Military support

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By Hilbert Haar

When St. Maarten obtained its autonomous status within the Dutch kingdom in 2010 there were quite some politicians (like André Bosman and Ronald van Raak) who expressed their doubts about the wisdom of this decision and now the chicken have come home to roost.

Prime Minister Luc Mercelina is on a working visit in the Netherlands, a trip that begins more and more to look like a beggar’s attempt to solve the problems he is not able to solve by himself.

First, Mercelina asked for $6.5 million to renovate the main police station in Philipsburg. It is unclear whether this request refers to a loan or to a gift. It is anyway long overdue because the poor state of the police station has been a reason for serious concern for longer than fifteen years. If our politicians had had the good sense to set a bit more than $400,000 a year apart for this project, Mercelina would have had the money at his disposal to do what needs to be done.

That did not happen (of course), not in the least because almost every national budget those politicians approved since the country obtained autonomy in 2010, closed with a deficit. Our government has structurally spent more money than it had in its pocket and now it has to beg for mercy on the other side of the ocean.

The police station is not the only problem. There is also the matter of understaffing at the police force and now there are not enough police officers available to maintain public order and to guarantee the safety of citizens and entrepreneurs.

The recent robbery at a jewelry store in Maho was apparently the straw that broke the camel’s back. Mercelina is, and rightfully so, looking for a way out of this quagmire, so he asked Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof for military assistance to give law and order a sorely needed boost.

This request is, in fact, a public admission to a painful truth: St. Maarten, autonomous or not, is unable to take care of its own affairs.

We do not have enough police officers and our police station is a disgrace. The question is of course: how much is enough? Does the government to put a soldier behind every lamppost on the island and in front of every jewelry store to frustrate out local criminals?

I know one thing pretty sure: that is not going to happen. No number of soldiers is able to provide an absolute level of safety and security. I am also of the opinion that our government cannot solve all of our problems. Forget it. Citizens and entrepreneurs also have a responsibility to protect their property.

Surely, there are ways to protect a jewelry store against criminals who manage to break in only armed with a couple of hammers? Surely entrepreneurs are able to hire the services of a security company to safeguard their property? And surely, they can afford to install alarm systems and security cameras?

Such measures will not stop all criminals, but they would make the work of our understaffed police force a lot easier.

The thought that more police officers, or a batch of well-trained soldiers, will be able to eradicate crime altogether is obviously too ridiculous for words. Criminals will do what they do best: they commit crimes and they will continue to do so, even if the odds of success are marginal. That is a reality we must accept – and if we do that, we should take every reasonable measure we can think of to make the life of those criminals at least a bit more difficult.

In my mind, I imagine how Dutch Prime Minister Schoof is shaking his head after hearing Mercelina’s request. “You want soldiers to patrol the streets of the friendly island? Forget it bro, we have bigger headaches on our hands right now. You are autonomous now – that’s what you wanted, right? – and therefore you have to solve your own problems. I am not sending any soldiers to your island; they are saying right where they belong, in the Netherlands. Now get out of here.”

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