MARIGOT--The Gendarmerie is seeking volunteers from the districts who would be willing to assist the Gendarmerie by alerting it to any suspicious activity in the neighbourhood or if a crime is in progress or about to be committed.
The initiative called “Citizen Participation” is not new in France, but it will be the first time it is used in St. Martin. The idea is for the population to be involved in security and to work more closely with the Gendarmerie.
Concordia has been selected as the first district to launch this initiative. Ideally the Gendarmerie would like to have a list of some 30 “informants.”
Receiving a heads-up about suspicious activity or a crime in advance will help the Gendarmerie to assess what resources it needs to dispatch, how many Gendarmes, how many patrols, etcetera.
Citizen Participation will be presented at a public meeting in the Chamber of Commerce today, Thursday, from 6:15pm. A convention will also be signed in Hotel de la Collectivité at 6:30pm between the Collectivité, Gendarmerie and the French State.
