Philipsburg:--- Minister of Justice Magali Jacoba is scheduled to arrive on St. Maarten on Tuesday where she would be meeting with the island's chief of police and leader of government to address the police go slow.SMN News has been reliably informed that the meeting with Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards, Leader of Government William Marlin and the Minister is scheduled to take place on Wednesday. It is understood that the St. Maarten authorities would insist that the Minister deals with the issues facing the police since she is the one dealing the management of the Police Korps. Already St. Maarten suggested to the Minister to turn over management of the police to local authorities since St. Maarten is only months away from obtaining its country status but the Minister it is alleged refused.
SMN News learnt that Minister Jacoba would have to tell the local government how she intend to deal with the current go-slow as well as the issues facing the police department. The police department namely the detectives are on go slow since Wednesday last week. The officers it is understood met with their unions two days in a row to discuss some of the predicaments St. Maarten men in blue are facing. One of the core issues of the police is the understaffing which is hard hit on the detective department.
Several persons informed SMN News that they have been trying to get assistance from the police force but no one is helping them. Already the prosecutor's office it is understood ordered the forensic department not to take evidence from homes or businesses that were robbed because the department is grossly understaffed. SMN News further learnt that the forensic department only has one person working in it and that person was told they should only process murder scenes.
The detective department it is understood are protesting against the gross understaffing of the department. One of the pending questions the detectives has for the Minister as well as the management team of the police force is who exactly is managing the police force and what role does the prosecutor's office play in managing the police Korps. The detectives it is understood would also shed light on why they believe the pending murder cases are not being solved.
The Minister it is understood also have to explain the local government when exactly would the new police chief Peter de Witte would be available to St. Maarten. SMN News learnt that de Witte is expected to be on St. Maarten by June 1.
Sources say discussions would take place about detective Carlton Phillips since the Minister has sent a letter to the island's local chief of police informing him that he needs to send Phillips a warning letter for exposing the police management team in the media. So far, the local chief of police has not acted on the letter sent to him regarding Phillips simply because he was not involved in the investigation done by the police internal affairs.
