Outcomes - Selected Case Summaries
Categories
Police Harassment
Investigation | 31 October 2019
Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS)
We received a complaint from a man who was on conditional release in the community and awaiting court on two criminal charges. He alleged that he was being harassed by the RCIPS. The complainant was required to wear an ankle monitoring device as a condition of his release. He signed an agreement to keep the device charged and acknowledged that failing to do so would be considered a violation of the terms of his release. Officers were dispatched by the Electronic Monitoring Centre on several occasions one night (between 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.) because the device was not properly charged. We investigated whether the officers had a lawful authority to be at the complainant’s residence and whether they had conducted themselves appropriately.
The Ombudsman found that the officers used their discretion appropriately by asking the complainant to charge the device rather than arresting him in the middle of the night. The investigation found that the officers had behaved
professionally. The complaint was not supported.