Philipsburg:--- Chief Commissioner of Police Peter de Witte reacted to the statements made by ABVO President Keturah Brown at the Windward Islands Chamber of Labour Unions' (WICLU) press briefing on Thursday. De Witte said the statements made by Brown where she said the KPSM is striving towards splitting the police force like a Dutch Gendarmerie and the Police Municipal is totally an absurd assumption. De Witte said the police are working together to build a stronger and better quality Police Force. "This is something that cannot be achieved in one day we will encounter many obstacles during the process. The process is natural and for this reason the Management team of KPSM is in constant talks with the unions concerning the subjects raised by ABVO." De Witte explained that the ABVO and the NABP requested a meeting with the management team on Thursday. However, the ABVO did not attended the meeting they requested, instead they went to a press conference to criticize the KPSM management team and the Minister of Justice. De Witte said the meeting held on Thursday ended in a satisfactory manner and both parties namely the NAPB and the KPSM Management team was satisfied with the outcome.
The Chief Commissioner of Police made clear that the KPSM management remains prepared to fully cooperate with the ABVO in a transparent manner.
De Witte further explained that several files belonging to officers that were transferred from the Police Force of the Netherlands Antilles to KPSM were not properly handled and neither were they complete. He said just two days ago the KPSM received information from the "vereffenings-commissie" who informed them that they completed most of the files and Naf. 2.4 million was transferred to St. Maarten's Ministry of Finance for payout to the justice staff. De Witte said if the ABVO President had attended the meeting she requested with the Management Team of KPSM on Thursday she would have gotten the information from them directly.
However, Minister Justice Roland Duncan told SMN News that he shared some of the same concerns of the ABVO and he is busy working on the problems they highlighted. Minister Duncan told SMN News in an exclusive interview that he is of the opinion that locals must be given a fair chance in excelling in their careers, but he will not condone arbitrariness. Duncan said in the past persons were placed in positions pending an appointment while the Minister is not informed about the appointment. "When these persons spend years in the positions they can take the Minister to court and the judge would condemn the Minister and force him or her to pay these people certain benefits while they were not officially appointed." Duncan said that it should be made known when positions are available and everyone should be able to apply for the position and those that are qualified will be chosen.
He said in the past police officers were receiving promotions based on family relationships and friendships with those in high places. The Minister of Justice said that he wants the Management Team of KPSM to seek out quality people among their staff and send him and advice based on transparency for the person to be appointed. Duncan said there is a problem with the selection process, especially how the Management team of KPSM is dealing with the matter. He said the selection process is not fair and for him it is not good one. Because of lack of promotions and arbitrariness the police force is not functioning the way it ought to.
Duncan said today he wants every officer of the force to receive and complete proper trainings so that they can be promoted. "I don't want to promote an officer based on the amount of years he spent as a brigadier. I want to see officers work and upgrade themselves so that they can assume the positions they are given." When asked by SMN News why he did not appoint the Inspector Randolph Bloieman and Carlyle Rogers to the position they were selected for, Minister Duncan said that Rogers went to court and lost, he said the judge shared the same sentiments he shared because it is impossible for Rogers to be president of a union and part of the management team of KPSM. He said he made clear that Rogers cannot represent the members of the unions who voted for him and also be part of management team. He said he told Rogers that he should not resign from the union to get the position because he believes that the members of NAPB voted for Rogers and he should represent them. As for Bloieman, Minister Duncan said he received the advice to promote Bloieman it also stated that the officer had to complete a course. He said that he is totally against such because he cannot appoint someone who did not complete the necessary courses. "What if I promote him and he never finalizes the courses he was supposed to take, then what could I do about it?"