Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
“As a former police officer I see this conduct as highly unprofessional and embarrassing” that was the frustrated response from Jerrod Crockett, President of the International Diplomatic Alliance in Missouri when he spoke to Magnetic Media on March 26th regarding an IDA employee Pedro Grant, who is facing charges of impersonating an officer in the TCI.
Exasperation and embarrassment at the Turks and Caicos’ government and Police System is what Crockett says pushed him to the point of legal action against TCIG.
Not only does Crockett say he’s concerned about the investigative ability of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF), he’s questioning the legality of certain actions taken by the police including taking documents without a warrant.
The matter began in July 2023 when Grant said he was being followed by a resident and stopped to ask why. When Grant called to report the incident, he claimed no one responded to his query, his premises were then searched without a warrant and he was arrested on suspicion of impersonating an officer.
Crockett says documents seized from Grant included those issued by the IDA, but claims none of them intimate Grant was an officer and that despite marking the documents as fraudulent, the RTCIPF never even bothered to investigate whether they were or not.
“There was no reason for them to take the documents, no one called to validate anything; they just said ‘these are fraudulent.’ That’s what is so funny about this, they’re saying that these are fraudulent documents but these are all originals from the State Department. Nobody has called to say ‘hey are these legitimate’ absolutely nothing,” Crockett told us.
He says these are issued through the US administrative system, passing through state departments and the embassy.
Crockett revealed that Grant had reached out to the organization, laying out issues in the TCI regarding crime and education that needed solutions and was chosen as a representative.
“As a representative, he works under my direction—what we do is provide assistance and extra resource benefits. We don’t do anything directly because of the difference in national laws. Representatives try to find resources for education— mentorship programs, additional education etc.”
The President says the information put out by the force implicating his organization has caused them difficulty working in the Turks and Caicos.
“Our operations on the island have come to a complete stop because he has no legal documentation to show. Organization wise that really put a hurt on us for the last six to eight months now because of accusations of fraudulent documents that everybody else has seen. We’re trying to prove our legitimacy now because you guys can’t verify any documents— before you put everything out there as public information.”
The president also told our news team they had lost thousands of dollars worth of funding because of this.
In an effort to clear up the situation Crockett says he reached out to the British Embassy and eventually the Turks and Caicos Islands on direction from the Embassy. Unfortunately he was left in the cold.
“I tried to reach out to the Governor’s Office, the Chief Inspector, and Chief of Police for that area and no one would ever respond— ”
Grant has maintained his innocence in the matter since his arrest in July, he says the court has ordered the return of his documents, but now the police and immigration both say they don’t have them in their possession, Grant explains it has caused him to miss at least one family funeral.
Unable to get a satisfactory response Crockett says he plans to come to the Turks and Caicos for answers.
“We are considering going down there and making a severe court issue out of this.”
