From left, front row: Robinson Hercule, Brigadier Minushka Woodley, Inspector Wingrove Baker, KPCN Communication advisor Miluska Hansen and Robelto Hodge. Back row: Ozzie Spanner, KPCN officers from Bonaire Myriena Sintiago and Zackary Janga, and KPCN Chief of Police Jose Rosales.
ST. EUSTATIUS--The Caribbean Netherlands Police Force KPCN held a ceremony on March 22 to celebrate the promotion of Officers Minushka Woodley and Juan Carlos Spanner to the position of brigadier and Officer Frank Nous passing a course as neighbourhood (community) officer.
Nous attended the Police Academy in October 1991 and celebrated his 30th year in service in October 2021. In 2021, he also followed an upgrading course to become a senior community police officer. He learned some new tactics to serve St. Eustatius better. He completed the course last February and received his certificate from the Police Academy. “I am proud and honoured to serve the island that I made my home for the last 14 years already,” Nous said.
Spanner was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in St. Eustatius. In 2014, he started at the Police Academy in Bonaire and graduated as a police officer in 2016. He has been stationed in Statia, but has worked at different times in Bonaire and Saba.
Alongside his normal duties, Spanner was also assigned to the Detective Department. In 2021, he and Woodley attended an MBO-4 police course where they both just received their diplomas and have been promoted to brigadiers. “I feel very happy and proud about myself, my growth and I am looking forward to continuing to upgrade within my work,” said Spanner.
Woodley completed her studies in Curaçao in 2009, having studied in the field of social pedagogical work. “After graduating, I had the strong belief of becoming a police officer with the desire to continue and upgrade myself in the ‘Children Vice Squad Department’ of the Police Force, to do my part in helping to protect and prevent young people from getting into difficult situations,” said Woodley.
Having that desire to provide for the protection of the young people and citizens on the island, while awaiting an answer, she applied at the Youth and Family Centre. She started working at Youth and Family Centre in 2010. While working, she was called by the Police Force to attend an interview on the basis of her letter of application. “I decided to turn it down and worked at the Youth and Family Centre as a youth worker for four years. There I also gained lots of experience,” she said.
There was an opening to join the Police Force in 2014 and that is when Woodley took the opportunity and reapplied to join. “In October 2014, the journey began where I travelled together with my colleague Officer Juan Carlos Spanner to Bonaire to start the Police Training on MBO 3 level. The journey was a great experience for us both,” she said.
Both Woodley and Spanner completed the training in September 2016, when they became police officers and travelled back to St. Eustatius. They travelled back to Bonaire in 2021 to start the MBO 4 training which took six months to complete.
Present at the ceremony were KPCN Chief of Police Jose Rosales; Inspector of Police, Chief of Basic Police Care St. Eustatius Robelto Hodge; Chief of Basic Police Care Saba Inspector Wingrove Baker; KPCN Communication Advisor Miluska Hansen; and Officers Myriena Sintiago and Zackary Janga.
Spanner and Nous could not be present at the ceremony due to illness. Ozzie Spanner accepted the diploma on behalf of his son Juan Carlos and Hodge accepted on behalf of Nous. Sintiago also did the MBO 4 training with Woodley and Spanner, but she received her diploma in Bonaire and attended the ceremony as she wanted to celebrate with the rest of the class.
