Crime
Crime Rate in the TCI
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, September 9, 2022 – The murder rate in the Turks and Caicos for the year 2022 up to September 8th is 45.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, an exceedingly high rate on par with some of the most violent Caribbean countries.
The rate was calculated by Magnetic Media, using formulas from the California Attorney General’s office, population data provided by Deputy Premier and Minister with responsibility for Statistics, and crime data provided by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force.
The TCI murder rate far exceeds Jamaica’s murder rate which stands at 37.3 per 100,000. As of September 1st, the country had had 1018 murders in a population of 2.76 million (per the last census), versus the TCI which has had 16 murders as of September 8th, with a population of 35 thousand (as per government statistics).
In terms of the Dominican Republic and how the TCI compare, the Turks and Caicos Islands again topped the larger country. According to the Police, the murder rate of that country was 11.1 percent in 2021, with 1,349 homicides in a population of 10.8 million people.
Again, the Turks and Caicos dominated the Bahamas, up to June there were 74 homicides in the larger island chain with a population of 404 thousand, a murder rate of 18.3 per 100,000, versus the Turks and Caicos who up to June had 8 murders, a then rate of 22.8 per 100,000.
The TCI far outpaces the other British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean. Bermuda had 7 murders in a population of 64 thousand per the latest information available (2020). The British Virgin Islands had 9 murders committed between 2020 to January 2022, with a population of 30 thousand.
Not only is the severity figure extremely alarming on its own, the Turks and Caicos’ low rate of convictions is even more frightening.
Additionally, this year all but 2 of the 16 homicides were committed with a gun. Minister of Immigration, Arlington Musgrove, pointed out that The Turks and Caicos does not manufacture guns, yet there seems to be an abundance of them on these small islands. And not just pistols, several videos of attackers, the most brazen of which occurred at a small grocery store in broad daylight in early 2022, have proven the existence of high-powered weapons in the country.
There has already been at least one advisory by the US against the TCI. More violence could lead to irreparable damage of the burgeoning tourism product on which the economy depends.