A very confidential review of the RCIPS “fell” into my hands and I have been given the go ahead to publish it.

This review was carried out by Peter Polack using the preambles and subtitles.

A full report can quickly be completed by someone familiar with all the issues who has the public confidence.

Perhaps our readers can recommend an independent report by qualified non CIG, non RCIPS persons.

Please send in utmost confidence to Peter Polack via iNews Cayman.

Here is the review and please note it is “Private and Confidential”.

Preamble

A catalogue of problems having being exposed during the tenure of the last CoP without remedial action has narrowed the pressing issues within what has become a demoralized and dysfunctional entity. Some of the major problems are outlined below but any realistic review will require input from all stakeholders over an extended period. The overreaching issue was the failed attempt to impose an inappropriate UK template on policy and procedure in a small Caribbean nation. This will be a necessary tool for the incoming 2017 government and a vital part of any election manifesto.

1. Appointments: Recent FOI disclosures and subsequent publicity has found a substantial amount of overseas officers from the UK receiving an immediate promotion on appointment in the Cayman Islands. The RCIPS is a multicultural force and such a policy inevitably leads to discontent and poor work performance by those excluded from what amounts to a discriminatory practice. Specialist positions invariably are filled by UK nationals without succession planning to promote local policemen to those positions.
2. Promotions: There are two main issues on this subject. Candidates for promotion having successfully passed promotion exams see no promotion except on rare occasions with little or no priority given to local policemen to institutionalize a policy of local succession to all posts. The second is a failure to create accelerated promotion for local policemen and or attract locals with tertiary education for direct appointment to higher ranks. This is not a unique policy that has seen positive results in other forces such as the JCF.
3. Case Management: This requires an extensive review and overhaul of an archaic system from arrest to prosecution. The present procedures including handling of evidence and lack of legal advice on pending investigations results in a large amount of resources expended in manual activities with their genesis in age old colonial police procedure. Rapid access to a RCIPS appointed legal advisor would go a long way to labored enquiry or evidential pitfalls that are revealed much later in failed prosecutions. An example of this is the exponential growth of the disclosure regimen required in Cayman Islands courts without changes in policy and assignment of necessary resources. A classic example of this would be the expose of 43 cases in 2010 that the RCIPS did not prosecute because the statute of limitations of six months expired. This was a problem that continues to persist.
4. Cost: This is becoming an increasing factor in the operation of CIG departments and no real attempt has been made to review all areas of the RCIPS to reduce waste of resources for no apparent reason than continuity of the mistakes of yesterday.
5. Culture of Secrecy: The upper echelons of the RCIPS has operated under a culture of secrecy and not transparency. Failures have been shielded from the public in circumstances where the revelations come from outside the RCIPS. This is a completely non-productive policy that engenders suspicion inside and out of the RCIPS. The repeated and belated disclosures undermine public confidence and thereby public cooperation being the most necessary element of crime prevention and law enforcement. An example of this would be the belated release of a 2012 a memo written by former RCIPS Scientific Support Manager that saw the subsequent abandonment of GSR evidence by the RCIPS and DPP although a great deal of resources had been put behind a methodology discarded by the FBI some years before.
6. Information Failure: FOI disclosures over the last several years point to a failure of record keeping and/or any remedial action mandatory for evolving policies to increase efficiency and prevent the repetition of past mistakes. An example of this is the search warrant debacle where we have had police officers continue going to aged justices of the peace to sign search warrants without knowing what the crime was or seeing any evidence to support it and having improperly obtained warrants execute illegally. Outcry led to seminars for JP’s but none for RCIPS officers who often do not need warrants under some local laws like the Misuse of Drugs law. This is often the result of UK officers imposing a UK template in policy and procedure because of insufficient local knowledge. An example of this cost CIG over a million dollars paid to a Grand Court judge while the present AG looked the other way. Another example why the RCIPS need their own legal advisor(s).
7. Asset management: The failure to manage and operate assets effectively and economically. Prime among these is the costly helicopter which could be replaced by several additional maritime patrol vessels and a larger capacity STOL fixed wing aircraft not as susceptible to the vagaries of weather. Such assets would find greater employment opportunities for the many qualified Caymanians with marine and aviation qualifications. There has been no attempt to reduce the many police vehicle crashes every year by regular tactical driving courses from expertise in Jamaica and the USA. A FOI confirmed that the worst year for the police was 2012, when they had 20 cars involved in accidents.
8. Recruitment: The best example of continuing management failure was the hiring and payment of a Jamaican policeman on a murder charge subsequently convicted. This externally generated revelation could have been avoided by updating or replacing the existing vetting process with a private entity if necessary. Failure of prompt action and the poorly conceived attempt to obfuscate contributed to a general decline in public cooperation and confidence.
9. Missing Drugs and Firearms: A 29 September 2014 FOI reply by the RCIPS on questions relating to missing drugs and guns in police custody revealed an inability to track or discover missing drugs and firearms. Evidential exhibits in RCIPS custody has been the subject of a series of non-ending embarrassments the most recent and public being stolen drugs and motorcycles. There has been at least one recent firearm prosecution discontinued when the firearm could not have been produced for inspection by the defence. The exhibits custodian is considered a hot seat in the RCIPS and the only specialist position where a Caymanian has been rushed into succession.
10. Failure to produce drug evidence or certificates of analysis: This inexcusable management default has lead to failed prosecutions the most prominent of which was the case of Eduardo Swaby-Gutierrez whose sentence of 12 years imprisonment for possession of cocaine with intent to supply was quashed and $10,000 seized cash returned. The recurring decimal was a failure to conduct any enquiry or institute policy change to prevent recurrence.
11. Illegal roadblocks: The recurring RCIPS ostrich head in the sand policy means that when a problem is revealed management aided and abetted by the AG seek to ignore the problem instead of taking meaningful action such as amendment of the Traffic Law or a declaration from the Grand Court. Another example of this was the arrests for the non-existent offence of harboring a fugitive that despite proclamations of legality saw no more arrests subsequently. A better solution would have been an amendment to the Penal Code.
12. Failure to establish Police Public Complaints Authority: There is an ongoing lack of accountability, oversight or independent review of complaints against the RCIPS in circumstances where the CIG is devoting resources to lesser issues such as local resistance to the LGBT. The legislation that created the Police Public Complaints Authority remains unimplemented by the Commissioner of Police. Public complaints to the RCIPS are now in the many hundreds.
13. Police Financial Crime Unit: There is an overdue overhaul of this unit which has seen a steady procession of UK leaders come and go. Proof positive was the FRU disclosure failure in the trial of Fernando Mendes, accused of stealing US$132,807.43 from Finab Ltd which resulted in a case dismissal.
14. The Missing Persons on a Small Island: Increased resources for the cold case unit and abandonment of the media savvy but pointless catch and release policy in circumstances where there is no time limitation on these types of crimes.

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