Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
~ Union will work with incoming minister ~
PHILIPSBURG--The failure of government to ratify and introduce the new police structure almost four years since St. Maarten assumed its new constitutional structure has resulted in "instability, unrest and infighting" between personnel in the Police Force, says NAPB police union president Ethelwoldus Josepha.
NAPB has been lobbying for a number of benefits and rights for officers over the years with little progress, but Josepha said the union would be working with whoever the incoming minister and relevant officials would be.
"Over the last four years, different meetings were kept with the two different ministers of justice with the idea to have the police structure ratified and implemented. Four years later and [two – Ed.] days before the election, the laws governing the structure of the Police Force have never been ratified with all the uncertainties that it brings for personnel of the St. Maarten Police Force," Josepha said on Friday.
He said this issue would be complicated even more now that the top management of the Police Force was being changed and, with election on Friday, a new justice minister also would be appointed.
"With this change, they may have new ideas and might also have a different vision on the direction they want the Police Force to go. The consequences of this change might entail a whole new renegotiation of the police structure again, which will once more jeopardise the interest of our members and non-members," he said.
It has been clear for the last four years that the bettering and upgrading of the police apparatus is a very difficult task. "But the daily board is of the opinion that much more could have been achieved if the will to do so was there," Josepha said.
He said the police union did not have any political affiliations and was "not betting" on "any horse" in the political race. "The board of the police union will work with anyone and everyone at the Ministry of Justice, the new minister of justice and the Government of St. Maarten in general."
He told members that the struggle to make the Police Force a respectable organisation in the public's eye was an ongoing struggle.
"The unions representing the Police Force should be at a level now that we should be fighting for the betterment of all members and non-members. The unions should leave the old, individualistic mentality in the background and approach struggles with the vision of pleasing the majority of our members instead of a chosen few," he said.
Josepha urged members and non-members to "look at the big picture."
"Let's start educating ourselves and preparing ourselves to take on some of the crucial functions in the near future of the St. Maarten Police Force," he said.
