PHILIPSBURG:--- KPSM in conjunction with the Public Prosecutors Office kicked off the "Stop, Drop and Go" project where persons that are in possession of an illegal firearm could surrender it to the Office of the Attorney General on Welfare Road Cole Bay and not face prosecution for the possession of illegal weapons. The initiative taken by KPSM is in conjunction with the French side who also launched a similar project in order to rid the streets of St. Martin of illegal weapons and basically curb gun crimes.
At the press conference held on Friday were Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson, Solicitor General Taco Stein, Acting Chief Prosecutor Kanola van Nie and Prosecutor Tineka Kamps along with Deputy Chief Commissioner of Police Carl John. It should be noted that Commissioner John is the brainchild behind the "Stop Drop and Go Project".
Police Spokesman Ricardo Henson told reporters that the program kicked off on October 1st, 2014 and they actually reached their grace period which they extended from October 15th, 2014 to October 31st, 2014.
Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson said that the "Stop Drop and Go" project is a way to be able to get illegal weapons off the streets of St. Maarten. He said persons in possession of illegal firearms should surrender them to the Attorney General's office and get them off the streets of St. Maarten. Minister Richardson said during the past months the island has been terrorized with armed robberies, this he said is a dangerous development which the Government of St. Maarten cannot allow to continue. "Because of this new trend the police have intensified their controls in order to capture persons that have them and are using them, so far the police managed to seize some 26 illegal weapons while a number of persons were placed behind bars. That program will continue even though there is a grace period that allows owners of illegal weapons to surrender them. The controls will intensify after the two week grace period which ends on October 31st, 2014 from 8:30am to 4:30pm. Persons caught with illegal weapons after the Stop, Drop and Go program ends should be prepared to face severe punishment within the justice system." Solicitor General Taco Stein said the French is also conducting the same exercise as the Dutch side and they are actually working together to recover all illegal weapons on the island's streets. "The intention is to get guns off the streets and also decrease gun violence, we have seen an increase in gun violence and the aim of the police and prosecution is to bring an end to this type of crime. Stein said anyone that has an illegal firearm can drop it off at his office and they will not be prosecuted for the possession of illegal weapons. "When the grace period ends the police and prosecution will 'throw the book' at persons caught with illegal weapons, those persons can be held in pretrial detention and they will also get more severe punishment from the Public Prosecutors Office." Stein said that currently the law states that persons in possession of illegal firearms can spend as much as four years in prison but the prosecution normally asks for one year. After the grace period the prosecution will now ask for 18 months imprisonment for persons caught with illegal weapons. However, even though the prosecution will make higher demands it is up to the judges to decide on the punishment these lawbreakers will get. Stein said persons that are in possession of "fake guns" that looks like real guns should also surrender them to his office, these guns should also be taken off the street. "This is a golden opportunity, St. Maarten just went through Hurricane Gonzalo which means people are cleaning up their yards and houses and this is the time to do the real clean up when it comes to the possession of illegal firearms. Only on Thursday some persons surrendered some weapons to his office claiming that they had them for years and did not know what to do with them. Two of the firearms surrendered on Thursday were shot guns while the other two were fake guns." When questioned on what the prosecution will do with the illegal weapons they recover and if they will analyze the weapons to see if they were used in serious crimes. Stein made clear that persons will not be prosecuted for the possession of illegal firearms and weapons that are recovered will be analyzed if it is suspected that the firearm was used in a crime. Stein said that the weapons will be analyzed locally and even ballistic testing will be done locally. If it turns out that any of the weapons surrendered were used in criminal activities then the prosecution will have to proceed in their investigations.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Carl John said that the police is a partner in the project but KPSM is using a two prong approach, the first he said is preventative by giving holders of illegal weapons a chance to turn them in without prosecution while the police will be visiting the schools and the boys on the blocks to also encourage and speak with the youths. The Community Police Officers will also be playing a major role in this project. John said that the information desk and the Criminal Intelligence Bureau are busy gathering information. "After this project the police along with their counterparts on the French side will be dedicating their investigative power to find the lines of weapons and they will also act on all information they have regarding weapons in the community. The Police (KPSM) will invest all of its power to rid St. Maarten of illegal firearms, our goal here is to caution the community and urge them to make good use of the grace period to turn in the illegal firearms they have. Another thing the police intends to do is to assist the youths on the blocks who feel they are being abandoned after they commit a crime to find jobs.
The project has been sponsored by TELEM group of companies and Sign 999. At the end of the press conference Acting Chief Prosecutor Kanola van Nie presented a representative of TELEM with a hand band that says "Stop, Drop and Go" along with some flyers made to promote the program.
Acting Chief Prosecutor Kanola van Nie said that the police and the Public Prosecutors Office have been working some weeks now on this project and KPSM did quite a bit of work on getting this program off the ground.
Click here to view more photos of KPSM's Stop, Drop and Go Press Conference.