Her Excellency the Governor and the Hon. Premier condemn strongly the shooting incident on Grand Turk and extend their deepest condolences to the family and to the community.
Such criminality near school children while they were at a school sports day is deplorable.
A serious crime team has been deployed to Grand Turk and action is underway to conduct a community impact assessment, including work with school officials and the Ministry of Education to ensure the safety and security of our communities.
Strengthening of capability
The Governor and the Premier continue to work together closely to strengthen our operational and strategic response. In addition to the imminent deployment of experienced Firearms Officers from the United Kingdom announced on 03 February, and ahead of the arrival of the Commissioner Designate Mr. Edvin Martin (which, – due to a routine medical procedure and convalescence period – will now take place in May 2024), the Governor is making the following appointments to bolster the strategic operational expertise and focus of the RTCIPF:
· Mr Chris Eyre will be appointed as interim RTCIPF Acting Commissioner of Police effective this Monday 12 February. He has 37-years of experience as a police officer, including 18-years at Assistant Chief Constable rank and above;
· His final role in UK policing was as Chief Constable (Commissioner equivalent) of Nottinghamshire Police. During his career he has led the operational response to terrorist attacks, riots, major demonstrations, international criminal investigations and sensitive covert operations making him well placed to lead the RTCIPF during this interim period. In his last post, Mr Eyre led the British Overseas Territory Police Force in the Sovereign Base Area of Cyprus;
· Superintendent Mat Newton will be temporarily appointed to the Force Executive as an Assistant Commissioner of Police with specific responsibility for specialist tactical operations;
· Immediate work is being undertaken to recruit a Superintendent to assist
· policing in Grand Turk and ensure targeted oversight of community and
· policing operations.
This added capability will vitalise the RTCIPF’s strategic and tactical arsenal for policing across our islands and will ensure the full strength of the Force Executive leadership at Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner levels.
The Governor and Premier express their sincere thanks to Acting Commissioner Adams and Acting Deputy Commissioner Grant for their continuing leadership of the RTCIPF during these challenging times.
The first of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office funded rapid deployment of firearms officers; investigative officers; a firearms commander; a firearms operations planner and a crime analyst will arrive this weekend.
These officers will provide an immediate boost in tactical and investigative manpower. Parallel work is underway to secure further regional operational support and a targeted recruitment campaign is being launched to recruit permanent experienced firearms officers and investigators to the RTCIPF. This is in addition to the ongoing recruitment to ensure the full complement at each grade across the rank and file of the RTCIPF.
Commissioner Designate Martin remains committed to leading the RTCIPF. He is eager to arrive with his family to serve the Turks and Caicos Islands and deliver on his safety and security responsibilities for the nation. Over the past few weeks, he has been engaged with the Governor and regional colleagues in support of work to secure tactical operational support for the RTCIPF.
We appeal to everyone to help the RTCIPF with their investigations. Any piece of information – however insignificant it might seem – can be pivotal to bringing the perpetrators to justice and restoring calm to our neighbourhoods.
May God bless you and may God continue to bless the beautiful by nature Turks and Caicos Islands.
Thank you.
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