Tread carefully
The police union of the Netherlands Antilles NAPB and the civil servants union ABVO are concerned about the Justice Minister’s plans to reorganise the Police Force based on recommendations in the report “Now or Never,” among other things. Their main objection is that the content is what they call a frontal attack on the legal security of the personnel and entails a de facto takeover of management of the Police Forces of the Windward Islands, Curaçao and Bonaire by Dutch experts, painting the current top officials and personnel as not capable and unprofessional.
One example is the decision to replace the Police Chief Commissioner of the Windward Islands with an interim chief from the Netherlands. The question is whether there are not qualified Antilleans within the Police Force or even elsewhere who can do the job.
It is undoubtedly true that the Netherlands Antilles in general and St. Maarten in particular can use help when it comes to law enforcement. The recent WODC report confirms that picture and there has been concern in The Hague about the matter for some time.
That’s why the Final Statement outlining the upcoming constitutional changes and the accompanying debt relief mentions that law enforcement must be brought up to par for St. Maarten and Curaçao to attain country status. However, it does not say anywhere that European Dutchmen should manage the Police Forces on the islands.
The concern of the unions is compounded by the fact that Dutchmen have been placed in charge of the police in both Curaçao and Bonaire, making the apparently outgoing Windward Islands chief the last Antillean to lead a Police Force. The feeling is that there should be enough capable people within the current force to do the job.
If the argument is that the Police Force has become so diluted that there are simply no adequate candidates available locally, the question becomes why, and what is being done about it. Especially if the new chief commissioner will be only temporary, as reported, it becomes crucial to prepare Antilleans and appoint them as counterparts so they can take over later.
The minister probably has hidden reasons for his decision, but he should take great care not to do more damage than good. The Police Force has its problems, but that in itself is not enough reason to have persons from the Netherlands take it over.
Already the issue of the Dutch Justice Minister giving instructions to the Antillean Attorney General is cause for concern about the future autonomy of what now constitutes the Netherlands Antilles. Placing Dutch Europeans in charge of the actual police will only add to those concerns.
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