| U.K. police send five to help fight crime | | Print | |
| Written by Richard Green/fp staff | |||
| Tuesday, 23 November 2010 13:32 | |||
 Scotland Yard sent five U.K. police to the Turks and Caicos Islands on Nov. 22 to help fight the recent surge in violent crime, His Excellency the Gov. Gordon Wetherell has announced. “They’ll be here to help investigate unsolved cases of violent crime, including murder and armed robberies,” the governor said at a press conference Nov. 23 when he introduced the team of four officers and one forensics specialist. “The officers will also provide guidance and advice on lines of enquiry and effective use of intelligence products in major investigations. Whilst in the territory, the team will also carry out a scoping study and prepare a competency and skills assessment with a view to identifying areas for future capacity building for the (police).” The team will be here for three or four weeks in what the governor called “a first step” in assistance from the U.K. through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The team is led by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Ackers of the London Metropolitan Police. She head’s Scotland Yard’s organized crime and criminal networks division, specializing in preventing and solving crimes with guns. Unlike the four U.K. officers who became members of the police force in June, Acker’s team is here for temporary support and assessment. Police Commissioner Edward Hall said the police department has only 232 of its budgeted 257 staff positions filled, but 16 cadets are now in training and expected to graduate in December and February. The governor and commissioner urged people to turn in illegal weapons before the amnesty period ends Nov. 30, when a conviction of any weapons offense carries a minimum five-year prison sentence. While the amnesty program and police confiscation of weapons can take guns off the street, police are working with the Customs Department and ocean freight carriers to make sure guns don’t come into the country through the port, Hall said. The governor said the country’s radar system should be in operation in early 2011, enabling police to detect illegal boats before they enter TCI waters from Haiti and other countries as a suspected source of weapons. Asked who is committing the recent wave of violent crime, Hall said investigations and intelligence indicate that some of the crimes are planned, not random acts. “Some of these are organized,” Hall said. “I wouldn’t say organized crime as such, but there is in some cases someone who’s spearheading the operation.”
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