It seems as if background checks are not being satisfactorily executed when it comes to our law enforcement and prison services.

It is incredible that a man, Tyrone Findlay, was employed by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service as a police officer serving in the Armed Support Unit who was under investigation regarding a police execution-style killing in Jamaica! Two months later he was charged with murder and a few days ago was convicted of it. See iNews Briefs published December 2 2014 – “Cayman Islands serving police officer convicted of murder in Jamaica”.

Following on from that we have two senior immigration officers under suspension.

Now we have even more shocking news today – a prison officer has been suspended from duty because, following an anonymous tip, MAY “have a criminal conviction stemming from an incident that occurred over a decade ago”.

A few hours ago I received a link to a website “homefacts” showing a conviction of a male on July 8 2004 for “Attempted Sexual Abuse 1st Degree: Contact By Forcible Compulsion”. The man is listed as “Registered Sex Offender”.

In no way am I saying this person is the same as the prison officer who has been suspended.

However, if it turns out it is, some heads need to roll.

Every time an employer wants a work permit for someone in the private sector background checks are executed.

Why is it difficult for the public sector to carry out the same checks and when it comes to the police and the prison service I would have thought even more exhaustive checks should be done?

The Cayman Islands is not like the USA where they have to do background checks on persons trying to buy guns.

In a story published on the RT website on November 17 2014 “Background checks expected to slip past FBI as Black Friday gun sales skyrocket” it says:

“Typically, the 500 men and women checking the criminal and mental histories of potential buyers can keep up with demand. But on the busiest shopping day of the year, Black Friday, they are swamped by approximately 145,000 background check requests.

“Combined with the fact that they are also up against a tight deadline – with only three business days to carry out the check before the gun is released for sale – their job becomes even tougher. Last year, they failed to process two percent of the 145,000 requests, meaning close to 3,000 guns were sold without a background check. This year, the FBI is hiring 100 more personnel to deal with the onslaught.

“We have a perfect storm coming,” FBI manager Kimberly Del Greco told AP.’

And we have some people here campaigning for the police to he armed as well as the general public.

In the USA there is even a time limit to complete background checks.

However, in Pittsburgh USA, when it comes to persons working in the schools, the state passed legislation recently that requires schools to update background checks on employees and volunteers every three years.

Shouldn’t that be the background check policy here for not only our schoolteachers, but the prison service and especially our police force?