Statement by Commissioner of Police Trevor Botting

#TurksandCaicos, June 19, 2023 – “I am addressing you from Police Headquarters on the 14th of June regarding serious crime, specifically the number of murders for 2023, in light that there have been 3 murders in the last 10 days.

The 7th murder for 2023 was committed last night in Five Cays and I spent time with the family of the person killed as well as visiting the scene.

I do understand the concerns that are being expressed by our communities and the level of fear that is being felt, particularly in the communities where the violence is taking place.

We do not lose sight of the human loss that each murder brings so we are not complacent and we are determined that those committing these terrible crimes are identified and arrested.

As ever, we need your help and you can do this anonymously through crime stoppers or by talking to my dedicated team of trusted officers who work covertly and discreetly in handling information. We want you to tell us what you know to help us get Justice for those victims who have lost their lives. With your help, we can make a difference within our communities.

Given the 7 murders for this year under active investigation, I am somewhat limited in what I can say. However, I can report that Luiz ROSARIO has been charged with the offence of murder of Stephen Baker who was killed on Grand Turk in January.

In more general terms, what I can say about the murders is:

We of course maintain an open mind as to the circumstances and motive for each incident and we work with the evidence. At this point, we believe that 2 of the 7 murders are not directly connected to serious crimes and are individual offences.

We also believe the other 5 are linked to criminality but not necessarily connected. There is no evidence uncovered to date that suggests the murders have been committed by the same person or persons but we have not ruled that out.

Please be reassured that we are not complacent and remain resolute and committed to keeping criminals on the back foot.

I and my Force Executive Colleagues have met with the National Security Council this week to keep the members briefed on crime and our response and, following last night’s murder, I personally briefed the Governor and the Premier last night and this morning. It is important to note that Premier has indicated his continued support for policing and he stands ready to assist the Force as we deal with the current surge in murders.

I, therefore, wish to share with you what we are doing in response to the current crime situation.

To ensure that our resources directly match the demand, we:-

1. Have reviewed our response resources to support intelligence-led operations based on demands. You will see more police officers and policing activity within those communities most affected
2. Additional Force Leaders will be supporting the front-line delivery of policing and our police officers as they do their difficult jobs.
3. 9 recently experienced officers, recruited from across the region will arrive this week and will be deployed almost immediately to increase our capacity, most notably within the Tactical Unit.
4. 18 Officers who finish their initial training next week will be on the streets of the TCI as soon as possible following their arrival back home from the Bahamas.
5. Operation Pursuit will continue relentlessly, targeting criminals and criminality, including those involved in the organized crime of smuggling people, guns, and drugs. This is a multi-agency operation and through working together, we are united against crime and criminality. I am urging that you, our community, support the law enforcement efforts on the TCI. The focus of Operation Pursuit will be on serious crime and chasing down those responsible for the shootings and murders.
6. You will be aware that last year we sought the support of the RBPF to tackle the surge in crime we had in the second half of 2022. This remains an option for us should we need to bring in additional staff and this is under constant review. I will do what is required to keep the Turks and Caicos Islands safe.

Whilst acknowledging the concerns of our communities, I want to reassure you that this year has seen a building of our resources with the 18 newly trained officers returning this week after the 6 months of training. I have been updated by the Commissioner from the Bahamas that we have an exceptional group of new officers returning to the TCI and we are looking forward to welcoming them home.

We are actively recruiting experienced specialist police officers with the first 9 joining us this week. They will be assigned to the Tactical Unit.

Specialist Operations (Tactical Unit and Marine Branch) will have a new Superintendent shortly with a highly qualified and experienced officer joining the Force’s senior leadership team from Overseas. Superintendent Mat Newton will arrive in the first week of July to take up his post and we look forward to him joining the team and leading our specialist operations functions.

For the last 6 months, a team of experienced detectives from UK Policing has been working with local detectives from the serious crime team to investigate murders, both cases from 2022 and the investigations that have started this year. Our colleagues from the UK are fully integrated with local officers, learning from each other and working hard to get justice for victims of crime and the families of those murdered.

A new gang, gun, and drug team has been formed, led by a local senior officer and comprising officers from the TCI and the UK. They are spearheading the work to target gangs, gang members, and those involved in organized crime. This team is also working in collaboration with US Law Enforcement to tackle the importation of drugs to the TCI. This work is supported by the 2022 legislation to tackle Gangs, the TCI Anti-Gang Legislation. I think it’s worth highlighting that Gang Leaders are liable to 25 years in Prison and gang membership will lead to a term of 10 years for a first offence and 20 years if a second offence is committed.

Whilst I cannot for obvious reasons provide any details, we have developed our intelligence, covert and technical capability which is helping officers investigate crime and build cases against suspects and offenders and develop intelligence from a range of sources. There is no place for criminals to hide.

We have also been developing our Force Control and Command capability with command training for leaders from within the Force and our partner agencies; primarily, Immigration, Customs, and the TCI Regiment. The way in which we work together has been further enhanced by a multi-agency command workshop, bringing leaders within the agencies together to tackle crime as a collective; we are stronger together in the protection of our communities.

In addition, we have re-established the Joint Law Enforcement Group (J-LEG) which saw the signing of a MOU on 23rd May 2023. This group now has a membership of about twenty agencies and critical partners who are committed to working together, serving you, and our communities, to ensure the safety and security of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Connected to the efforts of the Force in investigating serious crime is the work undertaken by the RTCIPF Marine Branch and our Maritime Operations Centre, our radar operators, in the policing of the maritime environment and our borders. 2023 has seen a region-wide surge in the number of people being smuggled from country to country and the TCI is seeing the same increases. The Marine Branch and radar operators have been working hard, all day and all night to detect boats attempting to smuggle people, guns, and drugs into the TCI.

The RTCIPF Marine Branch will be supported by members of the TCI Regiment in the protection of pour border. I mention this within a crime update as it is clear that the smuggling of people, guns, and drugs into the TCI has a direct line of sight to organized crime and violence. Make no mistake, those people facilitating smuggling into the TCI are fueling organized crime, shootings, and the murder of our citizens.

The developments in Policing and resulting law enforcement activity is producing results; officers have seized a number of weapons and ammunition during operations and directed patrol activity, much of it as a result of intelligence from our communities. Again, the law has been strengthened with persons found in possession of a firearm being liable to a minimum of 12 years or 18 years for those carrying a high-powered weapon.

Arrests for serious crimes continue with one person, Daniel Jean charged with robbery this week. We have also arrested and have in custody persons for robbery, possession of drugs, and possession of firearms and ammunition. I expect that charges will follow in these cases.

In closing, we keep the families of those who have been lost to violent crime on the TCI firmly in our mind; it’s the pursuit of justice for those lost which drives us to track down those responsible.

Policing will remain agile and responsive to the crime that is being committed. We are deploying every available tactic, some of it very overt on the streets and some of it covert, in the shadows, to identify those responsible for the crime.

Again, my plea is to you, our community, to assist us in the way you did during 2022 and tell us what you know. You don’t need to give your name, Crime Stoppers is anonymous and no one will ever know your identity. We have specialist officers who deal with this and you can speak with them. However you are comfortable telling us what you know, please do it as together we can keep the TCI safe.

We are working hard for you, and our community, and we are committed to keeping the TCI a safe place to live, work and visit. We will prevail, the criminals will not.

Thank you, and may God Bless our communities, our Police Officers, and these beautiful by nature Turks and Caicos Islands.”