Soualiga Patrol moves
into tower on wharf
~ Official opening May 27 ~
PHILIPSBURG--A two-week dry run of the Voluntary Corps of St. Maarten’s “Soualiga Tower” started Monday ahead of the long-awaited official opening of the base of operations for the special Philipsburg VKS division at the end of the month, police reported.
Members of the Soualiga Patrol Unit (SPU) spent their first day in the tower, which is located on Captain Hodge Wharf in Philipsburg, assessing the property and becoming acquainted with the headquarters that is scheduled to start full operations on Tuesday, May 27. However, “People can go to the tower from now to file their complaints,” police said.
From the four-room tower, the eight SPU members can survey the entire expanse of the Great Bay beach promenade and observe the movements of boats in Great Bay. The building will serve as the central dispatch area for the SPU members, who will be stationed there when not on patrol, a VKS officer said.
The SPU has moved in ahead of the tower getting all its communication lines and computer systems, but as Police Chief Inspector Johan “Janchi” Leonard put it, “We can no longer wait to have this ready.” The remaining pieces of hardware are expected to be available by the opening date.
The opening of this tower comes almost three years after the signing of a protocol between Island and Central Government officials to create the SPU (then called “tourist police”), a special unit of VKS officers that focuses on the main streets of Philipsburg and the harbour in Point Blanche. Captain Hodge Wharf, atop which the tower is located, was redesigned nearly three years ago and the Soualiga Tower has been a skeleton until only recently.
As originally intended, the SPU is expected to receive about a dozen new members to push its ranks up to 20.
