PHILIPSBURG:--- In its fourth sub-inspection as part of a general review, the Law Enforcement Council (Council) notes, as in the previous sub-inspections, that where the Sint Maarten Police Force (KPSM), has influence over the follow-up of the recommendations, the follow-up has often been accomplished within their capabilities. Where the KPSM is dependent on others for follow-up, it is still stagnating.
Follow up recommendations
The Council has been conducting sub-inspections since 2020 to review the status of follow-up on recommendations from 2012 to 2018. The first three sub-inspection reports were published in 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively. The current and fourth sub-inspection concerns the status of follow-up on recommendations from three reports on the Bureau of Internal Affairs of the KPSM, police education, and use of force by and against the police. For the reports on police education and use of force by and against the police, this is a second review.
This fourth sub-inspection shows that out of a total of 30 recommendations, 20 recommendations were fully followed, 4 recommendations were partially followed, and 6 recommendations were not followed. Compliance is moving in the right direction, given that the compliance rates are 100% for the BIZ report, 64% for police education, and 69% for use of force by and against the police, respectively.
Status of compliance rate (%) follow-up of recommendations per report
The state of affairs from a broader perspective
Although most of the recommendations have been followed, follow-up is still stagnating where the KPSM is dependent on the Ministry of Justice in particular for follow-up. The bottlenecks that cause not all of the recommendations to be followed up relate to known bottlenecks, which are mainly the lack of preconditions of a financial and human nature at the KPSM and the Ministry of Justice. This is also consistent with previous (sub)inspections by the Council. Furthermore, the Council noted that the three topics are inextricably linked, which means that not following the recommendations on one topic can have (negative) consequences for other topics.
The Council notes that failure to follow the recommendations may pose the necessary risks for both KPSM and the community. Therefore, the Council encourages the Minister to address the not yet (fully) followed recommendations for the benefit of the further development of the KPSM and thereby more generally the overall safety.
The full inspection report and all other Council publications are available digitally on the website: www.raadrechtshandhaving.com.
