Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG – On July 22, 2016 a group of police officers received their decrees by the Minister of Justice Edson Kirindngo during a ceremony held at Police Headquarters in Philipsburg.
When the officers took a look at their long awaited promotions, they were disappointed. The officers were taken into service early in 2012, during which period they were selected to follow the Basic Police Training (BPO).
However, the cadets were placed in the daily operation of police work instead of sitting on the benches as mentioned in their former decree, which stipulated that they were police cadets in training.
The cadets had never gotten proper training to fulfill their duties as full-fledged police officers, because management team (KPSM) claimed that there was no money in the budget for the BPO. Moreover, the cadets were consistent in asking about the training (BPO), and they were always promised on a certain date that the training was going to start. However, it never did.
However, they worked as full-fledged police officers for nearly 5 years to receive a promotion with a retroactive compensation for only 1 year. The 12 cadets, who received their decrees, were very disappointed by this, and decided to seek assistance of their colleague Police Inspector Lyndon Lewis Jr., who chose to be their legal representative in court.
Inspector Lewis is known for his reputation of defending his people once it’s for a good cause. He drafted up appeal petitions, which were accepted by the court. The hearing was held on the Monday, November 21, at 2:00pm.
During a 2.5 hour hearing with a 10-minute recess, Lewis pleaded his client’s case that they should be compensated for their service to the Country as full-fledged police officers from February 1, 2012. The government responded, and also pleaded their case saying that the officers never worked as full-fledged police officers.
The court will hand down its decision on January 23, 2017.
