Philipsburg:--- Head of the Detective Department Denise Jacob told SMN News that the police managed to solve about 60% of the murders committed last year. Jacob took up her position as the head of the detective department in September 2010. She said in the beginning the crime rate was very high and her workload was extremely heavy. Jacob said in the beginning she was working night and day and almost every day she was on a new crime scene. She described her early days on St. Maarten as a very rough period while she was trying to find her way on her new job. "At first, I needed to learn the organization and the culture of St. Maarten and determine exactly what was hindering the police organization while I had to support the people of the island."The department head said she quickly learned that there were a lot of good officers who did their best to get the job done but they lacked material, manpower and proper training. Jacob said when she took office she met a lot of unsolved murders "cold cases" but despite that the murders that were committed daily took priority. "Whenever a murder was committed we literally dropped everything to focus on that case and gather as much information in the first 24 hours. It was a slight but important change made." Another change the top cop made was to organize the work schedule of the officers so that each officer could have gotten some rest. "Officers were working too long hours and they needed to rest so that they could focus on solving the cases before them and increase their output."
Jacob explained that she had to do a lot of re-organizing with the structure since everyone was working hard but they were not able to achieve their goals. The new management team quickly realized that the police on St. Maarten did not have the proper tools and manpower to execute their duties so while they had an implementation plan they also needed to find manpower and tools.
Jacob said she is of the opinion that the former Netherlands Antilles (Federal Government) did not know what St. Maarten needed for it to function properly. "I am not complaining but it's my honest opinion that they were too far away and I don't think they did not want to care for St. Maarten but they simply did not know how to care for this island because there was a lot of things that were not in place. St. Maarten's Police Organization had good leaders but they needed motivation and more knowledge on certain skills. There was need to educate the officers. For example, letting them know that when they do wrong they will be punished and when they do good they will be rewarded. I also know that a lot of officers were hurting and we had to deal with all of that prior to making changes," Jacob said.
The new management team plans to continue with the implementation plan even though they are hindered by the lack of funds. In the past, the police organization was separated and there was no information sharing but all of that has changed since the new management team took office, this is one of the main reasons the police managed to solve a large number of the cases. "To have optimal performance there needed to be proper communication and information sharing."
Jacob said despite the efforts and changes taking place within the police organization there is still need for them to acquire more manpower. "We did get some Dutch officers and the BAVOL officers but we have to continue training them." As for her department, Jacob said that there is need for more officers in the detective department.
When asked about the allegations made by some of the detectives earlier this year, Jacob said she did not read the article because she was on vacation at the time it was published. "I don't really need to react to what anyone said, I know what my objectives are for this Police Organization and that is what I am working on."
