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RCIPS officers share crime-fighting expertise
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Two officers from the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, (RCIPS) recently returned from Trinidad where they passed on their expertise on a crime recording system used here in the Cayman Islands to the local force.
The RCIPS has been using OTRCIS (Overseas Territories Regional Criminal Intelligence System) to log reported crimes, incidents and intelligence since the mid 1990s.
The system is currently used by seven overseas territories and aims to keep lines of communication open between different jurisdictions and Trinidad is the latest force to buy into the technology.
Crime Desk Manager, Sergeant Kim Evans and Inspector Robert Scotland spent five days there training staff on its capabilities.
“The system is designed to allow us to share information with the other territories which is vital because criminals will often travel between islands committing offences,” said Sergeant Evans.
“The Cayman Islands are very much the leader when it comes to this system and we are happy to offer our skills and support to other areas.”
The trip followed a similar exercise where three officers from the Belize Police Force were trained here in 2004.
The RCIPS is also making efforts to ensure they stay on top of their game by re-training its entire staff in the system allowing the service to better manage information.
“We operate a more intelligence-led, performance driven way of doing business and it’s vital that staff have the skills and information they need to be able to do this,” said Commissioner of Police Stuart Kernohan.
“This training will ensure that those who are new to the force and those that need a brush-up are aware of how the system works and of all its capabilities.”
The system holds a huge amount of information and the 18-strong-team working in the Crime Desk Department, along with staff in the 911 Emergency Communications Centre have systematically entered 76,000 reports since 2002.
The Criminal Records Department also uses the system, processing around 200 applications a day. The unit, consisting of three staff, has an average turn around time of two days compared to many other jurisdictions that can take up to two weeks.
The Crime Desk is often the main point of contact for members of the public requesting information about crimes and investigations.
“We want to reassure the public that we will do all we can to help if they need assistance with information relating to a crime,” added Sergeant Evans.
“The desk is manned 15.5 hours a day.”
Anyone who has a query regarding a crime should contact the Crime Desk on 949-4222.
The Crime Desk is open from 7.00 am – 11:30 pm. Anyone needing crime reports for insurance purposes should contact Suzy Smith on 244-2921.
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