From left: Préfecture Cabinet Director Gregoire Pierre-Desseaux, Préfète Sylvie Feucher, Basse-Terre Prosecutor Jean-Luc Lennon, Commandant of the Gendarmerie Stephan Basso, and Prosecutor Yves Paillard at the press conference on security. (Robert Luckock photo).
Assorted scooters and motorbikes are taken away on a truck to be destroyed. (Prosecutor’s Office photo)
MARIGOT–Préfète Déléguée Sylvie Feucher chaired a meeting on Tuesday to review security with representatives of the Gendarmerie, Police aux Frontières (PAF), and the Prosecutor’s Office, the outcome of which will inevitably see a stepping-up of controls and sanctions in a number of different domains.
Subjects addressed included car thefts, road security, illegal immigration, false documents, environment, urbanism and domestic violence. The new Chief Prosecutor of Basse Terre, Jean-Luc Lennon and new Commandant of the Gendarmerie for St. Martin and St. Barths, Stephan Basso were present.
With eight fatalities since the beginning of the year – five of them young adults riding two-wheeled vehicles – the Gendarmerie is particularly concerned over road security. Roadside controls have seen 1,700 sanctions issued to date compared to 1,540 in 2018. Road deaths on scooters and motorbikes are typically caused by excessive speed, dangerous overtaking and not wearing crash helmets and safety clothing.
Prosecutor Yves Paillard disclosed that persons attempting to evade controls on scooters and motorbikes will now be filmed and the photographic evidence will be used to arrest the perpetrator later.
“It’s safer than entering into a high-speed chase and risking another accident,” he reasoned, adding that nearly every two weeks scooters, motorbikes and motocross bikes are confiscated or destroyed when the vehicles are not authorised for use on the public roads.
Some 300 two-wheeled vehicles have been confiscated since the beginning of the year and 80 destroyed. A dynamometer device is also used to determine whether a scooter’s engine’s horsepower has been modified or increased illegally, beyond the manufacturer’s specifications. Territorial Police have also acquired a sound level meter which is not yet in use.
Paillard noted that while often difficult to prove, three prosecutions were successfully brought against car drivers involved in the two-wheeled accident deaths after they were found unintentionally to be responsible or partly responsible for causing the accidents.
On vehicle thefts, he said while cooperation on a daily basis is very good between the respective prosecutors and Dutch-side police KPSM, he hoped the exchange of information from the Dutch-side police on this subject would improve as many stolen vehicles end up on the Dutch side. But he understood the Dutch-side police place priority on more serious crimes.
Capitaine Sylvain Nicolas from PAF disclosed figures on illegal immigration and other subjects. Since the beginning of the year 353 foreigners were found to be in an irregular situation in the territory, compared to 308 for the same period last year. Eleven were subject to a “non-admission” procedure and deported back to their country of origin.
Sixty-four persons were arrested for not possessing the correct residence permit and were obliged to leave the French territory. There were 28 cases of employees in businesses working illegally. Five Venezuelans were found to be working on a building site in Orient Bay without a work permit. Nicolas noted the good cooperation with the Dutch side at the main port of entry. There were 45 joint controls undertaken at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA), mostly on arriving passengers from France and Venezuela.
On Wednesday, 20 Ukrainians were caught with counterfeit Romanian identity cards. Twelve have already been sent back to the Ukraine while the eight others have one week to leave. There have been no new human-trafficking cases.
Regarding domestic violence, the State services plan to create a clinic – Unité Médico Judicaire – in the Louis-Constant Fleming Hospital for victims of domestic violence with specialized doctors who have the link with the justice system. Since the beginning of the year, there were 101 victims of domestic violence.
“The Interruption Temporaire de Travail (ITT) term is misunderstood. In the legal sense it means not an interruption of work but how your life and daily routines have been impacted by the injury,” Paillard explained. “If the ITT is more than eight days, or sometimes one to three months it has legal consequences, meaning the penalties can be more severe. A specialized doctor, like a coroner, evaluates the injury and decides the length of the ITT. It’s very important. For someone seeking damages it’s important to have a trained doctor to decide the ITT.”
Préfète Feucher also addressed the problem of random garbage sites and clandestine garages that pollute the environment. The latter have wrecked cars and oils and other pollutants seeping into the ground. A garage was recently closed down in Concordia.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/90649-law-enforcement-meet-on-security-emphasises-increasing-controls
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