Everyone and their family want a safe environment

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Everyone and their family want a safe environment

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Dear Sir,

Greetings, residents of the Cayman Islands!

Let me first send you my best wishes for your safety, as I read of hurricane Emily about to fall on you! I will pray that you are spared the brunt of this major storm.

I have read with interest the comments of Enna Mcfield on the rise of crime in your community. It is evident that more has to be done in partnership between the residents, businesses and your police service. The words of Sir Robert Peel (the community is the police and the police is the community) must be repeated and enhanced in your community.

One fact remains, your police officers live in your community, and they have a genuine interest in a safe environment for you and their own families. A clear focus on getting more detailed information on crime is essential for your officers to get to the bottom of solving these crimes. Many support agencies would/could help in flushing out the information needed for best results, i.e. Crime Stoppers, neighborhood watch, school resource officers, block parents, etc.

If it is not already organized, your police service should have community focus groups, set up strategic crime prevention projects as well as enforcement goals that can be shared with the community in a weekly or monthly release to the media to address the crime statistics gathered and results.

Every police officer must be a leader through availability and be resourceful to not only create a safe environment but to ensure that the residents feel safe.

Enhanced communication to the police and from them is essential.

Community based policing is very simple, all police officers must show that they CARE and that they are TRYING. As stated in the article, everyone knows that we cannot eliminate all crimes.

Why do I know that the above methods work if done in a partnership? Because I have just proven this once again in my own city of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada; population 55,500.

Together, we have reduced crime as the lowest in the Province, we have enhanced our communication processes and shared all our calls for service (33,000 in 2004 from barking dogs to one murder) with our media/citizens, and we have become the envy of many other communities and police services.

My next challenge may be the Cayman Islands, as I note that you are advertising for a Commissioner for your Police Service. From my first 30 years of policing with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police - lived in five Canadian Provinces and served as Sector Chief in Croatia in 2005 and as Director of all operations in Kosovo in 2001 - I can attest that everyone and their family want a safe environment to live and prosper.

It can be achieved in the Cayman Islands!

Norm Boucher
Chief of Police
Medicine Hat Police Service

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