Minister of Justice, Nathalie Tackling.
PHILIPSBURG--Justice Minister Nathalie Tackling on Wednesday detailed St. Maarten’s comprehensive efforts to prevent youth crime, rehabilitate minors, and target the networks fuelling violence. She said the Ministry’s programmes are active, growing, and coordinated across schools, communities, and law enforcement.
Speaking during the meeting of Parliament’s Committee of Justice, the Minister organised her presentation around three clusters: school and community-facing prevention, rehabilitation and reintegration, and intelligence-led enforcement and regional cooperation.
Coordinated efforts
The KPSM Youth and Moral Division JZZ investigates youth crime and reviews cases with the public prosecutor’s office, Court of Guardianship, and Community Police Officers (CPOs) to determine the right intervention.
“This is exactly the kind of coordinated, case-by-case approach that good youth justice requires,” Tackling said.
JZZ detectives also attend parent-teacher meetings, run radio outreach during Carnival on alcohol and drug use, and educate communities about youth justice procedures.
CPOs are running five active projects, including The Trust Box anonymous school reporting system, a community police office in Dutch Quarter, a dementia registration project, a district survey on crime, and a Feedback Project providing preventive guidance after police reports. Additional initiatives include community barcode flyers, hotel safety flyers, and a “Stay Away from Crime” campaign for Group 8 pupils, alongside a Student Speaker Initiative and the drafting of the Police & Community in Practice programme.
School Resource Officers (SROs), trained in Miami in 2025, are deployed across secondary schools, holding management meetings at MPC, SMVTS, MAC CSE, Sundial, Academy VBC, St. Dominic, Academy Academic, and Charlotte Brookson Academy.
Tackling cited specific interventions: Incidents handled include a school fight at Sundial, a knife incident at St. Dominic, and a ‘sparring’ situation at CBA — each addressed directly and proportionately.
SROs and partners also run the campaign ‘Would the Truth Matter If It Was You? — Telling the Truth Isn’t Snitching,’ with radio interviews and upcoming school presentations.
Through the Crime Fund, the Ministry supports programmes such as Equine Therapy for trauma-related youth, Project Singh, a 40-hour property maintenance and community service course, the HALT Pilot, and Kids-At-Sea Sailing Training leading to three internationally recognised certifications.
The Court of Guardianship, in collaboration with justice and social partners, is piloting “Think Ahead”, targeting early delinquent behaviour in primary schools, with a trial running March through April 2026. Carnival-season PSAs also promote awareness of underage drinking, fighting, and drug use.
Early intervention
Since March 2026, a Rijkstrainee from the Dutch Ministry of Interior Affairs has supported the creation of a Care and Safety House, a multidisciplinary hub coordinating health, education, social services, and justice for youth and families.
St Maarten also participates in the Caribbean Field Lab, a five-day programme focusing on youth firearm incidents, now continuing as a 12-week structured youth-led innovation challenge. Tackling described objectives including: Sub-objectives include a 30% decrease in violent gun crime involving youth, a 20% increase in youth feeling safe without firearms, and securing long-term stakeholder commitments.
The Ministry will also host War Room 2026, focusing on youth gun violence, building on regional intelligence cooperation, and maintaining participation in the Regional Network Analysts meeting every November with over 20 Caribbean countries.
Legal framework
Tackling stressed that programmes must operate within clear legal frameworks and constitutional obligations. “Youth safety requires action, but it requires lawful, coordinated, and sustained action. Our response is not only about strengthening programmes. It is also about modernising the legal and policy framework so that diversion, structured pathways, and juvenile measures operate with legal certainty, proper safeguards, and measurable effectiveness.”
The Ministry’s commitments include expanding the SRO and CPO programmes, operationalising HALT, advancing the SVT feasibility study, implementing the Care and Safety House, driving Caribbean Field Lab interventions, continuing intelligence-led enforcement targeting firearms and organised crime, and progressing legislative reforms on HALT, SVT pathways, and juvenile justice institutions.
“We welcome the Committee’s engagement. We welcome scrutiny. And we ask one thing plainly: St. Maarten’s young people are not a problem to be managed – they are a generation to be invested in. This Ministry is ready to do its part. We ask our partners across government, in this Parliament, and in the community to do theirs,” Tackling said.
