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Published On: Sun, Oct 1st, 2017

St. Maarten Police Force receives extra police cars

Police vehicles - Karel Doorman

GREAT BAY — Directly after Hurricane Irma, the Police Force of St. Maarten (KPSM) requested and received assistance in the form of teams of police officers from Aruba (20), Curacao (20) and The Netherlands (49).

Assistance was also received from the V.K.C (11), the Voluntary Corps of Curacao, the V.K.S of St. Maarten, the Royal Marechaussee (20), the National Detectives and the Customs Department.

As a part of the assistance package, KPSM also requested extra police vehicles as a large number of the police cars in the fleet was heavily damaged during the passing of Hurricane Irma.

The temporary assistance is a part of a Kingdom protocol to render assistance between the police forces of Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten and the Netherlands (and BES-islands).

With the arrival of this extra fleet of police cars on the HNLMS Karel Doorman, the polices forces on the ground in St. Maarten will have increased mobility to perform patrols in all districts on the island, especially at night in the areas without light as 15% of the island is still without electricity.

Also, it is expected that with the increased visibility of the men in blue on the streets at night, the curfew will soon be lifted. However, government is expected to prolong the emergency situation for as long as reasonable possible in order to effectuate certain relief measures.

Police Station Philipsburg

Photo caption: Besides a large number of police cars, police headquarters in Philipsburg also sustained damage during the passing of hurricane Irma. Photo by TODAY Newspaper photo journalist, Milton Pieters.

Related story: Dutch police officers arrive on Sint Maarten