside a month the crime seminar was not high up on the agenda to actually warrant people’s precious time to actually listen, learn and help.

Even with William Shagoury, chairman of the Clarendon Crime Prevention Committee, Jamaica, giving the keynote speech, he did not warrant a pique of interest.

Shagoury gave this warning to the people of the Cayman Islands.

“The poor turnout does not bode well in the fight against rising crime levels,” he said. “It is not until all members of a community have had enough and come together to take collective crime prevention action, in coordination with the police and relevant authorities, that crime can be reduced.”

Chief Superintendent Kurt Walton expressed his disappointment at seeing so many empty chairs at the seminar.  He said the police are but one spoke in the wheel when it comes to fighting crime and policing by consent.

“Crime can only be stamped out when everyone makes it their business to do what they can to prevent crime, report what they see and become involved in the general welfare of society.”

It is not helping the matter when our MLA’s actually recommend persons not to bother to call the police and report a crime. The only persons who benefit from that piece of ‘wisdom’ are the actual perpetrators of the crime.

I can understand their frustration, especially when the outer districts are not getting the police manpower they deserve, but there are better words of wisdom. Neighbourhood watches would have been one.

We are in this together and let’s petition ourselves to do better.

The police need our support. And the police need to show they deserve our trust.