Gangs in the shadows; Experts say TCI Police must expose them to disrupt them

By Dana Malcolm and Deandrea Hamilton

Editorial Staff

#TurksandCaicos, July 3, 2023 – There are gangs in the Turks and Caicos, some headed by foreigners, some headed by our own locals, trafficking in guns and killing rivals in broad daylight; and the police have a good idea of who is running them but the public has been left in the dark; the question is why?

It was in October 2022 that then governor Nigel Dakin revealed, in an explosive speech to the House of Assembly, that the country not only had well established gangs with clearly defined leaders, but the police were monitoring them and knew of the top ‘lieutenants’.

As recently as June 2023 the force has been able to pinpoint which murders are connected to serious crime hinting at inside knowledge.

These set of facts raise the question of why the public has not been clued in, essentially allowing these people to keep their anonymity as they continue to operate criminal enterprises from the shadows.

No gang names, suspected frequented areas or recruitment patterns have been released to the residents of the Turks & Caicos Islands.  Sharing available information with the public regarding any identifying markers, sigils, colours, clothing or signs associated with the gangs in the Turks and Caicos has, according to some experts, the potential to increase surveillance of these criminal organizations exponentially.

“Police officers have unique knowledge of — and access to — individual citizens, including at-risk youth. Although the police are already engaged in a large number of prevention activities, they should be looking for opportunities to collaborate with other agencies and groups in the community,” says the US National Institute of Justice (NIJ)

While many do, not all gangs have identifying markers, regardless, the NIJ explains how gangs are formed and how police (and residents) can throw a wrench in this system even without physical signs.

They say gang-joining is the problem that fuels gangs and stopping this can bring the whole organization to its knees. An effective way of stopping gang recruitment is through ‘collective efficacy’ which is clear partnership between agencies to work against gangs, the NIJ reveals  .

“The evidence is clear that neighbourhoods and communities with high collective efficacy have the ability to regulate and control the behaviour of their juveniles,” the organization maintained.

But for that to happen residents must be clued in.  This starts with admitting there is a problem and sharing information.

It has taken years for the Royal TCI Police to even declare that gangs have strongholds in the island of Providenciales.

“The police should play a key role in providing a sober, realistic assessment of any gang problem— or potential gang problem — sometimes school and elected officials engage in denial at the early stages of a gang problem.  This only allows things to get worse, increasing the potential that more kids will be recruited into a gang,” the report contends.

The gang problem in the Turks and Caicos did not spring up overnight, in fact years prior, authorities had rejected the idea that criminal gangs were forming under their noses.

As recently as 2018, Rodney Adams, Assistant Commissioner of Police maintained that the TCI had no gangs.  The TCI Sun quotes him as saying:

“Certainly, as far as we are concerned, there will be no gangs in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Plain and simple— When you look at a gang from a global perspective, they have leaders, proper networking in place and that sort of thing.  In the TCI we have a number of people that gather together as groups and talk about turfs, be it the ‘Wheeland Boys’, ‘Five Cays’ and so on.  And as far as we are concerned, they have not developed to that (gangster) stage.”

That spiel ended with a promise not to let these little ‘gatherings’ grow into true gangs. Now 5 years later an anti-gang task force has had to be flown in from the UK after a year of violence so intense it made international headlines. Nearly all of it has been attributed to gangs with individuals like Gari Charles and Brandon Rahming emerging as gang leaders.

The law has also been amended to say that any combination of two or more persons whether formally or informally organised who engage in gang related activity are considered a ‘gang’.

Still the public is walking blind.

Following the killings in 2022 there has been no sustained effort either from the Department of Social Services to educate parents and teachers on what to look for in their children and students that indicate possible growing gang affiliation.  The vast majority of victims of violence and perpetrators of gun and drug offences in the TCI continue to be young men, in far too many cases, teens.

Based on expert advice, now is the time for authorities to include and educate the community if they expect to seriously tackle the issue of gangs in the country and stifle any possible recurrence of the deadly 2022 year.