Royal Cayman Islands Police officers are warning the public against having a “knee jerk” reaction to an increase in gun-related crimes on Grand Cayman over the past year and a half.

During a public meeting with hotel and condo owners Tuesday, Inspector Anthony White referenced last week’s shooting of a burglary suspect by a homeowner in George Town during his presentation to the business owners about ways they could prevent crime at their properties.

“Everyone (will say) ‘Let’s arm ourselves…you know, these bad guys have these guns. If we have a gun, we can beat them to the door...’ ” Mr. White said.

“Research shows that if the criminal knows that you most likely have a firearm in your home, they’re going to go equipped,” he said. “Research also shows us…in societies where officers do carry guns, the criminal is also more likely to arm themselves.”

Police Commissioner David Baines, who also attended the meeting at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman along with about three dozen local business owners, has long maintained that the RCIPS should not be a completely armed paramilitary force. On Tuesday he said he did not support the right of individuals to arm themselves unless they had some reason to do so, such as hunting or sporting interests.

“Where more firearms exist, more people end up getting shot and killed,” Mr. Baines said.

The commissioner pointed to US Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics, which he said show that 56 American law enforcement officers had been killed in the line of duty in 2009 and that some 460 law officers had either taken their own lives or had killed someone around them using their service weapon. “What’s the bigger threat in terms of policing and safe policing?” Mr. Baines said. “Those are two stats that actually just crystallised to me why I prefer to have a significantly unarmed community without the right to bear arms,” he said.

Mr. White – who holds a PhD in criminology – said other knee jerk reactions to increased crime could also harm Cayman’s community.

“We like to say that we need to bring the death penalty back for some of these guys,” Mr. White said. “Do you realise that in places where they’ve instituted the death penalty in the United States of America, the murder rate went up?”

The debate over firearms possession, a hot-button issue at most times in Cayman, has intensified further since last Thursday’s shooting of 29-year-old Harryton Rivers-Valdespino inside a home on Liguinea Circle near the University College of the Cayman Islands campus.

According to police, Rivers-Valdespino was shot and killed by a homeowner who found the man breaking into his residence at 2am. Rivers-Valdespino had a criminal record in the Cayman Islands and was being electronically monitored through the 911 Emergency Communications Centre, though he had managed to remove the device before entering the Liguinea Circle home.

Robberies rise

Another issue of major interest to West Bay Road properties owners is an increase in robberies over the past five months.

Though the overall number of crimes in the West Bay Road/Seven Mile Beach area has remained almost the same within the past year, there has been a marked increase in the number of robberies there.

Also, according to statistics presented to the group, the number of female victims in those robberies increased significantly between 2008 and 2009.

“That’s a new trend that has surfaced,” Inspector White said, adding that, statistically, males are much more likely to be victims in robberies than females. “It’s a bit of an anomaly.”

Mr. White said there were six robberies reported each year along West Bay Road for 2008 and 2009. However, in the first five months in 2009, there was just one robbery reported in the West Bay Road area.

Between January and May, four robberies have occurred. According to Inspector White, the main trouble spot in the area since 2008 has been Helen Drive – across the street from Captain’s Bakery and the St. Matthew’s University residence hall. There were nine criminal offences reported there, including five robberies.

Mr. White said it’s not a bad neighbourhood. However, he said the number of people who are out late in that area attending bars and parties at clubs in Queens Court and Whitehall make it fertile ground for criminals seeking an easy score.

Most robberies in the area took place between 11.30pm and 2am, and all the victims involved were attacked while walking down the street.

“There’s usually alcohol involved for the victim,” Mr. White said, noting that Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights were when most of the robberies tended to happen.

Overall crime along the West Bay Road corridor stayed the same when comparing the first five months of 2009 and the first five months of 2010 and the number of burglaries actually sharply decreased during that time.

In 2009, between January and May, there were 28 break-ins along West Bay Road. For that same time this year, there were 18. Most of the burglaries targeted the southern end of West Bay Road and 65 per cent of them happened while someone was inside the house that was being broken into.

In two-thirds of the burglaries in that area, Mr. White said, householders had not locked their doors or could not remember if they had locked their doors.