St. Maarten Private Eye

What does the community expect from a police officer? The answer is: he has to be an all arounder because he will be confronted with all issues while doing his work as police officer. He has to be at least knowlegable in prioviding First Aid because of the many accidents and violent incidents, he has to be a social worker because of the many social problems he encounter in this society, he has to be a boxer or ninja because of the violent groups and people he faces every day in his or her work. I can continue with the amount of responsibilities that has been bestowed upon his or her shoulder while his peers has never provided them with adequate training and equipment to be able to perform as such. It is not wise to blame the soldiers for the mishaps. We need to tackle management and make them responsible for any situation in which an officer is involved negatively. Combatting crime nowadays is not like the olding days. we need to be better prepared and equiped. All the governments and the ministers of justices of the last 20 years has failed to provide adquate training and resources and equipment to establish a good and effiicient Police Department on each island of the Antilles. I recommend to change the present system and start by appointing a manager to run the police department. A person with good management skills and business sense because this department need to function as a business. This is just another cry in the wilderness as I do not see that this or the next administration will do anything to change the status. That is one of the many reasons which tells me that we are going in the wriong direction and the new status will only bring us more problems.