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Stop, Drop and Go Firearm Project Extended to November 14th, 2014.

stopdropandgo30102014KPSM will open Tipline --- Reward Offered for Information to Recover Illegal Firearms

PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson and Prefet Delegue Phillipe Chopin announced at a joint press conference on Thursday that the Stop, Drop, and Go Project has been a great success and that authorities from both sides of the island decided to do this project jointly and they have also decided to extend the project for another two weeks which will end on November 14th, 2014. Minister Richardson said that they have decided to extend the period for residents and persons to drop off their weapons considering that Hurricane Gonzalo may have prevented people from capitalizing on the opportunity to turn in their firearms since many residents sustained damages to their homes. Besides that, Minister Richardson said that the Stop, Drop and Go project has been a great success on the Dutch side of the island because as of Thursday some 50 weapons have been turned in at the office of the Solicitor General on Welfare Road. Solicitor General Taco Stein said they collected more weapons than they ever dreamed about when they launched the project for the first time. Stein said among the weapons surrendered are long rifles, revolvers, pistols, and air guns. He did confirm that most of the weapons were real weapons and not toy guns that looked real. When asked if the weapons were turned in by youngsters, Stein said that all the weapons that were turned in to his office were done by adults, the youngest being in their 30's. Stein further confirmed that only residents of the Dutch side turned in weapons at his office even though the operation is a joint one. He said only on Thursday former Lt. Governor Max Pandt turned in three weapons which of course are legal firearms but the former Lt. Governor felt that he no longer has use for the weapons he handed over to the police.
maxpandtweapons30102014Authorities from the Dutch side have decided to go one step further in making sure they get more illegal firearms off the streets of St. Maarten. Police Spokesman Ricardo Henson who represented Chief of Police Peter de Witte said that the police will open their tip-line as of Friday where persons can call in and give the police information as to where they could find illegal firearms. Henson said that tipline will be opened from Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 4:00pm while on weekends there will be a voicemail in place where information can be recorded. "All persons who use this tipline will give their information anonymously and persons in the community should not have any fear because all information received through the tipline will be treated confidentially."
Public Prosecutor Tineke Kamps said persons who call the tipline and give police valuable information will receive a monetary reward depending on how good their information is. "If the police find automatic weapons or machine guns then the persons who called in with the information will get Naf. 1000.00, if they find smaller weapons then the monetary reward will be less. The rewards start off at Naf.350.00 and go to Naf. 1000.00," Kamps said.
The Public Prosecutor made clear that when the police shows up at someone's house or business place and illegal firearms are found then those persons will be arrested and prosecuted because they obviously did not take advantage of the opportunity given to them to turn in their firearms voluntarily.
As for the French side of the island, Prefet Delegue Phillipe Chopin said this is the second year the French side has been conducting this type of operation. He said in 2013 the Gendarmes collected six firearms and the same amount was collected in 2014 in the Stop, Drop and Go program. Chopin said that persons on the French side can take in their illegal weapons year round they do not have to wait when this operation is on to surrender their illegal weapons. He also said that the firearms collected on the French side were given up by adults. When asked if the French side is considering to do the same kind of campaign like the Dutch side, he said that the French side did their awareness in three languages namely French, English and Creole, besides that he personally spoke to students when he visited the schools. When asked if the French are considering offering monetary rewards for information where they could find illegal weapons, Chopin said the French laws do not allow them to do that.
So far the Dutch side has set a new record because they surpassed the French as well as Curacao who is also carrying out the same campaign.

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