Following the conviction of former RCIPS officer Elvis Kelsey Ebanks the police issued the following statement:

“The objective of the RCIPS is to uphold the law without fear or favour; to prevent and detect crime and bring to justice those who transgress the laws of the land.” PC Elvis Kelsey Ebanks guilty verdict reached by the jury yesterday is another example that the RCIPS will not tolerate corrupt police officers. The RCIPS takes allegations of corruption against its officers very seriously, and will pursue any allegations against its officers who disobey the laws. Police officers are not above the law and will be held accountable if they disobey the laws.

“Unfortunately, this type of dishonest behaviour smears the reputation of many of the RCIPS’ officers who are honest, trustworthy, hardworking and committed. The RCIPS will continue to strive to maintain the highest standards and professionalism and pride in our service to the public.”

Ebanks was sentenced to three years imprisonment for his crimes of bribery and breach of trust. See iNews Cayman story today “Judge sentences Cayman police officer to prison for bribery and breach of trust”.

The judge said, ““The Defendant’s conduct not only undermines the good name and reputation of the RCIPS but it also actually damages the good name of the Cayman Islands.”

I heartily endorse both statements.

Why do police officers go bad?

Very difficult to define the reason.

Elvis Ebanks, by all accounts, was an honest individual, regular church attender, glowing references, including one from an ex Cayman Police Commissioner.

So what happened?

I have been searching the Internet for answers and one caught my attention blaming the training of the officers and budgetary incentives.

The article was highlighting peace officers in a US precinct and cited a case where a fifty-three-year old African-American grandmother of a suspected murderer was sitting in her house knitting. “Two police officers knock on her door to ask about her grandson. She lets them in to tell her what she knows, like any law-abiding citizen. Ten minutes later she is being led out to the police car in handcuffs. She was arrested for possession of controlled substances. Now fast forward three years when she is being released because it has been discovered that the very officers that knocked on her door planted the drugs in her home. When asked why this woman was a target, the officers replied that they were trying to get to her son.”

The writer of the article says:

“The number one rule in officer training is officer safety–period. Whether a suspect flees, a crime is being committed, or a civilian becomes a victim; the safety of the officers at the scene is paramount. When there is a decision between preventing one of the aforementioned situations and whether or not the officers go home safe that night, officer safety wins; every time. That may sound harsh, but that is just the way it is (White, Z. A. Personal interview).

“This training certainly has ramifications upon an officer’s thinking. It is a statement that says police are more important than those they have sworn to protect. While it is arguable that this statement has truth, it’s danger is articulated perfectly by New York City Officer Bernard Cawley, when asked during the Mollen Commission hearing if he beat up people he arrested. He answered, “No, we just beat people up in general. If they’re on the street, hanging around drug locations. It was a show of force. We had no interest in stopping the drug trade, but profiting from it”(Di Rienzo, Paul. “Mollen Commission Says Cops Can’t Police Themselves”) Where do police officers learn this behavior? Is it in the departments, the academies, or is it a small clique of officers that went to the Academy together, or personal defects? It certainly cannot be a product of the career itself; otherwise, all officers would be corrupt. It has been well documented that corrupt officers work in small groups, like in the Philadelphia example. One theory is that once out of the academy, the rules change, and officers act accordingly.

“Officers coming out of the Academy learn quickly that the principles learned in the Academy, are just that, and each department has its own policies and procedures that officers must adjust to. Most understand that these principles are universal though, and the bottom line is that they trump departmental procedures and custom every time. The delicate idea behind this is that the bottom line sometimes is not reached until an Internal Affairs investigation, so it is the behavior before that is crucial. “Field Training Officers tell the newcomers that what they learned in the Academy, ‘has nothing to do with reality, and they (the Academy teachers) don’t know who it is on the streets and how we do the job”(DeLattre, Edwin J., “The New Police Officer: Integrity and Temptation”). This type of field training is unfair to the new officers and perhaps presents explanation for why police officers become corrupt. Why some officers resist this temptation and the majority does not, must come down to personal integrity and character.”

Frightening, isn’t it?

And before we say it can’t happen here we come under the UK system……?

On March 30 2014 we published an article from The Independent UK under the title “Something rotten in the Metropolitan Police” – “Corrupt officers may escape justice, thanks to mass shredding of evidence”.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the top policeman in the country was unaware of corruption going on under his nose. Even when it was pointed out to him he didn’t believe it until the evidence was too much for him to ignore.

A UK MP, Keith Vaz, pointed out that investigations into the UK of police corruption had cost the British taxpayer in just three recent cases £45 million. Our own Tempura investigation that started with alleged police corruption has cost us at least $10 million with some estimates saying it is over $15 million!

There will always be corruption. The penalties for such corruption must therefore be high as a deterrent.

Police should be paid their worth. Budgetary restraints should not be one of the causes for corrupt police. Look at the costs into investigating it.

I hope the RCIPS training isn’t like the US one illustrated in the aforementioned article.

I well remember a police officer I got to know when I was working on a building site in England. I was the Chief Surveyor and Supervisor. When I reported the stealing of materials there I was the first suspect.

After being indignant at finding all my personal effects having been inspected without my knowledge (and therefore something could have been planted) I was told “all police officers are trained to view everyone as a potential criminal”.

I hope it doesn’t ever come down to the general public viewing all police officers as potential Elvis Kelsey Ebanks’.