WANTED MAN Poster makes social media before the Police release it 

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, February 28, 2023 – A new incident involving a wanted poster appearing online before it was released may be pointing to leaks in the police force.

The poster which names 22-year-old Mervin Joseph in connection to the September 30 murder of another young man began to circulate hours before the police press office sent it out.

We got a hold of it early Thursday morning but there was no sign of the poster on any official police website or social media. We questioned the TCI Police Force around 9 am; asking whether it was real or the mischievous work of a civilian.

Just after 4 pm, the Police responded confirming it was indeed real and around the same time released a copy officially to the Press.

Magnetic Media immediately questioned how the poster came to be on social media more than eight hours in advance of the police releasing it generally, but up to news publication time got no response.

The incident points to a serious breach in the Force’s information security protocols which may have alerted a suspect long before the police were ready to do so and further fuels speculation of trust issues within the rank and file of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police.

Last year during a press conference held by the Government and attended by the Police Commissioner, residents listed the high likelihood of confidential information not being secure as one of the leading reasons they remain hesitant to support police investigations with information.