“It is important for all sectors of the community to support the Commissioner and members of the RCIPS in their continued fight against crime on behalf of the people of the Cayman Islands. We should not tolerate false criticisms and unwarranted personal attacks on the Commissioner of Police as these serve only to damage the reputation of the Cayman Islands and undermine the effectiveness of the police and hence the safety of our community. The Commissioner has my full support as he carries out his vital duties.”

The above is from the HE Governor Helen Kilpatrick in response to her meeting with Premier Alden McLaughlin who presented the feelings of a number of MLA’s that Police Commissioner David Baines must go.

The clamour now for Baines’ removal must end now. No one will win except the crooks. They all must be laughing their nasty little heads off.

If only the same show of support for his removal had been shown at the District Meetings when the police were actively seeking the public’s input.

Was MLA Bernie Bush at that meeting in West Bay?

The number of attendees was shameful.

And it wasn’t the first time.

Even when we have had distinguished experts coming here from overseas to speak of policing and what the public can do to help few have turned up.

And this has been the practice even before Baines was appointed Police Commissioner.

In 2007 at a West Bay Police Community Meeting the question asked by then MLA Rolston Anglin was, ” Where are the concerned citizens of West Bay?”

The West Bay Action Committee’s Henry Orman had earlier addressed the attendees at this meeting. ‘The attendance here tonight shows you where the interest lies. There should not be a seat here that’s not filled,’ he said referring to the rows of empty seats. “The police can only do so much. Unless the community gets behind the police then we are in a losing cause.”

If the public did not give the then police commissioner their support don’t you think we must bear a LOT of the blame?

Shouldn’t we look at the failings of ourselves?

When Police Constable Richard Martin Hanna was found to have joined the RCIPS from Canada in 2005 after already being under investigation from the Toronto Police Internal Affairs Division, and subsequently in 2008 was found guilty and jailed for stealing money from schoolchildren, I don’t remember howls for any resignations then.

And this nonsense that unemployment turns people to drugs is just that. Nonsense! It is an excuse. Blame the system. It’s not us.

Do you remember police officer out in East End, trying to do his job to arrest trouble makers in a crowd of people and someone threw a missile at him where he sustained life threatening injuries and no one came forward to assist nor give any information who the culprit was?

Was there the same number of MLA’s coming to the support of the police then and appealing for witnesses to come forward as there is for the Commissioner’s removal?

I produced a catalogue of failings of the police where the top brass must take some blame before the governor’s statement of support for Baines.

It is now over for all of that.

Remember, too, what a public statement says is not necessarily the whole story. A show of public support is exactly that. A show. What was said behind closed doors is more often quite different.

Do you want to see the violent crime that is going on here stopped more than the removal of the Police Commissioner?

If you do then you are supporting the perpetrators of these crimes. You are a fool.

It’s over when it’s over and it is over! Support him.