Philipsburg:--- The Police Department urged Parliament on Monday to provide them with more human resources and funds to execute their plans of approach to combating crime. Chief Commissioner of Police Peter de Witte told Members of Parliament during a Central Committee meeting on Monday that the police officers (detectives) are working overtime time to solve crimes, especially the spate of brutal murders that were committed on the island during the past months. De Witte said in general crime has decreased but there has been an increase in brutal crimes which has their concerns. The top cop said that with the limited resource and equipment a lot is being asked of the police force. However, he wants the opportunity to execute the plans of approach which would enable them to build a professional police force. De Witte said due to the limited manpower, should there be another violent crime there will be no officers available to investigate it and the only way the police could do so is if they work overtime, as well as on their days off. The top cop said the officers of the force are still willing to work overtime, because of their loyalty and passion for the job.St. Maarten he said already recorded 14 murders, four of which have been solved and he is convinced that the other cases that are currently being investigated will be solved since this type of violence in a democratic state is unacceptable. He stressed that all departments need to work together to form an integral plan of approach to promote crime prevention, while there must be a strong governmental approach to achieve the desired connection.
In the meantime, head of detectives Denise Jacob said of the 14 murder cases that were committed this year, four of them have been solved. Jacob said a decision was taken not to prosecute the person that is responsible for the April 30th killing.
St. Maarten's Police Force she said recorded some 208 violent crimes thus far for the year 2011, of which 121 are armed robberies, 10 rapes with extreme violence, while the others involved serious ill-treatment with a weapon.
The cases that are solved are the French crew member of Cheetah Moon (Guillevin), Haitian national Fiodel Louis, and Valdez. These persons were tortured and killed between February 26th 2011 to March 4th 2011. The top cop also considered solved the case of Tiffany Reid whose father has been arrested for her murder.
The detectives are still busy investigating the murder of De Leon Reyes who was shot dead in his Dutch Quarter home, the murder of Amador Jones, the Arrindell brothers (Miguel and Rodolfo), Eric Lake, Kevin Gumbs, Sheldon Thomas, Anthony Whyte and Mark Deygoo. The head of the detective department said they investigated the De Leon Reyes case but they were not able to pinpoint the suspect responsible for the shooting. While the cases of Jones, Arrindell brothers, Lake, Gumbs, Anthony Whyte and Deygoo are still ongoing. Police also already determined who killed Sheldon Thomas but the culprit she said fled St. Maarten.
Jacob further explained that the police conducted their investigation based on the confines of the law. She said it is often said everyone knows who the criminals are except the police. Jacob said the police also knows who might be responsible for the killings but the suspicion they have is not enough to detain these people.
She emphasized that the police needs to continue their trainings as they do need theoretical foundation and materials to perform their duties. The head of the detective department said each murder investigation takes as much as ten detectives to properly investigate within a three month time span. Jacobs said there were no more officers available to conduct the most recent murder investigation for the murder that was committed during an armed robbery on Back Street since her officers have been stretching themselves thin. Of the ten unsolved murder investigations, the TGO team is conducting five of them while another five are being conducted by the local police department. Jacob said when she took office and heard some of her officers did not get to sleep some nights because of their workload. She said she wanted to stop the abuse but she soon realized that she could not do that because of the shortage of manpower.
As compared to 2010 the police arrested some 20% more people in 2011 due to better management. From January 1st to June 30th 2010 the police arrested some 221 persons while they arrested 266 persons during the same period in 2011.
During the first half of 2010 there were 345 home invasions (burglaries) while there has been a decrease of 20% in 2011 where 275 cases have been reported. Jacobs said this decrease was due to the implementation of the home invasion and burglary team that was implemented in December last year.
Robberies she said increased by 14% compared to the same period last year even though they arrested more suspects this year.
The police believes that the rise in gold prices and the demand for more gold by jewelers and pawn shops are the primary reasons for the increases in robberies. Besides that, Jacobs said businesses are not following the law on closing time and they are not investing in preventative measures.
Member of Parliament Louie Laviest chided the Minister of Justice Roland Duncan for not providing enough funds and human resource to the police department. Laveist said calling the Minister of Justice to Parliament to address the crime increase does not mean they have a gripe with him. He asked the Minister of Justice if he had any point of departure to address the free flow of guns on St. Maarten. Laveist said he as well as the police knows that the criminals are better armed than the police officers. "These criminals have weapons that scare the living daylight out of the people and sometimes we wonder and ask ourselves how these criminals are able to access these weapons." Laveist said he wants to know if the justice ministry has this matter under control because the current situation is frightening. He lamented that St. Maarten has to somehow control its borders to combat the free flow of weapons. He said in the past the blame was pointed to Curacao because the Justice Minister was always sitting in Curacao. "Today, when I hear these professionals sitting here and pleading with you for more manpower and tools I have a problem hearing that the professionals are bending over backwards to perform their duties yet they are in short of funds."Laviest said he was victim of crime on several occasions and he knows how it feels. He said if government can find as much as 50 million to execute beautification and other projects such as finishing the government building and building of a bridge across troubled waters then the Minister should not have a problem finding a measly 20 million guilders to invest in the police force so they can do their job. He stressed that he has a problem with how government is setting their priorities while the police force is out manned and out gunned.
The National Alliance Member of Parliament said he wants to know if government thinks the new government building or the bridge is more important than protecting its people and the economy of St. Maarten. He also called on the Justice Minister to finalize the camera project for Philipsburg. "I do not want to hear about no more multi-million projects unless the Philipsburg Security Camera Project is completed," Laveist said.
In the meantime, Member of Parliament Roy Marlin called on the Minister to explain why he cut back on the amount of overtime a police officer can work. Marlin said he heard that the Minister has in the new police law that a police officer could only work up to 30 hours overtime, which would earn them Naf. 1000.00 while the police force is still understaffed. The Democratic Party Member of Parliament said he also heard that the local police officers are having problems obtaining their rent allowances while their colleagues coming in from the Netherlands are getting those benefits easily.
The central committee meeting called to discuss crime and other matters related to justice will continue at 6pm on Monday.
Click here to view the Crime Statistics presented to Parliament on Monday morning.
