Dear Editor,
First of all I wanted to state that we love St. Maarten and have gone from a 2-week stay 7 years ago to staying for almost 5 months every year now. This past weekend someone stole a laptop and an iPhone 7Plus from us and we wanted to report the theft to the police in the event that our property showed up someplace. This is what transpired and I felt obligated to let people know what goes on:
Sometime Saturday, January 6, afternoon until Sunday morning our laptop and phone were stolen out of our house on Pelican Key. (We are quite certain that it was gone before 2:00am Sunday morning because of phone usage at that time). We also learned that around 2:00am on Sunday morning a skinny black male in a hoody tried to break into one of the other houses right next to us – and when he was confronted he just left the property and gave the residents the finger. A few people have told us they know who he is – but we don’t personally know who.
Sunday 10:12am we noticed the missing items and called the police (operator in Philipsburg) and she said to come down Monday morning to report the incident.
Monday, 1/8/18: We drove down to the Philipsburg Police Dept. around noon on Monday. Called on the phone in the lobby area for a detective but got no answer. We then went to the window and were given a number to dial on the phone. When we finally got through on the phone we were told to go back to the window. When we told the officer at the window that we were redirected back to him – he laughed and walked away.
Then another officer (all in blue with a handgun and utility belt) returned and asked us why we were there. We told him that our phone and laptop were stolen from inside the house. He asked if we knew who took it and we said no. We said we wanted to file a report and he asked what the reason was for the report ... and we weren’t quite sure what he meant ... then he asked if we needed to report it for insurance. (To be honest I hadn’t thought about that at the moment). I said no we weren’t reporting it for insurance. Then he said that there was no reason to file a report. We were clearly taken back by that comment as we had brought with us all our paperwork, configuration of the laptop, serial numbers, phone numbers called by the thief, etc., but he didn’t want any of it. So we just said “thank you” and left.
Tuesday, 1/9/18: We decided to investigate ourselves. I got the call logs of mobile data usage that the thief had used with our phone. There were 5 calls of some sort from 1:53am to 9:00am on Sunday the 7th. I contacted AT&T and they said that the calls were placed through UTS Federal in Curaçao (59997771155). When we contacted UTS they said the calls would have to be tracked through UTS in St. Maarten. We contacted St. Maarten UTS, told them about the calls, and they said that for “privacy” purposes they could only provide that information to the Prosecutor’s Office in Philipsburg. Somewhat astounded by this I asked if I could come down and verify the phone was mine – they said only the Prosecutor’s Office could do that. So, I asked where that office was and decided I would go down there.
While driving down toward the Prosecutor’s Office a friend called and suggested I stop and see one of the detectives in Philipsburg that she knew and that this Detective would help. So, I first went to the police station, again, and contacted the Detective’s office. Once there I contacted the Detective’s office and someone came down and I was told to wait and someone would be down to see me shortly. After waiting almost an hour I tried to call the Detective but she was tied up and I couldn’t get through. So, I decided to go to the Prosecutor’s Office and before I went I informed the Detective’s associate that I was going there.
When I arrived at the Prosecutor’s Office I explained my situation to the person at the window. She got up and went back into the office and then came back and said that I had to have a police report filed before they could help me get the phone numbers that were called on my phone on the 7th. I clearly explained again that I had been to the police station to file a report two times, both of which were unsuccessful. She then informed me that there was nothing they could do – and they could not help me get the call logs from the calls that were made on my stolen phone.
I am not surprised that thefts occur on St. Maarten as they do anyplace. However, the real crime to me is the failure of the Police Department and the Prosecutor’s Office to take any responsibility for doing their assigned jobs. If crime statistics are not reported, and police are indifferent towards crime, and the Prosecutor’s Office has no interest in catching criminals or monitoring a police department that doesn’t even attempt to solve crimes – this is a very sad state of affairs for St. Maarten.
Mark Reynolds
