Dear Editor,
There is saying, “A wise head keeps a still tongue.” That saying came to me when, during a discussion among five of us, one of the men who does not usually say much said to me, “If I compare all you to those nowadays, I believe that all you helped to pay your own salaries.”
I rarely publicly engage in discussions concerning my profession, because people have the tendency to believe that I would take sides. You see, it is all about statistics and record-keeping.
This conversation started because of a private car following behind the ambulance with siren, which prompted one of us sitting there to comment if the police were more active he wouldn’t take that chance. My personal point of view is that the more congested the traffic gets the more drivers force themselves through the traffic. I constantly get a nasty look when I can see the driver (of a car without heavily tinted glass) who is not pleased because I insist on using the roundabout correctly.
In view of all this I am trying to recall whether the Marechaussee and those police people came to Sint Maarten to make up the numbers or to provide expertise. I am also asking myself if Bosman and Van Raak are not aware that the comments are that no normal police work is done for a long while now.
Because of the amount of arrests that have been made and the ongoing investigations on people in government, the people are of the opinion that that is why they are here and do not feel that enough service is given to the public at large, or that there is enough surveillance kept. I personally can say that at least five days a week I am at home from 7:00am to 5:00pm and I rarely see a patrol go by.
Conscientious drivers are of the opinion that the police leave too much go unattended-to while on patrol. I have several points of view on that but I will concentrate on only one.
In my view both the local and the Dutch police people are to be blamed for not doing anything about all the infringements committed, often in plain sight of the police. The community is noticing this along with the blunder committed by the Minister of Finance by giving in to the protesters against the 2019 number plate, and gradually everybody is doing what they want. Even the emergency vehicles with sirens are disregarded and nothing is done about that either.
Would I be facetious if I would think that the Prosecutor’s Office is not addressing this issue because that would be exposing the inefficiency of their own?
Actually, it does not take me to notice this. If all of those involved with the supervision of enforcing the law and maintaining the peace, would get off their phones while operating a motor vehicle they would notice that, just like the prices are going up daily in the supermarkets, the confusion in traffic is steadily increasing. Beside reiterating that we do not need any more cars on Sint Maarten and we need to regulate the public transportation, I do not think I have to go down into specificities because it is all there to see.
Russell A. Simmons
