Dick not shocked
by WODC report
~ Says action being taken ~
PHILIPSBURG--Justice Minister David Dick says measures are being taken to curb crime in St. Maarten in a structural manner.
He stated during a press briefing at the Antillean House in The Hague that now that the report on organised crime and upholding the law in St. Maarten produced by Dutch Scientific Investigation and Documentation Centre WODC had been published, authorities had an assessment of all that was wrong and could work towards solving the problems.
The Dutch Justice Ministry too placed an article on its Website based on the report, stating that combating of crime in St. Maarten had been inadequate.
“The island of St. Maarten, due to its geographical positioning and economic characteristics, has become an attractive place for several forms of organised crime such as drug trafficking, money laundering, human smuggling. The local entities that have to uphold the law and prosecute do not have sufficient manpower or organisational structure, and are not automated enough to effectively check the trafficking of goods, services and persons.”
The WODC report officially released on Monday prompted the first set of questions from members of the Dutch Second Chamber to Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin. “Hasn’t the time come to make the responsibility of upholding the law in St. Maarten a Kingdom matter, making it impossible for failing local authorities to exercise obstructing influence?” Tony van Dijck and Raymond van Roon of the Freedom Party PVV asked.
Members of the Dutch Second Chamber have often expressed their doubts whether St. Maarten is ready for country status and with the WODC report the doubts will only grow. However, the fact is that the November 2, 2006, accord stated that St. Maarten would obtain country status and the Second Chamber has been informed about this on several occasions.
Dick told The Daily Herald in an invited comment that he was not surprised about the findings of the report. “The report stated fact, but also rumours. We should not use the document as a means to try to attack St. Maarten, but to try to work on solutions,” he said.
He noted that with the report, crime could be combated successfully in St. Maarten as has been the case in Bonaire and Curaçao. He added that organised crime was not a new phenomenon in the Netherlands Antilles and that together with partners in the Kingdom and on an international level, crime should be combated effectively in St. Maarten.
He rejected the impression created in especially the Dutch media that only now would government start doing something about the situation in St. Maarten. Dick said the process of information-driven management of the Police Force had started, as well as a complete new IT system for the judicial chain.
“The Police Force and the Immigration Department have priority in this. We also have written improvement plans for the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police Force.”
The Dutch Justice Ministry stated that it continued to support the Netherlands Antilles through the Safety Plan. Recently the Dutch committed another 21 million euros to the Safety Plan for the coming two years. But, as the Ministry stated, the projects for 2008 and later are being worked on.
Dick reacted by saying the Netherlands Antilles had done its homework in this regard and had forwarded the projects (for NAf. 300 million) by the end of September. “This is a joint effort of the Netherlands Antilles and the Netherlands. It’s the Netherlands that still has to do its homework.”
Dick was originally scheduled to have a meeting on the Safety Plan in The Hague. The meeting was cancelled by the Dutch, but Dick didn’t cancel his trip to the Netherlands, stating he had several other meetings planned.
“I talked to Dutch authorities about the Safety Plan and stressed that we have to continue. We cannot stop now.”
The Dutch Justice Ministry and Dick pointed out that the Safety Plan was not the only form of cooperation in upholding the law taking place within the Kingdom. Other existing forms of cooperation are the Coast Guard of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, and the Kingdom Detective Cooperation Team RST.
