The Pointe Blanche prison is still behind with regard to living up to (inter)national minimum requirements, the Law Enforcement Council said in its 2018 report. (File photo)
PHILIPSBURG–There is certainly a willingness to rebuild the law enforcement sector in St. Maarten. However, as a result of the country’s financial situation, government has not been able to structurally strengthen law enforcement as yet, the Law Enforcement Council says in its recently published report on the state of law enforcement in 2018.
Steps have been made in the right direction during the reconstruction after the 2017 hurricanes, the Council stated in a press release on Tuesday, August 6.
According to the Law Enforcement Council, the key issues in 2018 were strengthening St. Maarten’s border security, the severe problems at the Pointe Blanche prison and detention centre, and the closure of Miss Lalie Centre (MLC) for juvenile delinquents.
Year of recovery
The Council said it again had observed during its inspections in 2018 “great involvement and responsibility” on the part of the employees of the various law enforcement agencies. Last year was not only a year of recovery for St. Maarten, but also for law enforcement. The Council showed understanding for the situation in which the country, and by extension law enforcement, has been finding itself after the hurricanes.
In the context of reconstructing the country, St. Maarten and the Netherlands reached an agreement in 2018 regarding strengthening border security in St. Maarten for people and goods. This agreement was formalised in the mutual arrangement on strengthening border security (“Onderlinge regeling versterking grenstoezicht”) to prevent cross-border crime.
The influx of illegal migrant workers and cross-border crime such as human-trafficking and human-smuggling pose a threat to St. Maarten. In 2018, the focus of the justice sector has been on these types of crime as well.
Victim support
For years the Council has been raising awareness about (the lack of) victim support services and reiterating their importance to society. The Council concluded that there was no structural victim support effort in 2018 either. The Council believes this has affected and continues to affect the level of information and assistance provided to victims, their willingness to file reports with the police, and their confidence in law enforcement. Moreover, sheltering victims remains problematic.
Prison
The Council has observed that the St. Maarten Police Force KPSM has developed in the desired direction. However, the Pointe Blanche prison is still behind with regard to living up to (inter)national minimum requirements.
In 2018 the Council concluded that the prison was unsuitable as a work environment, as well as for detention. The Council once again emphasised the importance of dealing with serious issues regarding detention in a structural manner as soon as possible. The Council also noted in this context the collective responsibility of government to set priorities – such as in the budget – and to provide for accompanying realistic planning. “This applies to all serious problems within the justice sector,” the Council said.
Because of the hurricanes, St. Maarten lost its juvenile rehabilitation centre in 2018. MLC has not been operational since September 2017. This means that juveniles who committed an (often serious) offence spend a few days, at most, at the police station’s cell complex, after which they have to be sent away because of the lack of sufficient detention facilities for juveniles. In addition, ankle monitors were temporarily unavailable.
“MLC’s shutdown meant a loss of a critical, final element in the fight against juvenile delinquency. This situation also had immediate consequences for the performance of the juvenile rehabilitation and (non-)intervention tasks of the Court of Guardianship. The Council expressed worries about the youth, the overall public safety, and the wrong signal that was sent by law enforcement: that they could not adequately respond to criminal conduct by juveniles,” the Law Enforcement Council said.
Steps were taken to rebuild MLC in the second half of 2018. “It will now take much effort to correct the wrong impression given to the youth,” the Council said, and in this regard it emphasised the importance of reopening MLC as soon as possible. To this date the juvenile rehabilitation centre still has not reopened.
The Council noticed that at the moment most attention is being paid to two specific organisations within the justice sector, the Police Force and the prison, while there are significant problems in other organisations as well. These organisations lack necessities such as housing, staff and resources.
According to the Council, these organisations should receive the same attention and support from government, especially considering the fact that together the organisations constitute law enforcement and one cannot function without the other. The Council is asking authorities to pay urgent attention to this aspect, emphasising that the other organisations cannot stay behind in prioritisation.
The conclusion of the Council in 2017 in this regard remained the same in 2018: “Keep giving the well-deserved and necessary attention to the organisations within the justice sector that strive on a daily basis to keep our community safe. There is still a lot to be done.”
The Council stated that it was “pleased” that law enforcement in 2018 was characterised by cooperation and assistance. This was visible within and between the judicial organisations on an (inter)island level, as well as on a Kingdom level.
“The Council has often cited the benefits of working together. That is why it can only praise and encourage everyone involved in this development,” stated the Council.
The State of Law Enforcement 2018 and all other reports can be found on www.raadrechtshandhaving.com or http://rrh-sxm.org.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/89782-law-enforcement-not-yet-structurally-strengthened-says-council-in-report
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