Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicosIslands, February 14, 2024 – Chris Eyre, The Turks and Caicos’ Newest Interim Acting Commissioner took over the reins of the Royal Turks and Caicos Police Force on Monday, February 12th, under the watchful eye of Dileeni Daniel Selveratnam, TCI Governor.
The emergency stand-in was called in from Cyprus after confirmation that Commissioner Designate Edvin Martin would be out for an additional three months, until May, because of health issues.
Back in November when Martin’s appointment was announced several residents expressed frustration that a local had been overlooked for the role.
“What a shame we are still in a position where our own can’t rise to this level through succession planning,” said one man.
Before Eyre’s appointment in Cyprus, he was a Chief Constable (Commissioner equivalent) in Nottinghamshire.
His tenure there began much like his tenure in the Turks and Caicos having been called in after a UK review that described the force as sub-par. After serving a year as Deputy he was promoted to Chief Constable on the retirement of Julia Hodson.
Hodson told the BBC “Since he joined the force as deputy chief constable last year, Chris has made an outstanding contribution to policing in Nottinghamshire, not only in driving down crime but in overseeing a major re-engineering of how the service is delivered to the public.”
Eyre, on his Linkedin, said he “was invited to lead the transformation of Nottinghamshire Police which had been assessed as a ‘failed force’ by a Home Office capability review. At the time of moving to Nottinghamshire, it was assessed as ‘poor’ in all domains by HMIC. At the time of retiring from the Force in 2016, it was assessed as ‘good’ in all domains. Over the intervening 6 years the force had also achieved a 25% reduction in its budgets.”
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) described the county as the 18th most dangerous place to live in 2023, a classification that was surprising to most residents who spoke to the Nottinghamshire live news describing the area as safe.
On his departure in 2016, Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping told Notts TV “Chris Eyre has been an outstanding Chief Constable for Nottinghamshire. Crime in Nottinghamshire is falling faster than almost anywhere else in the UK and Nottinghamshire Police is the fastest improving police force in England and Wales.”
According to crimerate.co.uk crime rates in Nottingham, the most dangerous city in Nottinghamshire, rose in 2016 after the departure of Eyre from 95 percent in 2016 to 119 percent in 2017 and 133 percent in 2018.
Eyre has not yet spoken publicly about his appointment to the Turks and Caicos but Governor Daniel-Selvaratnam has expressed confidence in the officer.
