Dear Editor, Violent Crimes in TCI and the impact

#TurksandCaicos, February 7, 2022 – Despite the notable reduction in serious crimes in 2021 compared to 2020, violent crimes in TCI can still be described as both structural and immediate. The trend is also both longstanding and accelerating in select areas, which is very concerning.

With such trend, the criminal justice system will soon become overwhelmed with caseload. When this happens, any hope for rehabilitation and proper treatment of the mentally challenged offenders will be bleak due to lack of sufficient resources.

Gun crimes remain a major problem for the country as a whole, as many innocent lives have been lost and families destroyed.

Although there is no silver bullet in solving crimes, we are at a point where we must ask ourselves some very important questions to determine where the accountability lies.

In my opinion, I would say it starts at the highest levels with those being responsible for both our internal and external security.

Being in top level management positions for most of my career in the crime prevention and the business arena, there are two fundamental leadership qualities I have learned and lived by.

1. If it’s not working change the process.
2. If the process does not resolve the issue over time, change the leadership.

Regardless of a person’s credentials and qualifications, at the end of the day, the measure of one’s success should be based on their ability to deliver results consistently.

The people of this great country welcome outside talent when it’s warranted, but are we bringing in the right talent?

Case in point: With the number of ongoing fires in Grand Turk, do we have an Arson Investigator? With the rising levels of gang violence, do we have a gang expert?

Furthermore, against the backdrop of these violent crimes, are we using data driven stastistics to help drive decisions? To my knowledge, the public has yet to have access to any recent crime statistics.

How important are crime statistics to a developing nation and what are some of the benefits?

It’s important to note, words like “progress” have no meaning if facts are not the foundation. We cannot fix what we do not properly measure.

The data would identify the exact percentage of the crimes being committed by repeat offenders.

This in turn will enable the criminal justice system to provide additional attention to habitual offenders who commit serious crimes.

The data can be used in helping to project more accurate budget figures in order to acquire the needed resources to fight crime.

It’s also another tool local law enforcement agencies can use to coordinate schedules and concentrate more of their efforts in specific areas.

In addition, Social Services departments can further identify vulnerabilities in families living in those particular areas who may need additional support to help deter them from engaging in criminal activities.

As our communities continue to grow, having such statistics, citizens would be aware of trends in high risk areas which would allow them to be more cognizant during their travel in a particular community or location.

There are three things that appear to be happening at the same time and is becoming even more obvious.

First, in a close-knit society like TCI, citizens are very concerned with the growing violent crime rate, especially since your next door neighbor could be your relative or the perpetrator. Because of this, many still have skepticism of reporting their suspicions and the anonymity of the Crime Stoppers program.

Henceforth, what can we do differently to optimize this program? It may require increasing the reward amount or finding a more discrete way to pay out funds.

Secondly, the sentiment from many in the public is that they have lost confidence in the current top level law enforcement leadership team and would like to see a face of change and a new direction for the department.

Thirdly, the perception be it facts or just chatter, is the lack of transparency and forthcoming of information to the general public. This is in reference to the progress or the resolution of cold case crimes and the continued search for perpetrators.

With that being said, how do we move away from just a resolution based approach when a serious crime is committed, to a stronger focus on crime prevention?

I’m afraid these violent incidents that are occurring in certain areas, should not be discussed as an outlier, but as a systemic one.

At this point, we must question our leaders as to what is being done differently to regulate and to control the mechanisms of crimes.

Have we exhausted all measures with respect to prevention and the implementation of more aggressive solutions?

For example, how secure is our existing cargo supply chain? Do our seaports have a detection device system in place to identify illegal weapons stored on incoming ships and containers?

With the trend of violent crimes in Grand Turk, is it time to reroute 911 calls directly to the Grand Turk police station to avoid unnecessary delays?

Is there mandatory fingerprinting requirement for all arrestees including current inmates?

This will assist greatly in faster identification and eliminating of suspects.

Are there sufficient lighting in areas that are frequently travelled or areas off the beaten path that could create an opportunity for would be perpetrators?

How effective has the community policing initiative been? Initially, in some areas we saw a robust start. At this point the program appears to be lukewarm. This is not the time to pull back on resources.

A program of this importance will need constant reaffirmation and support, and eventually it will become second nature to these dedicated officers in building rapport with communities.

Is there a need for additional CCTV cameras in strategic locations to help connect the dots?

Do we have police substations in high risk areas to respond appropriately to incidents and to help build that needed rapport within the communities?

These are all areas that must to be addressed and exhausted if lacking.

The stain of violent crime can have a devastating impact on the lives of our people, in terms of how it plays out on their mental state, trust, insecurity and fears.

Crime is a matter that must be a concern for all of us and we need accountability at every level.

Now, whether or not we choose to confront the problem by being responsible citizens and report our suspicions, or just look the other way, it’s obviously an issue we need to tackle head on.

Let’s stop the violence. In order to do so, it will take responsible citizens such as you, me and others with the resolve to continue the fight for a safe and secure nation for ourselves and the future of the next generation.

Ed Forbes

Concerned citizen of Grand Turk