St. Maarten Private Eye

From SMN News

Philipsburg– Leader of Government Sarah Wescot-Williams, says she is very concerned with the recent incidents of crime such as another daring broad-daylight robbery of a store on Front Street and a couple of others in the past weeks as well as other criminal activities within the community.
The island leader says she fully supports the initiatives set out by Acting Chief Commissioner of Police, Richard Panneflek where he reportedly stated that more attention would be given to enhancing the sense of safety in Philipsburg and in apprehending those responsible for the recent armed robberies.
Commissioner Wescot supports the stance taken by the Police that with scarce resources available, priorities must be set and that the priority for the police at this time is the safety of residents and visitors.
Wescot Williams also applauds the 24-hour manning of the Police Station in Simpsonbay, an announcement that will surely be welcomes by citizens and businesses “over the hill.”
Wescot-Williams is appealing to the St. Maarten community to assist Police wherever they can by reporting to them suspicious criminal activity and those involved in these activities.
.“Someone somewhere has to know something about these persons who have been perpetrating this string of armed robberies. We need anybody and everybody with any type of information to come forward now and assist.
“As a law abiding society, we cannot tolerate a few wreaking havoc for the majority, by creating an atmosphere of fear. We should not tolerate it.” She said.
“As a nation we cannot afford any threats to our tourism industry because the crimes committed will impact everyone and every-one’s livelihood on the island.”
“I call on our judicial authorities to give the stiffest penalties that can be given based on our current laws once these perpetrators have been apprehended,” Leader of Government Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams told (GIS).
The leader of government added that she welcomed the assistance already being received from the Dutch Marechausees with reference to assisting detectives in investigating robbery cases.
“If we need additional resources for the short-term, these should be sought until we have apprehended the culprits, as recent apprehensions have shown that many crimes are committed by the same group of persons over and over again. Our nation’s well-being is under threat. I appeal to the Antillean Minister of Justice to provide short-term manpower assistance to the Windward Islands Police Force Section St. Maarten as was done at the end of 2007,” Wescot Williams concluded.

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