K-9 officer operating private K-9 business

(CMR) Cayman Marl Road has received several queries about a Royal Cayman Islands Police Service K-9 instructor and dog handler, PC Keiron Davies, being given permission to setup his own private K-9 business selling and training specialty dogs.

Cayman Marl Road's investigative team has established that the employee in question has no business license with the Department of Commerce and Investment under his name or the name of his company “Cayman K-9”.

Furthermore, concerns have been raised about the availability of these specialty dogs being trained and provided by an officer that offers that same service for the RCIPS.

One person noted:

“How does it make sense for a paid civil servant to offer his expert services to the RCIPS and then the public at large?

This appears to be a real conflict of interest and I cannot help but wonder if he got this approved via the proper channels. The question then becomes has he used his position as a police officer to further himself in business and benefit from that existing relationship.”

His website states that dogs are available from CI $2,500 for an 8-week-old puppy to CI$9,000 for a Malinois dog trained to bite, release, track and search for explosives. Interested persons are invited to travel here to assess the quality of the dogs for themselves.

The co-mingling of his professional duties as an officer and those of his private business are apparent from the photos he used of him in uniform on the website. Whilst is it unclear when he started this business; he only recently received the K-9 certification himself via the RCIPS. According to the RCIPS website Davies completed a K-9 certification instructor course in Michigan earlier this year.

CMR confirmed that he has requested and received authorization from the RCIPS to operate this business. Within minutes of emailing the RCIPS Cop about any authorization given the business website was deactivated and we received the following response from them:

Dear CMR,

The officer has been given authorization to start a dog training business that is to remain separate and apart from his work for the RCIPS. As such the branding used for his private business should also be distinct and separate. He has been advised of this and has taken the site down while he changes the images so that they comply with and reinforce this distinction.

We trust this responds to your question.

Jacqueline Carpenter – Communications Manager

According to his LinkedIn account Davies was a police officer with the West Midlands Police in the UK since 2000. Although he has not updated his employment record since arriving in the Cayman Islands.

The RCIPS K-9 unit consists of four police dogs and four handlers including Davies. Davies handles a general purpose dog called Police Dog Shadow. These dogs are trained to track and apprehend suspects, search vehicles and premises for narcotics and firearms, search for currency, and locate items that have recently been discarded or hidden.