THE HAGUE--Dutch Minister of Internal and Kingdom Affairs Ronald Plasterk said on Tuesday that he would seek a new approach to improve the St. Maarten Police Force and the Point Blanche prison as an alternative to extending the Plans of Approach. A majority of the Second Chamber doubts whether a new line of action will yield success.
Plasterk made his promise during a debate with the Second Chamber Committee for Kingdom Affairs about the Plans of Approach National Tasks Curaçao and St. Maarten. A day before the debate he provided new information about the progress, which was more up to date than the outdated progress reports he sent last month.
The information is based on talks he held with the Progress Committee during his recent visit to St. Maarten. It shows that the Committee is confident that the Plans of Approach for the National Detectives (Landsrecherche) in St. Maarten and for the Police Force and prison in Curaçao can be completed by October 2016.
However, the St. Maarten Police Force and Point Blanche prison have made little progress with regard to quality.
“The staff of the police is actually below 50 per cent and the number of vacancies at the prison is only increasing. … This situation can only improve when there are financial resources available and there is a constructive cooperation with the Netherlands, with the essential external support to achieve the desired level of safety and law enforcement in the Kingdom,” wrote Nico Schoof and Michel Marijnen, respectively the presidents of the Progress Committees for St. Maarten and Curaçao.
Instead of extending the Plans of Approach, they advised trying a new approach. “Other parties in this sector should also be involved to combine all efforts for the development of these services. Together with all parties involved we will consider how to realise deliberations about the basic conditions, guarantees and quality,” they wrote.
Plasterk said he supported this new approach. He said he was aware of the complaints about little cooperation between the Kingdom Detective Cooperation Team RST and local police. He wants to meet with police and Justice experts before the summer to discuss possibilities for improvement, followed by a meeting with Government officials about the same topic. He also stressed that St. Maarten has to make efforts.
“The lack of progress is partly related to insufficient financial resources by the Government of St. Maarten, which has to make difficult and painful choices,” he said.
PvdA party Member of Parliament (MP) Roelof van Laar said he was curious about the alternative approach, but basically agreed with Plasterk. “The Plans of Approach are a dead horse we shouldn’t pull any longer.” Other parties had more doubts, especially as there is no concrete alternative yet for the Plans of Approach.
Second Chamber member for the liberal VVD André Bosman asked why it was necessary to come up with a whole new plan, while it was also possible to continue the Plans of Approach with some adjustments. “While there is no alternative, there is a decision to end the Plans of Approach. That makes no sense,” he said.
Ronald van Raak of the SP reminded Plasterk and his colleagues of his prediction that
St. Maarten was not ready to become a country on October 10, 2010. In addition, he warned that closer cooperation between the RST detectives and local police should not jeopardise current investigations into corruption, fraud or money-laundering by authorities.
Alexander Pechtold of D66 had a different approach. He doubted whether St. Maarten has sufficient budget to improve the quality of the police and prison, and suggested an incidental loan by the Netherlands.
“I have no clear understanding about the direction the Dutch government is taking. I sense some hesitation. We could consider a financial incentive in exchange for some acceleration,” he said, adding that crime in the Caribbean was something a single country could not handle.
Plasterk repeated that the Government of St. Maarten had to find resources to fund the police and prison. Despite the Minister’s promise to provide further details in August, Bosman said he wanted to continue the discussion in a follow-up meeting.
