Caymanian Marine Unit boss gets top cop prize
RCIPS Inspector Leo Anglin
(CNS): Inspector Leo Anglin, one of the first local officers to be fast-tracked through the ranks of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service on a specialist course, has won a regional police award for career development, which earned him US$5,000 as well as accolades. The school officer at the John Gray High School, PC Odale Mulgrave, was the second runner-up in the same awards programme for Caribbean Community Policing. The awards come at a time when the RCIPS management is facing widespread criticism from across the community and will come as a welcome boost to the regular officers.
RCIPS Police Commissioner David Baines described Anglin and Mulgrave as outstanding officers. “These successive awards are a profound recognition of the quality of these officers, and the fact that the RCIPS has provided the right environment for them to develop professionally and gain the skills needed to become the outstanding officers they clearly are,” he said.
Anglin, who was born in Cayman and entered the police service in 2009 in the RCIPS’ first local recruitment class, was awarded the Top Caribbean Career Move at the Regional Recognition Awards Programme, sponsored by Amalgamated Security.
Officials said that when he joined the RCIPS, he was recognised almost immediately as a gifted individual with a deep dedication to public service and was the first recruit to be enrolled in the High Potential Development Scheme, a programme designed by the RCIPS Training Development Unit (TDU) to “fast track” the development of promising young officers by providing them with the opportunities to gain needed experience and skills quickly.
After completing his initial recruit training, Anglin was attached to different units within the service, which diversified his skill set and knowledge. The TDU also arranged for him to sojourn in government and with major private sector businesses to gain exposure to public sector management, as well as top-tier customer service and community relations.
“The intensity of my training presented a bit of a challenge at times but it undoubtedly provided me with the confidence and the ability to take on the responsibility of leading a police unit. I’m grateful that the organisation saw this potential in me and took this initiative,” Anglin said. “I am also humbled and honored to be the recipient of such a reward and hope to inspire younger Caymanians to pursue a promising career with the police in order to protect their country and serve their communities.”
He was promoted to his current rank last year, after only 6 years in the service. The Top Caribbean Career Move award recognises accelerated professional development by an officer who has also had a noticeable, positive impact on the police service and the community at large. Inspector Anglin will be presented with his award at the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police Annual General Meeting in Suriname in May, and will also receive his US$5,000 prize.
Two officers from the 2014 Police Recruit Class, PC Patricia Sevik and PC Andre Savoury, both born in the Cayman Islands, have been identified this year for participation in the High Potential Development Scheme.
The other RCIPS officer who received an award from the Regional Recognition Awards Programme was PC Mulgrave, who is from Southern Manchester, Jamaica, and has been with the RCIPS for nearly four years, following ten years with the Jamaican Constabulary Force. He was the second-runner up for the Top Caribbean Community Policing Officer in recognition of his neighbourhood policing work at the John Gray High School.
Officials from the RCIPS said he is known among his colleagues as a kind, hardworking and intelligent officer, passionate about community policing. In his current role as school officer at the JGHS, PC Mulgrave has engendered the trust of students and faculty alike and is an advocate for strong ties between the police and community.
“As a community officer, my colleagues and I have built effective partnerships with the community through a number of programmes and activities. We are intent on expanding these in order to improve public safety and security,” he said. “It has truly been a great experience serving the people of the Cayman Islands.”
This is the second time the RCIPS has scored at the awards for community policing; last year Acting Police Sergeant Cornelius Pompey took home the top award for the category.
Category: Community
But is his Unit not under fire from the LA, the enquiry for the missing boaters, and anyone else who wants to have a go. The familes said on TV they want the units held accountable.
We’re lucky to have these two fine young men serving our community and thank heavens for the TDU. All too often over the years promising, intelligent officers have been lost due to the inordinate amount of time it takes to claw ones way slowly up the ranks. We need more of this – especially with our Caymanian officers!