Philipsburg:--- The President of the Windward Island Civil Servant Union/Private Sector Union (WICSU/PSU) Deri Leonard and the NABP are concerned about several issues affecting the police. Even though the two unions met on Saturday and agreed that they would send out a joint press release expressing the concerns of KPSM, the NAPB President went ahead of WICSU/PSU and gave an interview to one of the newspapers on Sunday.
A press release issued by the W.I.C.S.U/PSU and NAPB states that the unions sent a letter to the Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams, the Members of Parliament, Minister of Justice Roland Duncan, and the Chief of Police Peter de Witte. According to the press release, the letter was sent to Chief Commissioner of Police Peter de Witte on July 25th, 2012 outlining some of the issues affecting KPSM.
According to the unions, KPSM lacks police vehicles. They said there is a large fleet of police vehicles that are not in proper condition or safe for police officers to drive anymore. WICSU/PSU claims that the vehicles were purchased in the year 2004 and most of them have mileage of more than 190,000 kilometers. The police unions feel that the condition of the police vehicles is a very serious matter because they believe that the safety and lives of dedicated police officers are in jeopardy. They said they are not limiting neither excluding the safety and security of the citizens of St. Maarten.
Leonard in her press release said just recently the police ordered ten vehicles, of that amount only four arrived. The union thanked the Minister of Justice for the four vehicles he provided the police with but they want the Minister of Justice to know that in order for them to have an up to par surveillance unit, the police would need at least 50 more new vehicles. They said the police have to provide service over the hill and above the hills, while there are other departments within the police force that need more vehicles.
Another concern the union raised in their letter to the Chief Commissioner of Police was the quality and quantity of the Police Uniforms.
Additional issues that are affecting the police the unions said is the 16.3% indemnity that is given to police officers. According to WICSU/PSU, when the police were part of the former Netherlands Antilles the indemnities for civil servants were incorporated in the salaries of civil servants and the only workers that did not get their indemnity were the police and immigration. The WICSU said it is important that the 16.3% indemnity be incorporated in their salaries because it is an important aspect that will looked at when their pensions are calculated. The WICSU/PSU also addressed the statements made by the Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt last week when he was asked about the COLA payments (Cost of Living Adjustments.)
According to the WICSU/PSU, the Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams in a meeting with the GOA indicated that the government of St. Maarten could not continue paying the COLA because of the financial burden that it places on government. WICSU/PSU said at that time it was decided that a proposal regarding the COLA be sent to the GOA for further discussion but to date the Prime Minister and those responsible for putting that proposal together has not done so. Therefore, the WICSU/PSU and the NAPB believes that the COLA must be paid in its present structure because in their opinion the civil servants deserve the extra monies. They also feel that the government of St. Maarten has no respect for the GOA which is a very important body within government.
The union is calling on the elected officials on St. Maarten to act promptly on the issues affecting the police because they believe that is the only way the people of St. Maarten would receive quality services.
In an invited comment, Chief Commissioner of Police Peter de Witte said that he did receive the letter the unions sent him almost a year ago. De Witte said that when St. Maarten became a country on October 10th, 2010 the materials including computers and vehicles were in a deplorable condition. The top cop said that there were vehicles that had over 200,000 kilometers and the police had no choice but to use the vehicles they had, some of which were more than ten years old. De Witte further explained that the management team of KPSM sent the Minister of Justice Roland Duncan an overall plan on the state of affairs of KPSM. De Witte further explained that even though the plan was sent to the Minister of Justice Roland Duncan in writing, they also discussed the matter and they advised the Minister to provide KPSM with the tools they need progressively. He said in 2011 the Minster approved the plan they gave to him but nothing happened because there were no monies to buy the materials including vehicles for KPSM. De Witte said sometime after the Minister of Justice found a solution and he approved the purchase of ten vehicles via letter of guarantee. So far the police received four vehicles while the other six are on the way. As for the uniforms for KPSM, De Witte said he received orders from the Minister of Justice to order the uniforms from the Pointe Blanche prison which he did. He said KPSM received some uniforms from the prison but suddenly that too stopped. De Witte could not say why the Pointe Blanche Prison stopped providing the uniforms but recently he received permission from the Minister of Justice to find a suitable company (outside source) that could supply the police with the uniforms they need.
SMN News learnt that the Minister of Justice invited the unions to a meeting and to date they have not met. According to information provided to SMN News, the legal advisor of the Minister of Justice tried to meet with the unions to discuss their grievances but the unions refused to meet with the person claiming that is not the person that is supposed to deal with their concerns and needs.
It should also be noted that while the police unions have raised some valuable points regarding the needs of the police or KPSM, the Ministry of Justice just lost six million guilders in their 2013 budget due to additional budget cuts in order for the CFT to approve the 2013 budget. It is also clear that the Minister of Justice Roland Duncan is under the radar from all angles since he has been making the news in St. Maarten, Curacao, and the Netherlands. Some Parliamentarians on St. Maarten questioned the Minister about the 100 Million dollar Justice Park he is working on while others are questioning the Minister about the BOX and other issues that are affecting the Justice Ministry.
While the issues facing KPSM and its faithful workers are valid and should be taken serious, we at SMN News chose to use a little bit of humor to take the stress off our men in blue by reminding them that policing can be done with or without modern day tools. The photographs above show the police in Saba used to patrol their streets on horses. The officers in those days also solved major crimes back then and it seems very likely that the people including the police of St. Maarten would have no choice but going back to basics in order for them to keep crime under control if the Dutch continues to make it difficult for St. Maarten to run its own affairs.