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Governor Richards makes direct public appeal to Dutch Government for assistance in fighting crime and violence
by SxmGIS
Posted: Jun 5, 2007 17:55 UTC
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GREAT BAY (GIS) – Governor Franklyn E. Richards who is also Local Chief of Police, prior to leaving for Holland on a working visit Saturday, says he would like to make a public appeal directly to the Dutch Government for assistance in fighting crime and violence on the island.
“Our men and women in uniform who work on the front line need the support and resources necessary in order to fight crime effectively. Additional human resources are also required and we have to make support for St. Maarten’s police a top priority by financially supporting certain interventions as recommended in the St. Maarten Safety Plan. The financial and other resources should be made available as soon as possible in the form of ‘immediate special assistance and cooperation.’
“The vision of all those who have positively and enthusiastically contributed to the development of the Safety Plan, is for a safer, healthier St. Maarten society. We allowed the grassroots’ organizations as well as institutions to share their thoughts on the best strategies for making that vision a reality. Now we must move forward with action.
“Within the Caribbean region, it was concluded at the recently held 22nd Annual General Conference of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners in The Bahamas, that the challenges of crime to law enforcement require collaborative efforts between regional and international bodies in order to combat proliferating criminal enterprises.
“Here in St. Maarten our law enforcement agencies need to intensify the cooperation and assistance currently on-going with the RST Detective Unit. Additional temporary human resource assistance can also come from the Dutch Royal Marechaussee thereby putting ‘more blue’ on the streets and being able to implement additional crime fighting strategies.
“A cold case squad could be established designed to reduce the number of unsolved crimes thereby bringing back confidence into the Police Force. We suspect that many criminal activities go unreported because the community is aware that our force is understaffed and don’t expect anything to be done. This alleged view has to be turned around. With additional human resources we would also be able to expand our local Criminal Intelligence Unit.
“Meaningful ‘immediate special assistance and cooperation’ especially for front-line policing will mean everyone-particularly the most vulnerable members of society, can feel safe and secure in their communities. Additional resources will allow us to address the growing problem of gun crime. We as a community consider safety and security to be fundamental to our nation’s social and economic well-being.
“Recent prominent instances of violent gun crime have sent us all a clear and tragic message that we cannot take the safety of our citizens for granted. The key component to increasing public safety is to ensure that we have enough police officers to effectively enforce our laws. Our communities have been hearing about an under-funded and overstretched police force for years. We have listened once again to our community stakeholders with this latest initiative –St. Maarten Safety Plan- and now is the time for action.
“Governments have a fundamental responsibility to protect the sovereignty of their nation and to ensure the safety and security of their citizens, but we have been failing miserably even though there have been small successes along the way. The main cause of failure has been due to the lack of necessary financial, technical and human resources and other forms of collaboration and support to adequately combat the rise in crime.
“Article 3 of the Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Life, liberty and personal security cannot be achieved if people live in a dangerous national environment that is neither safe nor secure. Government’s responsibility is creating an environment where individual human rights can also prosper. Unity within the Dutch Kingdom, our universal beliefs, our shared determination and a combined strength will enable us to fight crime effectively and allow us to fulfill our responsibilities to our citizens,” Governor Richards told the Government Information Service (GIS) on Saturday.
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