Ed Forbes 

Concerned citizen of Grand Turk 

#TurksandCaicos, August 16, 2022 – With the news cycle moving at such a rapid pace, too often we tend to overlook or forget the pain and suffering some families are still going through from the senseless loss of their love ones to gun violence.

As a resident of Grand Turk, I am still angered and heartbroken over the loss of so many young lives and the senseless acts of aggression within our communities across these islands.

We are seeing a disturbing and significant increase in violent crimes primarily among our young men. Many  of the crimes appeared to be gang affiliated, pent up anger or some score that needed to be settled.

Now is high time we come together to find solutions to eradicate violent crimes. Rather than casting blame or pointing fingers let us stand alongside each other and our elected leaders with determination and power to actualize change.

Yes, we need to hold our elected and appointed leaders accountable for their actions or lack thereof, but I dispel this notion that having x number of additional police officers on the streets would have prevented these unfortunate incidents from happening. In addition, we cannot expect law enforcement nor the government to have all the answers.

Our communities need to become more proactive and we cannot rest until we see more positive results because this is what our citizens deserve.

With that being said, what progress if any has been made on the crime prevention initiatives for Grand Turk? Such proposal stemmed from a town hall meeting held nearly 6 months ago, following a devastating fire on an apartment complex in Grand Turk that left residents temporarily displaced.

Such initiative is what helps to keep the communities more engaged. Make no mistake about it, with the easy access between Islands, it could only be a matter of time before we see a spill over of criminal related activities.

Criminals are becoming more stealthier and lawyers are becoming savvy. Therefore, if our policing strategies are not regularly re-evaluated and revised, one of the challenges we will continue to face is suspects will be arrested but the evidence will be lacking to prosecute them.

And again, we are not telling law enforcement how to do their jobs, just offering what we see as viable solutions.

These are unprecedented times; therefore, we must take bold and sometimes costly steps to affect the desired results.

The most practical and effective way to impact armed violence is a relentless effort to stem the flow of illegal guns into TCI, and inter island transport of weapons.

If the escalating gun violence is largely in part due to the result of compromised boarders, then put the necessary resources in place to fix it.

For example, a dedicated marine vessel in Grand Turk.

Border control is one of, if not, the most important benefit of Turks and Caicos Islands being a British overseas territory. As such, they have an obligation to properly protect our boarders, provide adequate support and enhanced technology in this area. Henceforth, let us hold their feet to fire to help get the job done.

If we fail to properly protect our borders head on, like many third world countries, there is a clear and present danger of TCI becoming the next heaven for illegal weapons trade.

One may never grasp or understand why these good upbringing young individuals do what they do. Maybe they have lost hope in the system of justice, struggling with mental illness and are now embracing their new twisted beliefs with a fervor that is, perhaps, not understandable or comprehensible to others.

Thereby, this may be the driving force that push them to commit these heinous acts of violence against one another and our citizens.

Either way, their actions impacts every single one of us in some form or fashion. The question that will always remain is, are these really heartless criminals or are they just seeking social mobility and trying to make progress for themselves for which they now deem as acceptable norms?

In my professional opinion, what we are seeing in this young generation in terms of their behavior, is simply a shift in attitudes. Some of these individuals become very frustrated because they are not finding any routes to making real progress, they find their paths blocked and frustration can lead to aggression. As a result, they are now classifying violence as a justified means to an end.

What we need are long-term and short-term public policies to address these issues, to include a strong focus on neighborhoods suffering from socio-economic inequalities. We have got to find ways to avoid our youth from becoming expandable in the wrong areas of life, because in the end, no one wins.

Below are some suggestions of a 7 point short-and long-term solution and a framework which we can continue to build upon to help curb crime and improve outcomes.

1. The formation of an active tactical police unit geared specifically toward gang related crimes. This should include the necessary training and expertise in this area. Let us try to nip this in the bud before it gets way out of hand and more innocent bystanders or unintended targets become victims.
2. Focus on creative ways to rid illegal guns off the streets, coupled with data-driven deployment of officers.
3. Implement a focused deterrence approach geared toward high-risk repeat offenders to include increased visits from their probation officers and providing available resources to assist them.
4. Increase the existing budget for CCTV cameras for both Grand Turk and Provo, to include additional placement and quality of equipment to improve video footage.
5. Conduct close review of law enforcement salaries compared to other departments and agencies. This will determine equitable compensation and cost of living regardless of Belongers status. This will also help to improve officers morale and loyalty and minimize any thoughts of corruption.
6. Based on in-depth analysis and crime data, set up police substations in high crime ridden areas or communities that are suffering from spatial displacement of police presence.
7. Real rehabilitation and mental health treatment for incarcerated criminals, because they are not serving life sentences and will eventually be released into society.

We are certainly at a crossroad here and what brought us to this point is certainly not for a lack of effort on the part of our dedicated men and women serving on our police force.

What we must demand at every level, is accountability of performance and results driven leadership. I am still confident, that collectively we can come up with some viable and effective solutions to this growing madness. It’s a must, as our lives and our livelihood are depending on it.