Police patrols at Public Beach

| 01/03/2017

Why is there not an RCIPS officer assigned to Public Beach during busy periods and the weekend? (I saw) people openly smoking weed in the cabanas, leaving their young children unattended in the sea. A young life was almost lost due to the complete negligence of the parents who should be locked up.


Auntie’s answer: Clearly, the situation you describe sounds awful; not only was there illegal activity on the beach, but also a tragedy almost occurred. I do not believe anyone would disagree that what you saw was unacceptable.

I asked the RCIPS about your concerns. As I have mentioned in previous columns, the police can’t be everywhere at once. An RCIPS spokesperson explained that there are many areas of priority in the West Bay district that police need to patrol and the police do not have the resources to post officers at the beach around the clock.

Officers do patrol Public Beach as part of the RCIPS policing plan for West Bay, but I think it is understandable that they cannot be there 24/7.

I want to add it seems from your question that while you saw people doing illegal things and a dangerous situation unfolding with the child alone in the water, you did not do anything more than observe. Perhaps I am wrong but, either way, I strongly suggest that the next time you are at the beach and you notice something illegal occurring, if the police are not around, pick up your phone and call 911. An alert and proactive community can be invaluable.

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Category: Ask Auntie, Police Questions

Comments (30)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    I have said it for many years and to the faces of successive English police chiefs here: in a supposedly peaceful country how come we have this enormous number of policemen and we are told repeatedly at budget time they need more. My view is we do not need more we need better.

    • Anonymous says:

      Have you spoken to the present Commissioner of Police who is not English, but Irish?

  2. Anonymous says:

    Drugs, broken glass, and chicken bone shards at the cabanas and the decrepit washroom/showers have been a reality for decades. Clearly nobody cares. I can’t even take my kids to the CUC playground that’s still half buried in sand from Ivan.

  3. Lo-cal says:

    The simple answer is because they dont care! No one cares! I myself have began to go to the eastern part of the island for my beaching as i have see too much of what you describe. I go to the beach to relax not to be other peoples lifeguard.

  4. Anonymous says:

    It too hot man me will stay in di car where it cool.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Interesting at Governors beach the drones are flying about taking pictures of people trying to enjoy themselves. It is within the 3 mile limit and illegal as it should be, This intrusion to peoples lives.

    • Anonymous says:

      Get over it, when you are in a public place you can be photographed from any angle and not just by drones

      • Anonymous says:

        Educate yourself. It is illegal to operate a drone within a 3 mile radius of the airport without the appropriate licensing and permissions from the CAA.

  6. G says:

    I believe with over 400 police officers on duty on such a small island you could easily have 1 or 2 “drive” by the beach every 4 hours or so. God knows it wouldn’t do much as I’v never seen an officer walk anywhere in the 17 years I’ve lived here.

    • Mildred Whorms says:

      I totally agree and they should be patrolling more often all over Cayman not only the beaches. This might discourage all the drivers from drag racing on the bypasses and jeopardizing the lives of other drivers.
      Also patrolling residential areas discouraging the thieves from breaking down homeowners doors invading to steal items that the homeowners have worked so hard for.
      I did manage to see two officers walking on the beach as i called 911 one day stating that there was a woman naked on the beach and that has been the quickest that they’ve ever responded to a call. Lmbo.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Call Police Auntie? Seriously – and have them demand your name and then tell or leak to the drug users it was you who called them? Crime stoppers perhaps.

  8. Anonymous says:

    RCIPS have missed 2 points : 1.BUSY season 2. WEEKENDS
    What are the areas of RCIPS priority?
    Generic responses as usual.

    • Mildred Whorms says:

      Honestly? Arresting drunk drivers and having their patrol cars washed.

  9. A says:

    I would agree with this article. The beach is in a complete shambles. Garbage everywhere, facilities crumbling, and folks running wild. It is a sad state.

    • Anonymous says:

      cant even get to the beach with all the chairs. the vendors are going overboard. the beach no longer for the people but for the vendors and tourist.

      • Anonymous says:

        Since the vendors have been able to operate on the beach it has gone down hill fast. Ban all vendors and folks selling wears on the beach. This has never been a part of the Cayman tourism product and has no place.

        • Anonymous says:

          It is already banned!

        • Anonymous says:

          Government has failed to get rid of the beach vendors. I hear they’re installing kiosks for them to do business from. What a mess. What gives anyone the right to carry on business from public land. Seven Mile Beach is being ruined

          • Anonymous says:

            Let me help educate your ignorant state of mind,every water sports operations an vendors licensed or not operates off of public/crown property,yes even on the beaches of those hotels an condos,there is a required amount of 16ft above the high water mark that belongs to the public but still the public cannot go there to relax or swim with no public access,one establishment that is licensed charges the tourists a fee just to see the beach so think about that for a minute before you all bash on the public beach vendors,they provide a wonderful service for the tourists plus life guard services and beach clean ups after the tourists are gone,the real mess an vandalism gets left behind by the locals partying over the weekend and holidays leaving the beach in a total waste land with broken rum an beer bottles,plastic plates,condoms etc.the public workers only comes to change the garbage bags leaving the vendors to clean up the mess as usual.the real crime that is being committed is by the same hotel and condos owners for partitioning off in the water like they own it,also moving the 200yrd markers even further than required by law just so their guests can have a bigger swim area,why don’t you get the police to patrol there both land and sea to see whose really breaking the law, YOUR WELCOME

            • Anonymous says:

              Go back to renting your lawn chairs and drinking 345s. The internet is better off without you.

        • Anonymous says:

          You dumb ass going down hill is way easier than going up hill,and they can’t band us from our beach, it belongs to us caymanians,it used to be 7miles of beautiful beach for us but the rich has bought out 6,3/4 miles of it so we only got lest than a quarter mile of it left n still they want to take that away from us,some of the best places to swim on 7mile beach is where those hotels an condos are built but you can’t swim there without being told to leave by an expatriate security guard,why don’t you all talk about that,we beach vendors aren’t going anywhere not even the law can band us from there even judges in court are throwing out cases and fines against us, we are here to stay and there’s nothing you or anyone can do about it,and about ppl smoking weed in the cabanas that happens everyday plus the police has bigger problems to solve than worrying about simple consumption and negligence because we vendors also provides life guard services for the young and the old certified in CPR and the pride courses we save lives everyday out there.so try and think twice when your out there with your camera trying to take negative pictures with us doing wrong when you can be doing something else with your money like trying to help someone or some poor charity that needs help.i know who you are with your pink cap and cigar taking pics pretending to be a tourists wasting time when you can be doing way more positive things for the Cayman islands

          • A says:

            @938- you are just a part of the problem. Maybe get educated and learn to write proper English. You only need to review TripAdvisor to see vendors are a problem.

            • Anonymous says:

              Written good enough for your dumb ass to understand thou.The real problem here is ppl like you who think they rule the world because you think that your more elite than everyone else below you,but that is why God introduced death to the rich and the poor,the old and the young,only to show ppl like you that we are all equal and when it comes all the money in the world can’t save you plus you can’t carry it with you,lol.anyways here’s my tripAdvisor for ya,all that glitters isn’t gold.CAYMANKIND

          • Anonymous says:

            It would be great to get the band back together, however we banned from playing all venues. LOL

          • Anonymous says:

            Only thing I could think of being worse than drowning is waking up to a beach vendor giving me mouth to mouth. I assume your CPR license was obtained the same way your business license was… oh wait… you’re a bunch of unlicensed predators.

            • Anonymous says:

              I will go back to renting my lawn chairs,i have over 200 of them an I get 5$u.s per chair,all day everyday,so do the maths.I probably make in a day what you make in a week,no wonder you guys are mad,but it all comes with hard work so at the end of the day I can safely say my bread has been buttered,and for your information I do have a business license for my business,and no I don’t know CPR,I was just referring to the watersports operators who deals with those types of activities,personally I would never give someone like you CPR,I scorn your type,the way I see it your better off drowning

              • Anonymous says:

                Most of them vendors are Caymanian you know. Father Caymanian, mother from Honduras, Jamaica, or Cuba. cant spell, read or talk proper English.

  10. Anonymous says:

    I found out that this was the reason why young people were always eager to go to the beach there on weekends. Complaints were made to the Police in the past but I understand that they could do very little about it because they were outnumbered. Just get a few undercover officers to visit there and do some observations and get evidence to arrest the drug peddlers that are there selling this harmful drug to our youth.This also happens during the week when they sell their drugs to tourists. It appears that everyone is turning a blind eye to our youth regarding the use of marijuana and that makes them feel it’s okay to use it because almost everyone do it. I would like to hear from the candidates in the upcoming election how they plan to deal with the drug epidemic in our Islands. I don’t think there is even a drug rehab for teenagers that want to quit.