Dear Editor,
I have been serving the community of Sint Maarten, working at KPSM (the Sint Maarten police force-Ed.) for almost 33 years. Today I hold the rank of Inspector (team leader) and hold in an interim position, the function as a Section Chief within the Detective Department. In other words, I provide guidance to team leaders and, where necessary, also to staff members.
I have decided, in the interest of myself and other KPSM leaders, to come forward to the public to provide clarity regarding the accusation made by Mrs. N. James. I see the accusation not against me personally, but against me in the function that I hold. I am also coming out publicly to prevent other KPSM leaders from being victimized in similar situations in the future. It doesn't necessarily have to be an accusation of a sexual nature.
I want to state upfront that I have built a flawless career within the police force until about five years ago when Mrs. N. James sent an email to my Division Head on January 27, 2020, with accusations against me regarding an incident on January 23, 2020. She stated that I had my face in her breasts on the afternoon of January 23, 2020.
This is strongly contrary to the truth. I have given multiple explanations about this over the years and have also written an accountability report of what happened. Additionally, I have been heard twice with regard to this situation.
What happened that day is that I simply hugged her after doing very good work when we succeeded, after working a whole week of evening and night shifts, in an effort to remove two contract killers from the streets. With the intention of not revealing too many details about work procedures, I can only state that the hug happened partly because, at a given moment during work on the afternoon of January 23, 2020, Mrs. James had to leave her desk briefly. Her task that afternoon was to guide the patrols to the location of the suspects. I use the word suspects because it was already evident that these persons were responsible for two murders and four (4) failed attempts on four other people on the island.
When Mrs. James returned to her desk, I noticed something had occurred that really bothered her. Long story short, during that brief time, the suspects had managed to escape from the area where they were located without being arrested. Mrs. James was upset about the fact that she had to leave her desk briefly. I believe I was noticeably angry as well.
About 30 minutes later, the patrols were still successful in arresting one of the suspects on the Dutch side, and about 30 minutes after that, word came from French colleagues that the second one was also arrested. It was truly a fantastic moment for us on the investigation team and for KPSM as a whole. This was the reason for the hug, but also because she had been upset an hour earlier that the suspects had escaped the patrols. I have always maintained that the hug happened spontaneously without any form of malicious or double intent.
On the morning of January 24, 2020, Ms. N. James came to speak with me in my office. She informed me that she felt very uncomfortable the day before when I hugged her as I came close to her breasts. I repeat, close to her breasts because that's exactly how she said it, and I assumed that's also how she meant it.
Initially, I was lost for words and didn't know what to say. I immediately offered my apologies and said that I absolutely didn't want any problems. I asked if we could please discuss this here in the office. She listened to me and then went to her desk in the workroom.
On January 27, 2020, Mrs. James decided to send an email about this to the Division Head with the accusation that I had my face in her breasts. As you can see, this differs from her statement to me on January 24, 2020. After thinking long and hard about this, I could clearly remember that she was wearing her glasses as she always doe,s and because I didn't want to bump into her glasses, I came with the left side of my head against her right shoulder. She was seated behind her desk.
This incident, along with three (3) other fabricated complaints, were thoroughly investigated between April and July 2022, in addition to the three being those of two arrested police officers, a male and a female. I was part of the investigation against these two officers who, based on police information, tried to extort money from an individual. The fourth person is another female colleague of Mrs. James who worked with her in the same department. This fourth person had received a report from me in 2019 whereby we were not on speaking terms other than work-related.
In a fact-finding investigation conducted by the National Detective together with a member of the Netherlands National Police (Rijksrecherche) on July 26, 2022, it was concluded that I did not commit any criminal offense but that it should be investigated disciplinarily, which is what happened.
After the disciplinary investigation was completed, KPSM made a proposal for a disciplinary punishment to the Ministry of Justice regarding the fact of hugging and allegedly sending a sexually suggestive message to the wife of the arrested male police officer, being a Customs officer working at the time at KPSM. The message was not written completely, which created room for misinterpretation and was used to her advantage.
My lawyer and I completely disagreed with the suggested disciplinary punishment, as I had already been punished more than sufficiently. I was placed on non-active duty for nine (9) months which is equivalent to a suspension. The Ministry of Justice has never formally responded to KPSM's request, nor have there been different letters from my lawyer.
I must also immediately add that all complaints made, being four (4), not eight (8) or ten (10), were all made in writing and signed in the month of April 2022. All complaints were made after I had taken measures for not complying with tasks within job descriptions, started a criminal investigation under the leadership of a prosecutor, and not cooperated with a request from a respective complainant.
In the case of Mrs. James, she only filed a criminal report about the alleged incident with the National Detective in March of 2020, two months after the fact, after I had not cooperated with her request made through her lawyer to hold a higher rank.
As of March 30th, 2020, Mrs. James had requested an extraordinary leave to work at the VROMI Cabinet. Subsequently, by March/April 2021, she returned to KPSM with the request to be placed back in the same team, thus again under my leadership. Why should someone who made such a serious complaint against me would want to come back and work again under my leadership?
Despite the mishap of hugging Mrs. James in 2020 and my negative advice in March 2020 for a promotion she had requested, Mrs. James and I still had good working cooperation after returning from the VROMI Cabinet. She is a very skilled and efficient worker, as she was certainly seen in my office 2 to 3 times per week. At times even more, to discuss investigative approaches with cases. Discuss investigation directions in cases, especially when she disagreed with the working method or views of her team leader. We had sat together with the French authorities in at least two meetings on the French side. We had driven together in the same vehicle with another colleague present. All of this can be confirmed by multiple colleagues.
On March 08, 2022, I gave for a second time, a negative advice on a request from Mrs. James made through her lawyer to be placed in a higher rank. The reason for the negative advice was that the work done by Mrs. James fell exactly within her described task description for the function she held. The written advice was submitted to the Division of Operations.
Around mid-March 2022, I noticed that Mrs. James spoke very little to me and, to an extent, even avoided me.
In April 2022, Mrs. James, besides having an interview conducted by personnel of the internal affairs of KPSM, wrote a separate letter where she literally indicated, among other things: "That she had sleepless nights and needed to cry herself to sleep." With a normal working relationship for the two months after the incident and then again between April 2021 and March 2022, this was clearly not noticeable to me or my management.
It is evident that Mrs. James and the other female colleague from her department were aligned with the two colleagues who were arrested and later removed from service in a conspiracy to have me removed from the function.
I initially wrote a six-page letter addressing all four complaints of April 2022, revealing all facts and contradictions with proof of the fabricated complaints. But due to lack of space, I can only publish this much.
What I have stated here can be verified by others, unlike the accusations without proof made by Mrs. James and others.
I have retained the services of a lawyer, and I am currently in the process of taking legal action against all who are tarnishing my reputation.
ALL FOR CARRYING OUT MY WORK WITH FULL COMMITMENT AS A STRONG, POSITIVE, AND JUST LEADER.
NOW, TELL ME—WHO IS THE VICTIM??????
Liando R. Rombley.
