PHILIPSBURG--The Law Enforcement Council reported that the relevant judicial organisations – St. Maarten Police Force KPSM, the National Detectives Agency and the Prosecutor's Office – are generally equipped to expeditiously handle criminal cases in a reasonable time period, despite indirect and external bottlenecks.
In its report “Inspection lead time: the steering, prioritisation and monitoring of simple and complex criminal cases in St. Maarten” The Law Enforcement Council explained that the reasonable time period is a maximum of two years.
“The obligation to expeditiously handle cases in a reasonable period of time applies internationally and is implemented in local laws and regulations,” the Council stated. “That an investigation should be expeditiously handled is one of the circumstances that the judge takes into account when determining whether the reasonable time period has been exceeded. The credibility and legitimacy of investigation and prosecution are therefore served by efficient handling of investigations. The expeditious handling of cases by judicial organisations is also in the interest of both victims and suspects.”
On the basis of the figures provided, the interviews conducted and the number of sentence reductions in the period under investigation, the council concluded that the expeditious handling of criminal cases has improved in recent years.
The organisations that were examined succeeded in this by focusing on prioritising, steering and monitoring cases in favour of, among other things, lead times, despite the lack of general preconditions such as capacity, expertise and resources at the investigation services. This affects the lead time, especially in more complex cases.
The council was unable to gain insight into whether or not the lead time of and between the organisations and the entire criminal justice system is expeditious. It is therefore necessary to align the registration and the systems used, which is not yet the case.
The council sees opportunities in particular where it regards the preconditions for carrying out the work and the registration and systems used. Therefore, the council hopes that the seven recommendations can contribute to a further improvement of the lead time of criminal cases. If the investigation and prosecution can be done more quickly, the council believes this should be done for the benefit of both suspects and victims.
The full inspection report and all other publications of the council are available digitally on the website
www.raadrechtshandhaving.com
