MOUNT WILLIAM HILL:--- On Monday November 18, 2013, the EUROPOL Master Class was started, for the Departments of Immigration & Border Protection Services, Coast Guard and Customs in collaboration with the Sint Maarten Justice Academy and the Ministry of Justice, the topics discussed during this Master Class were;
- The benefits of Cooperation with Europe and the lessons learned for Sint Maarten
- Intelligence Analysis at Europol
- Joint Investigations Teams in Europe
- Data storage at Europol
- The role of Europol in the fight against Facilitated Illegal Immigration
The sessions were conducted by Mr. Theo den Haan who comes from the Netherlands and has an extensive background as follows;
Mr. Theo den Haan started in has worked in various investigation teams that focused on the fight against serious organized crime in the field of narcotics, bomb attacks and robberies. Before resigning in 2000, he made the transition to an Information and Analysis Center Smuggling. This is a collaboration of various government departments such as the police, the Royal Military Constabulary, Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Tax Office. In 2003, he then entered the service of the European Police organization Europol, where in 2006 he was given a leadership position of the Operational project to combat illegal immigration within Europol, a function which he maintains to date.
During MC, a role-play was conducted of to organize a major crime and to simultaneously organize an investigation which would have prevented the execution of the crime. Participants got the opportunity to list solutions & potential opportunities regarding current issues in the service and presented them to the Director. These solutions incorporated the techniques, skills and strategies leaned throughout the MC.
Based on the reactions from the participants of the Master Class, it proved to be nothing short of interesting and engaging, as it was designed to positively influence the way each participant sees and responds to the different topics. One participants and law enforcement officer stated that the scenarios were very practical and could be immediately applied to the real situations at hand.
The Master class ended on a good note, as all participants left in high spirits strategically challenged and motivated to continue the dialogue in a collaborative manner about the topics; as a key to combating issues which currently plagues most countries in the world.
The Sint Maarten Justice Academy
