St. Maarten Private Eye

Back in February 2005 a man was arrested, accused of animal abuse and cruelty, after 13 months and pressure from regional animal advocacy groups and individuals, he is to appear in court, tomorrow.

Today, the police released the crime figures for 2005 which showed an increase in nearly all crimes, in particular domestic abuse, which jumped 700%.
These two news items are connected and it's time to look at the bigger picture.

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Lets have a look at the article and comments from Chief Holiday about the 2005 crime statistics shall we, see what we can figure out.

Crimes:

2004 - 2411
2005 - 2901 (+490) - Up almost 20%

Solving rate:

2004 - 6.97% (Yes, really! - 168 crimes solved)
2005 - 14.62% (424 crimes solved)

Type of crimes:

Domestic, women - 60ish (diifficult to figure out)
Threats - 137 (+13)
Abuse with weapon 32 (+26)
Thefts - 226 (+25)
Car thefts - 278 (+119)
Vandals - 155 (+40)
Murders - 12 (+?)
Rape - 6 (+3)

Total: 906

Can anyone tell me what the other 2000 odd crimes might be?

The problem is, the whole article is confusing and gives very few solid facts and figures, probably because the reporter wrote down whatever Holiday was saying and typed it up. Although almost useless, the article does show, no matter how hard Holiday tries to spin it, that St. Maarten has some serious social problems that are not going to go away or fix themselves.

Holiday intends to seek policemen from Holland and Suriname, however we have heard this before and no solution has yet been presented on how to justify the difference in salary they will both be paid, with the local police probably somewhere in the middle. And how will they be paid? Where will the money come from to almost double the police force? New status remember, has this been figured in? And then you have equipment and training which are both required too.

Anyway, not to get sidetracked. the blunt truth of the matter is that the social, educational, sports and labor departments of the island are dysfuctional and failing the youth of the island, in particular locally born youth. Holiday is quite right in one very important statement, that a "social assessment" needs to be made. One that includes all aspects and causes of abusive or antisocial behaviors and trends within the community. Which leads me into the upcoming animal abuse case tomorrow.

It is widely recognised that those that get their kicks from abusing animals are also more likely to give little thought about abusing humans or commiting violent crimes.

Animal Abuse and Conduct Disorder

And this is why the animal abuse case is important and connected to the many other problems St. Maarten faces.

Holiday also states that the rise in threats being reported is partially because people have an increased fear of being harmed. As if that is a positive point. So, what he is saying is that in the past people thought a threat was something to be brushed off, nowadays they are more afraid of it being carried out.

Animal abuse shows a clear lack or compassion, morality and conscience, it shows a lack of comprehension as to the value of life, nor do these people have empathy or remorse when causing pain.

It is past time that the root causes of crime was included in the plan, animal abuse is one of those causes, brothels is another, as is low income, lousy education and sports facilites. A fully staffed, fully equiped, professionally trained, adequately paid and well managed police force is also needed, but it is not a solution on it's own and it does not get to the roots, and that is where we should be focusing.

Flipper

UPDATES

Man found guilty of abusing animals - 8th March 2006

Today - Animal abuser gets 3 months - 8th March 2006

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