Panneflek, Dongor lament shortage
of human resources in Police Force
LITTLE BAY--Acting Police Chief Commissioner Richard Panneflek and Police Interim Coach Ronald Dongor updated members of the Rotary Club of St. Maarten Wednesday about measures being taken to combat rising crime.
The two senior police officers were invited to the club’s weekly lunch meeting as guest speakers.
Both Panneflek and Dongor highlighted their concerns about the serious shortage of human resources within the Police Force.
Dongor noted that there was a lack of communication within the force and provided information about a plan which he hopes will be in full effect by the end of his contract in May 2010. His plan consists in part of recruiting officers from the Netherlands.
He said that to renew trust in and respect for the force, the doors of communication must be opened and the higher authorities should be pushed to have the police headquarters in Philipsburg completed.
He contended that it was taking too long to have the 12 new police cells completed and that the unfinished look of the police station was very unappealing.
Referring to the lack of human resources, IT materials, and working materials – all linked to the lack of funding – he said he could not understand why the Police Forces in the Netherlands were so well equipped and funded, while the forces in the Netherlands Antilles, which are a part of the same kingdom, were experiencing the lack of essential materials.
He said he had literally begged for extra equipment free of charge from the Netherlands and expected the equipment to arrive on the island by January. This includes mobile units to bring police closer to the community. The intention is also to establish infrastructure in the different districts to allow residents to quickly report to police any sort of criminal activities.
He also told the lunch gathering that in light of the revolutionary nature of intelligence-led police operations, which require less manpower, the police forces of the Netherlands Antilles had signed an agreement two weeks ago for each force to have its own Intelligence Unit. St. Maarten’s unit, to be funded by USONA, should be fully functioning within the first four months of next year.
Panneflek noted that for St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius there were only about 100 police officers who were rotated through the islands.
Nonetheless, the force has had to use all means possible to protect the islands. He said some officers were on call 24 hours a day and available to the public in the event of any kind of emergency via their personal mobile phones.
Panneflek also referred to “Operation Trust II,” under which police are carrying out a number of controls to intervene in and disrupt illegal activities. He said the relevance of the controls was also to increase police visibility for the purpose of preventing crime. He said the island would see an increase in controls during the Christmas holidays to elevate the level of safety and security during a time when many crimes were likely to be committed.
He gave an example of the productivity of the controls, saying more than 100 fines had been issued, adding up to more than NAf. 30,000, during the control held last weekend. He said it was most noteworthy that no firearms had been found, but weapons such as machetes and knives had been confiscated.
And, noting that there was a lot of work to be done each day, he said the shortage of human resources made it difficult to cope with all the cases. In this regard, he noted that while the island territory had had 11 homicides for the year, four of them had not yet been solved.
Dongor, who has 34 years’ police experience, elaborated on his main task, which is upgrading the Police Force to meet the criteria for country status. The intention is for him to help influence the operational process of the Police Force.
He has to tackle the dilemma of a lack of human resources by, for example, hand-picking professional men with talent and investing in them. Of much significance in this time when many police officers have been placed in the limelight for involvement in criminal activity, he has to work on bringing back the integrity of the force by cleaning it up.
He said that after reading the various reports on the crime situation in St. Maarten and having a feel of it for himself, he had concluded that much of what had been stated in the reports was true. Therefore, he said, he had generated his first impression report by the third week of August.
