Cayman saw another year with an overall rise in crime, jumping 13%in 2025.
The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS), in its annual release of crime statistics, tallied 4,736 crimes reported for the year—up from 4,218 in 2024.
The 13 percent rise marks the most significant in recent years — compared to a 7% increase reported in 2024, 3.9 in 2023, 3.5% in 2022 and 3.9% in 2021.
Public order offences drove the crime rate up the most dramatically, with a 37% increase or a total of 1,085 such crimes reported for the year. These offences include causing fear, provocation of violence and harassment.
The “other crimes” category, combining 70 different crime types, including everything from arson to money laundering, also saw a 27% increase to 1,045 cases.
“The most significant increases were related to use of an ICT to defraud, abuse, annoy, threaten or harass; and property damage,” RCIPS said regarding the “other crimes” offences.
Other categories that saw increases were sexual offences (up 20% to 125), violence (up 6% to 788) and drug crimes (up 6% to 199).
Financial crime, and digital and cyber-related investigations, in contrast, both saw declines in 2025. RCIPS reported more than 130 financial crimes investigations, international and domestic, for the year, compared to more than 200 in 2024. For digital and cyber-related investigations, it reported 285, compared to 369 in 2024.
Acquisitive crimes, including robbery and burglary, also dropped 2% to 1,464, and firearms crime dropped 9% to 30.
Overall incidents, which include calls unrelated to crime, also declined in 2025. Police attributed this in part to a 12% decline in traffic summons. This category fell to 6,877 for the year.
33 people were killed or seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents for the year, down from 48 in 2024. Driving under the influence cases also dropped from 281 to 277.
‘Increasingly complex’ policing in Cayman
Commissioner of Police Kurt Walton described an increasingly global nature impacting policing and public safety in Cayman.
“The operating environment in which policing services are delivered is becoming increasingly complex. Global developments continue to influence local security dynamics, while domestic pressures are reshaping policing demand,” Walton said.
“Criminal organisations continue to employ increasingly sophisticated tactics to expand illicit markets. The Cayman Islands’ open economy and reliance on cross-border flow of people and goods create inherent vulnerabilities at its borders, and transnational networks actively seek to exploit any opportunity.”
He added that he considered Cayman “one of the safest, if not the safest, places to live and visit in the region”.
The year did have its challenges for the force, he noted. Walton said 2025 brought the largest reduction in officers seen since 2008, but that additional funding, received in September, allowed an overseas recruitment drive to attract new talent to the force.
