IN AN effort to continue tackling illegal migration and the smuggling of illegal guns in the Turks and Caicos Islands, police have invested in new marine boats.
Commissioner of Police James Smith shared this information during a police press conference held last Thursday (April 27) at the police headquarters in Providenciales.
He said that these boats are scheduled to arrive soon and will greatly enhance the force’s marine capacity.
With the implementation comes employment, said Commissioner Smith who explained that this will provide job opportunities for people interested in joining the force.
“We are using this opportunity to promote experienced, specialised officers to fill the most critical skills gaps that exist in the force, including our Criminal Investigation Department, our Cyber Crime team, our Tactical Units and our Marine Branch officers,” he said.
In addition, the force has invested two additional Canine Units this year, in an effort to detect drugs and illegal guns.
The units contain highly trained dogs and handlers.
Commissioner Smith said: “I can guarantee you that if we get a point in the right direction these dogs will discover guns for us…”
Throughout the press conference the Commissioner of Police appealed to the public to assist with fighting crime.
He emphasised that the police force is doing all that it can to tackle crime, but the public has to help in the fight.
“The police can do a part of this, and we do. We do proactive deployment, raids on houses…
“We need to help and assist the Customs Department and others involved in keeping our borders secure to make sure that they cannot come in here [illegal guns and drugs].
“There must be people here who know where guns are being stored or stashed, and they need to tell us.”
