UK House of Commons releases brief on violence in TCI 

Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#UnitedKingdom, December 12, 2022 – The UK still considers the Turks and Caicos Islands a “low crime jurisdiction” despite the country posting a 13 per cent rise in serious crime for the April 2021 to March 2022 period putting it above the five year crime average.  This is according to the United Kingdom’s House of Commons Library in a recent research paper on the upsurge of crime and violence in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The library prints these research briefs to provide ‘in-depth and impartial reports’ which it describes as an ‘invaluable resource for establishing facts behind topical issues and news stories.’ The briefs are often used by the MPs and their staff.

The article was one of the only ones, if not the only, focusing on crime in an overseas territory.  Quoting local sources including the TCI Weekly News, RTC FM, the Turks and Caicos Sun, Magnetic Media and others it followed the explosion of gun violence on September 3 detailing the deaths and local upheaval including calls for resignations and firm refusal from governor Nigel Dakin.

Acknowledging the UK’s responsibility to the TCI’s security the article also zoomed in on the named parties fingered for the violence including local and international gangs specifically Jamaican but said “–it is unclear which groups are most affected and involved in the violence,”

The report also reiterated reports by The Guardian that the UK has allocated an

additional $4 million to the police force and $2 million for CCTV.

The article is available to international audiences and was published on December 9th 2022.