Expenditures from Curaçao’s Crime Fund have doubled within a year (see related story), rising from 3.4 million Caribbean guilders in 2022 to Cg. 6.6 million in 2023. While earlier investments emphasised prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration, the latest allocations show a clear shift toward police capacity, technology and equipment.
The latter is also interesting for St. Maarten, because Justice Minister Nathalie Tackling has in the recent past pointed to guidelines for use of these means and their limited scope focussed mostly on prevention.
In 2023, Curaçao’s police and investigative services received the lion’s share of funding. More than Cg. 2.1 million was spent on bulletproof vests, more than Cg. 600,000 on immigration services and Cg. 2.3 million on a new ballistics system (IBIS) for analysing bullets.
It was nevertheless emphasised in Willemstad that the Crime Fund should not be viewed as a punitive reserve, while every guilder goes back into the community.
Perhaps more creative use of available monies to help strengthen law enforcement is an option in St. Maarten too. After all, that’s also a form of prevention.
