More than $7.7 million in extra funding for the police was approved by the current government in the last meeting of Cabinet before the general election on 30 April.
Minutes just released of the Cabinet meeting from 20 March show that six separate supplementary payments were approved by the meeting, which was attended by all minsters and members of Cabinet. The current Cabinet is made up of Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, Deputy Premier Kenneth Bryan and government ministers Jay Ebanks, Dwayne Seymour and Isaac Rankine, and chaired by Governor Jane Owen.
News of the extra payments comes just a week after the release of the ‘2025 Pre-Election Economic and Financial Update of the Government of the Cayman Islands’, which revealed that the Cayman Islands government is $81 million worse off than expected due to increased spending that wasn’t budgeted for and revenue-generating laws that were never enacted.
The listed supplementary payments to the Office of the Commissioner of Police are: $1,141,113 for crime prevention and protection services, $453,608 for crime investigation and criminal justice services, and $342,708 for policy advice, administrative and support services. These were approved under sections 11(5) and 11(6) of the Public Management and Finance Act (2020 Revision), which cover exceptional circumstances.
Approved under section 12 of the act, which deals with government budgeting, were $3,399,029 for crime prevention and protection services, $1,351,161 for crime investigation and criminal justice services, and $1,020,822 to policy advice, administrative and support services.
Under the 2024 and 2025 budget, the police budget was set at $59.5 million for 2025, so these payments will be an increase of just under 13%.
The Auditor General Sue Winspear had frequently warned government of the dangers of incorrect budgeting and significant overspending, which requires supplementary budgets to top up any shortfalls.
