By Suzanne Koelega

THE HAGUE–The St. Maarten Progress Committee will be paying its regular working visit to St. Maarten next week, to be followed by yet another report about two of the island’s highly important justice entities: the St. Maarten Police Force KPSM and the Pointe Blanche Prison.

How much has been achieved in the almost eight years that this committee has been keeping an eye on the Plans of Approach for the KPSM and the prison?

The Daily Herald spoke with Progress Committee Chairman Nico Schoof and Committee Secretary Gert-Jan Stortelers, who have both worked on St. Maarten and know the island well, on the eve of their visit.

The committee will hold talks with Governor Eugene Holiday, Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin, Justice Minister Cornelius de Weever, President of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams, Member of the Law Enforcement Council Franklyn Richards, officials of KPSM and the prison. As is customary, the committee will pay a visit to the police station and prison to see how things are and where improvements have been made.

In the most recent progress report, the committee expressed severe concerns about the prison, worries that have been increasing steadily to the point where the committee speaks of a “hopeless situation” and “persistent dangerous” security circumstances where detainees only remain inside the badly-damaged penitentiary, thanks to the “impressive” assistance from Dutch prison personnel.

Things are better at KPSM, where Chief of Police Carl John works relentlessly to improve his organisation, also with the help of the Netherlands and the cooperation of the Board of the Chiefs of Police of the Kingdom, which assists with the joint training schedule and the exchange of personnel in large cases and events such as Hurricane Irma. “We are very happy with the cooperation between the four police forces in the Kingdom,” said Committee Chairman Schoof.

More officers

But KPSM is not there yet. There is still a lot of work to do. The police force remains understaffed with between 130 and 140 full-time employment (fte), while ideally this capacity should be at 329 fte. “They will never make that number, but a plan with a realistic goal is needed for how to achieve at least 250 fte,” said Schoof.

The committee lauded the efforts to train more police officers. However, many more officers are needed, an exercise for which the St. Maarten government needs to make the necessary funds available in its budget. According to the committee, the progress at KPSM and the prison greatly depends on the decision-taking of the government and the availability of people and means, as well as the requests for assistance from outside.

The committee has concluded that there is a severe lack of capacity at the level of prison management, but also at the Ministry of Justice to deal with the detention system. “We are not only talking about the prison and prison cells. It concerns the entire detention system,” said Schoof.

Massive assistance

Outside experts have been asked to draft an integral plan how to step up a proper detention system, which is broader than the construction of a new prison. “We hope to hear the thoughts of the local authorities on this plan next week. The Netherlands will have to give massive assistance in this process. Just drafting a plan is insufficient in our opinion,” said Schoof.

The committee has advised to establish a formal agreement between St. Maarten and the Netherlands regarding the mutual input and responsibilities to establish a detention system that is focused on reducing repeat crime and the construction of a new prison.

An agreement with the Netherlands by no means implies that law enforcement will be left to the Netherlands. The committee has already emphasized several times that St. Maarten needs to assume its responsibility for law enforcement and allot the necessary funds in its budget.

“The Netherlands will not and should not take over things. The deployment of the National Police in St. Maarten is temporary,” said Schoof. The Progress Committee is positive about the current cooperation with the Dutch police officers.

The training of new police officers and the associated finances are needed to strengthen the capacity of the police force. The committee would like to see the National Police stay on for the duration of this process. “At a certain point SXM will have to go on without assistance from the National Police. There is work for the Justice Minister,” said Schoof.

Highly unsafe

The Pointe Blanche prison is a much more complex issue, a highly urgent matter that needs the full attention of the island government. “Before Hurricane Irma, the prison was already a disaster. The facility is highly unsafe. The hurricane has distorted the building,” said committee secretary Stortelers.

The National Special Assistance Unit LBB of the Netherlands has been guarding the exterior walls which have been severely damaged. “Closing the wall is an emergency measure, but it doesn’t solve anything,” said Schoof. The prison has a detention capacity of 150, but currently there are some 60 persons detained, because the damaged building cannot house more than that.

Cooperation on a Kingdom level between prison authorities is much less advanced than that of the police forces. “The fact that the Pointe Blanche prison has no official director doesn’t make it easier. But a first step has been set,” said Stortelers, who noted that there was a good cooperation after Hurricane Irma with the transfer of prisoners to Curaçao and the Netherlands.

Law enforcement in general, and the prison require large investments. The long-term solution for the prison is the construction of a new facility, but the St. Maarten government doesn’t have the funds. Funds to revamp the existing prison are not available either. “Reconstruction work had taken place before the hurricane, but this was all wiped out by the hurricane,” said Schoof.

Then there is the issue of severe understaffing. The prison should have 100 fte’s, but only about 40 fte work for different reasons. “Personnel is overworked and de-motivated,” said Schoof. Since the hurricane, Dutch prison personnel, detached via the Judicial Institutions Service DJI, have been assisting. But this assistance also is of a temporary nature and needs to be taken up by St. Maarten.

The Progress Committee has advised the appointment of a programme manager for the prison who would pull the project of setting up a better detention system. So far, this person has not been appointed.

Urgent letter

The committee recently sent an urgent letter to the Ministerial Council. “This situation cannot continue. The detention system needs to be tackled with the massive support of the Netherlands. St. Maarten cannot handle this responsibility on its own,” said Schoof, who noted that the committee and the Law Enforcement Council (Raad voor de Rechtshandhaving) shared the same opinion.

The Progress Committee had a technical briefing with the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament. Objective was to give the Members of Parliament (MPs) an update prior to their visit to St. Maarten earlier this month.

Looking back at the almost eight years that the Progress Committee has existed, Schoof and Stortelers said it wasn’t all doom and gloom. “Many positive things have happened at the Police Force, the prison and the other departments that had a Plan of Approach,” said Schoof.

Other departments that were initially part of the General Measure of the Kingdom government (Algemene Maatregel van Rijksbestuur) for which Plans of Approach were established. These departments were, aside from, KPSM and the prison, the National Detectives, Immigration, the Census Office and a section of the Department of Public Housing, Physical Planning and Infrastructure VROMI.

The committee’s approach in its working relationship with the departments was to focus on the secondary conditions, so objectives could be realised. “That works better than to tick off lists,” said Stortelers. He said the committee made use of the privilege that it must visit all relevant departments and to meet with all concerned authorities. The language of the committee has been very clear and direct. “We are saying the way things are. We are not sugar-coating the issues. That is an added value of the committee,” said Stortelers.

Asked about the law enforcement in St. Maarten, Schoof said that it would be nice if a structure was in place in a few years in which St. Maarten and the Netherlands would deal with law enforcement together under an agreement. “St. Maarten is simply too small to operate law enforcement on its own without assistance from the Kingdom. Some form of assistance will always remain necessary.”

Bron: Daily Herald