The five-day forensic training held earlier this month (see Friday/Saturday edition) is a good example of valuable regional collaboration in the area of law enforcement. Organised by Caribbean Community Caricom together with Trinidad and Tobago’s Forensic Science Centre, it involved two forensic investigators each on Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten, who reportedly learned an innovative method of forensic analysis aimed at faster and more efficient handing of firearm crime cases.
This follows growing concerns about a rise in shootings and the proliferation of illegal weapons on the islands, as confirmed by the Council of Police Chiefs. The latter enhanced its ties with Caricom’s Implementing Agency for Crime and Security Impacs, founded in 2006 to facilitate cooperation among police, immigration, customs and intelligence agencies.
It is often said that the St. Maarten Police Force KPSM lacks personnel, but other resources including modern investigative tools and greater knowledge of such are just as important. Taking guns off the street is one thing, effectively linking these to specific crimes quite another.
Quicker information-sharing on criminals who move across borders within the region has already been producing results, according to KPSM Chief Carl John, who said the Caribbean is no longer a safe haven for them. Indeed, there is strength in numbers.
