Turks and Caicos Island: National Security Meeting October 2018
His Excellency the Governor, Dr John Freeman, and the Hon. Premier, Mrs Sharlene Cartwright Robinson, co-chaired a meeting of the TCI National Security Council (NSC) on Thursday, 18 October 2018.
In attendance as members of the NSC were the Hon. Deputy Premier, the Hon. Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police.
At this meeting the NSC received updates from the Commissioner of Police on:
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the latest crime statistics for the first six months of the year to end-September 2018 which showed that overall crime had fallen by 30% compared to the previous year. Robberies and incidents involving firearms were down by 42% and 68% respectively although the number of murders had risen from three to seven for the same period
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collaboration with other Overseas Territory Police Forces to establish a Digital Forensic facility to improve detection and provision of evidence before the courts
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the new 911/CCTV Unit in Providenciales which was now fully operational and proving very effective. An Invitation to Tender (ITT) notice would issue shortly to install CCTV on Grand Turk
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digital police radios had been extended to Grand Turk and would be rolled out to the other islands to improve police communication coverage across the islands
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concerns about the number of vehicles on TCI roads without number plates. The Hon. Premier highlighted that the Road Safety Department had a plentiful supply of number plates in stock and that a notice needed to be issued to instruct the public to acquire plates for their vehicles
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initiatives with the local community to remove guns from the streets of TCI. The Hon. Premier briefed the NSC on work that she was involved in to encourage people to hand in their guns
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the arrival of new police vehicles by the end of October
Received an update from the Deputy Premier on:
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a significant decrease in the number of illegal sloops attempting to reach TCI since the radar was repaired. Immigration officers were on heightened alert at this time of year and in the light of recent reports of unrest in Haiti
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an invitation to the Bahamas authorities to visit TCI to discuss possible co-operation to address illegal migration to TCI
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an improvement in visa processes resulting in a significant reduction in the number of visas issued and applications being submitted. Malpractice in the Ministry was being tackled and a clampdown on improper activity enforced
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measures with the police to enhance co-operation and the effectiveness of Operation Guardian
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measures under consideration to introduce national identity cards in TCI
In the absence of the Minister of Home Affairs, received an up-date from the Hon. Premier on the situation at HM Prison including on:
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the recruitment of a new Superintendent and additional prison officers
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current staffing issues
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the arrival of a new Training Manager to raise levels of officer professionalism and performance
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plans to improve existing infrastructure including the building of a new accommodation block
The Commissioner of Police introduced the draft National Security Strategy (NSS). The NSC agreed that the Strategy had to encompass activity by all relevant departments and stakeholders, not just the police, and that their views would be sought to feed in to a revised version of the Strategy. The multi-agency Joint Law Enforcement Team (JLET) will be the body responsible for delivering the NSS reporting to the NSC.
The Hon. Premier informed the NSC that a letter of entrustment had been requested from the UK Government to enable TCI to sign the instrument of accession to the Memorandum of Understanding for intelligence sharing among Member States of CARICOM which is necessary for TCI’s participation in the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) database of passenger information to be shared between CARICOM Member States and the United States.