Dongor must get police up
to par, pull force together
~ A lot riding on police’s Interim Coach ~
PHILIPSBURG--A lot is riding on the new “Interim Coach” for the Windward Islands Police Force in the 24 months that will follow his swearing-in yesterday.
A 35-year police veteran, Ronald Dongor is expected to assist Deputy Police Chief Commissioner Richard Panneflek with organisational and operational matters of the three-island force and to help restore integrity to a Police Force in St. Maarten plagued by complaints of abuse of power and increased public scrutiny.
It is expected that all of this reorganisation must be done in spite of the fact that the force is functioning with less than half the resources needed to get the police “up to par” and a political mandate to ensure St. Maarten attains separate status.
However, Dongor declared Friday that he was ready to accept the challenges of the admittedly difficult office, insisting that teamwork was vital to the successes or failures of police in his time here. “I came here to be a coach, and a coach needs good team players,” Dongor told reporters and dignitaries at his oath-taking ceremony.
At his April 4 introduction to police in St. Maarten, he was also adamant about the need to foster a cooperative environment behind the doors of the police station. “We want a Police Force the people can count on; a Police Force we can be proud of,” said Dongor in his first address to the local media.
At that ceremony, Dongor had echoed the sentiments of Local Chief of Police Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards who, minutes earlier, had stressed the importance of communication and cooperation among the police.
Richards underscored the value of integrity for police to restore a reputation of trustworthiness, hinting at recent falls from grace within the force that included the arrests and prosecution of top level management and several reports of police brutality in recent weeks.
This has contributed to the increasingly negative light in which police in St. Maarten are viewed. “The community needs to know they have a Police Force they can trust. It is their duty to serve and protect,” Richards said.
Adding to Dongor’s pressures is the stipulation in the November 2, 2006, final declaration between political states in the Dutch Kingdom requiring St. Maarten to get its Police Force in order or forget about separate status. “That integrity … is a task that has to be addressed,” Richards said.
For these responsibilities, Dongor, with Panneflek to whom he will act mainly as a support, is answerable to the Lt. Governors of St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius under the terms of the “Win-Win agreement” signed between Justice officials earlier this year.
Dongor’s appointment by the Antillean Ministry of Justice follows contentious discussions among the Central and local governments and others about the hiring of a non-national to lead the Police Force, after the removal of Derrick Holiday as Chief Commissioner.
The agreement introduces Dongor, originally from Suriname, as a coach to assist Holiday’s successor Panneflek in a supporting and advisory role. Panneflek will retain full operational control of the Police Force of the Windward Islands.
Panneflek welcomed the former Royal Dutch Marechaussees training head to the Police Force here, saying he was excited to work with Dongor.
