Philipsburg:--- The Director General of Police Affairs from the Ministry of Justice in the Netherlands Dick Schoof held meetings with the Minister of Justice of St. Maarten Roland Duncan and Chief Commissioner of Police Peter de Witte over the weekend to hammer out some of the concerns St. Maarten has raised with its ICT system and the training of Police Officers.
Minister Duncan told SMN News on Sunday morning via a telephone interview that he met with the senior civil servant who was sent by the Minister of Justice of the Netherlands on Friday and Saturday to discuss the concerns St. Maarten has raised regarding the management of the ICT system and police training. During that meeting some of the issues regarding the budget of the RST were also discussed, Minister Duncan said that St. Maarten will not be participating in the BMS system which is managed by Curacao and that was agreed upon during the meeting with the Director General Dick Schoof.
Duncan said that St. Maarten managed to settle the problems regarding the ICT system which will be installed and managed by St. Maarten. He said he has agreed to share police information with Aruba, Curacao, and the BES but information on St. Maarten's visitors will be safeguarded and stored on St. Maarten and not in Curacao. St. Maarten's Minister of Justice said the Netherlands tried their best to spite St. Maarten when he decided that he will maintain his position regarding St. Maarten's information and the ICT system. He said while the Netherlands and a civil servant in Curacao took measures that hampered the island's security; no one ever took the time to listen to what St. Maarten wants for her country. "I know I was right with the decisions I took on safeguarding St. Maarten's visitors' information and the Director General who came here to discuss with St. Maarten has agreed with our position." Minister Duncan said that the Police will have a new web based system called the ACTPOL which is far better than the old one that was used by the former Netherlands Antilles, that system will also be managed and controlled by St. Maarten but there will be information sharing with Aruba, Curacao, and the BES islands. Basically, St. Maarten gets what she has been lobbying for its Justice Ministry and the Director General Dick Schoof understands St. Maarten's position and has agreed to them. With regards to the Detective Department, an agreement was reached where the St. Maarten Detective Department will have a separate system. The Minister did not share much information on the system that will be purchased for the detective department on St. Maarten.
Police Training to be done jointly.
On the issue of Police training, the Minister of Justice said that police officers who recently joined the KPSM will have to undergo a two year training program which will take place on St. Maarten, the BES islands, and the Netherlands. That training program is called the BPO which is the basic police training. All BAVPOLERS working with KPSM will have to undergo this training program, the Minister of Justice told SMN News. He said these officers would have to spend at least one month in the Netherlands where they would participate in an examination and if they pass they will be certified.
RST Budget to be Discussed again in June 2013.
With regards to the 2013 budget of the RST which is not yet approved by the three Ministers of Justice from St. Maarten, Aruba, and Curacao, Minister Duncan said he relayed St. Maarten's concerns on the budget of the RST to the Director General Dick Schoof and he also understands St. Maarten's position regarding the RST. He said that the three Ministers of Justice will meet again on June 27th, 2013 to further discuss the budget of the RST. Minister Duncan said Curacao now has to relay the concerns they have with the 2013 budget of the RST while it does not seem as though Aruba has much problems with the RST and the budget they presented. At this time Duncan said he does not know if they will approve the RST budget in their next meeting but one thing he said happened is that the Director General of Ministry of Justice of the Netherlands completely understands St. Maarten's position. Minister Duncan said besides these issues there were other matters that were discussed during the two day meetings all of which yielded positive results in the interest of St. Maarten, its people, and the economy.
While the meetings took place on Friday and Saturday, the agreements between St. Maarten and the Netherlands were signed sometime Saturday night, St. Maarten's Minister of Justice confirmed.