Crime knows no borders
Crime knows no borders on St. Maarten and the criminals know that too. When the justice authorities talk about cross-border crime, they usually are not talking about criminals crossing the border of St. Maarten during their crime sprees and unlawful activities. Authorities are usually referring to international criminal activities by gangs and crime syndicates. However attractive that may be for police investigators to focus on, the issue of cross-border crime has a much more down to earth consequence for St. Maarten/St. Martin.
The case of a missing person reported on the Dutch side resulted in the person’s dead body being found floating in the sea waters on the French side of the island. Now the investigating authorities will have to cooperate to solve this murder case. Will the fact that this is a cross-border crime impede and impact the solving of this case negatively? We hope not.
Such cases pretty much flip the island on its back and unless the authorities can find some kind of hold to leverage themselves on in order to flip things back over, they will remain on their backs flapping their arms and legs in the air and struggling hopelessly to get back on their feet like a red-footed turtle lying on its back. Fortunately, the French always have a way of expediting justice expeditiously. Whether this occurs judiciously is another question. However, the Dutch judicial system could benefit from such efficiency if they could implement the same strategies for bringing cases quickly to trial before a judge.
Cooperation to fight cross-border criminality on St. Maarten/St. Martin is a matter for authorities to coordinate in The Hague and Paris. However local authorities on both sides of the island would do well not to wait on the necessary authorizations from the mother countries in Europe, but start to take the initiative to implement coordination between the French and Dutch law enforcement agencies on the island.
That level of cooperation is unfortunately missing in the island’s law enforcement and investigative abilities. Therefore, the call is hereby issued to the justice authorities on St. Maarten/Saint Martin, starting from St. Maarten’s Day on November 11th, 2016, to tackle this matter immediately without any further delay as indeed crime has no border on the island. There is an opportunity right now to do something about that with the present level of support in all sectors of the island’s justice chain as that is usually the spirit of the Treaty of Concordia passing through everyone’s soul on St. Maarten’s Day. For the peace of mind of everyone living on St. Maarten/St. Martin, let’s do something about cross-border crime on the island.
