Police station in The Bottom
SABA--Two fights ran out of hand at an entertainment venue in Fort Bay on Saturday night, January 30. Off-duty police officers who were in the venue recognised the danger of beer bottles that could be used as weapons, identified themselves and tried to calm the fight.
The officers asked those involved in the brawl to stop the fight a number of times. However, the groups of fighters did not heed those orders. The officers then felt obliged to use pepper spray to get the fighting parties under control. However, this did not help either.
The groups of fighters turned against the police and threw beer bottles at them. To not derail the situation further, two of the officers drew their firearms, pointing the weapons towards the floor, to take control of the situation and stop the fighting.
The Caribbean Netherlands Police Force KPCN said in a statement on Monday that the police are empowered to use force to carry out their task of upholding the rule of law.
“The violence used must always be in proportion to the situation and the crime. This is also referred to as ‘proportional and subsidiary.’ During a dangerous situation, the police try to de-escalate. First, the officer uses his voice to demand that the suspect do or not do something. If this fails, he or she scales up to the use of weapons; for example, pepper spray. Only at the last moment will the officer proceed to take out his firearm,” the police statement read.
