Police records issue addressed by Cabinet  

By Dana Malcolm  

Staff Writer  

#TurksandCaicos, April 3, 2023- After many complaints about the arduous, often months-long process and unkept promises to fix the problem at the Police Criminal Records Office, the Government has finally agreed to action steps.

A Cabinet summary informs there are serious plans on the cutting board aimed at revising how Police Records in the country are issued.

In a March 22nd Cabinet meeting, the body: ‘approved the development of new national criteria including public consultation, to revise the application and issuance of a Police Record certificates by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force.’

The Government is seeking to lessen the backlog of police records and prevent future bottlenecks by removing the requirement for the document from several employment categories. It was a solution put forward by many in the past including Premier Washington Misick in a 2022 interview where he expressed shame at the wait times residents were enduring.

Police had promised time and again that they would get the frustrating issue fixed but to no avail, the enduring refrain is that there’s too much work and too little workers. It’s another cog in the TCI public sector machine prevented from turning properly because of the ever-present employment crises.

That aside, there have been other complaints as well, the slow process has allowed an underbelly of criminals to spring up providing quick (illegitimate) documents and fleecing desperate residents of their money in the process.

In addition to revising the police records process, TCIG in the same session, formalised that it will look at employing former low risk inmates into the Public Sector.

The Government says they discussed ‘the inclusion of criteria to allow the TCI Public Service to employ low risk offenders as an example to private sector employers.’ It is another example of fruit borne from work done during Nigel Dakin’s tenure as Governor.

At this stage, there are no implementation dates for either initiative announced.