Dear Editor,
I am sure that all you readers on many many occasions have used the expression “That’s impossible” “Dat kan niet” “Esey no ta bon”. All these would be reaction to something considered “not fair” (Papiamento “esey no ta justu”, Dutch “dat is niet eerlijk”). One of the occasions that I have used it was when Peter de Witte was head commissioner here and at a certain moment used what I as a seasoned police officer considered a lame excuse “There were no statistics to go on” I responded to that at that time already, and in one of last week’s papers I got confirmation of my perception that government did not have much concern for what was happening in law enforcement.
I can remember a few now-retired police officers in Curaçao who years ago told me that they went to the police academy in Holland because policial friends of their parents encouraged their parents to send them to Holland to study for inspector of police.
Those are the persons who are trained to manage a police force. Because that is not the case here, for a long while now we do not have professional managers in the St. Maarten police force. The force is being managed by, I must admit, competent, experienced officers, who have to bear the brunt. I tip my hat to them.
Another reason for thinking that this is not fair to the people of Sint Maarten. “The manager of the fund did not have any data from 2010 to 2016.” That too is not fair. When I read how much revenue was not collected because of delinquent governing, I said to myself, “That is criminal.”
I have been reprimanded twice over the years for not entering a summons report on time. The second time I had to work four extra hours without pay. So, who was in charge during that period?
Another lame excuse would be “We’ve never had a steady government during that time” and I would add to that “But heads had to roll and we permitted them to get rid of our own Head Commissioner”. And even though I am not privy to all the details, I am still of the opinion that that was not fair. Because of the vast amount of Justice Ministers during that short period, logic would tell me that certain things would not be in place and that is why at that time I stated that police people do not take to the streets when not satisfied. We, knowing that we are the only body which can arrest anyone, should also know how to deal with adversity. That is what we do. Personal friends might show understanding, but the community which usually puts “I” first, is not ready to accept correction. This will always be a problem as long as people are not ready to tell the whole truth.
Their negative part is almost always omitted. It has not yet registered by the people, after so many years of having police around, that the police is a “peace officer” first. It is imperative to all to calm themselves down in the presence of the police. What does that mean? Simple: when you and your neighbor are fighting it is not with the police you are fighting, So why not calm down and listen to the police? And since we know so much, we should also know that the police did not come to beat up on anybody, the police came there to make peace and try to solve the problem in an amicable way.
Too often quarrels begin because we do not listen to each other or we do not care to try and sort out problems among each other. But the biggest cause of people not liking the police is created by we the people ourselves. We are not ready to accept it when the police do not deal with the person for whom we called the police, to our satisfaction. Yes, we are not content. And then we remember who the police officers were that came to the house, and we develop a hatred for that/those police officer(s) (as we would say) and continue not liking the innocent police officers who just did what is often the best thing to do, given the circumstances.
When do you protect someone? Another thing that we do not want the police to do is what they swore to do. When we do not appreciate that the police are protecting a criminal. we get mad at the police. I have even been accused of protecting a suspect because he was my brother, but that is what we do. We always protect everyone. We are not the judge, we protect and serve. I asked the lady at that time, “If he was your brother, what would you want me to do?” After pausing for a while she said to me, “Okay go ’head an’ do yo’ job then.”
Another reason for the heading “that’s not fair”. I like what our Minister of Justice is doing.so far. Please, people, give the Minister cooperation. Our people in government should know that people with integrity are not afraid of snoopers.
Russell A. Simmons
