On Friday March 14th 2014, the Minister of Justice the Honorable Dennis Richardson met with a high profile dignitary namely the French Préfet Mr. Gilles Leclair.
The focus of the discussion was Law Enforcement cooperation between Saint-Martin and Sint Maarten. Préfet Leclair has been sent on a special mission on behalf of the French Minister of Interior Affairs and the French Minister of Justice. The French government is extremely concerned about the rising crime rates in Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint-Martin and asked Mr. Leclair to write a report on this very pressing issue. Préfet Leclair has a background in law enforcement and was amongst other things Deputy Director of Europol in The Hague.
Préfet Leclair and Minister Richardson spoke about the situation on both sides of the island, the present cooperation and how it could be improved in near future. They concluded that on a practical level the cooperation is currently productive; however there is always room for improvement on a strategic level. Both delegations agreed that a permanent working group, in which all stakeholders would be represented, could give the cooperation a new strategic approach.
Such a working group could discuss the placement of liaison officers in each other’s services, which facilitates the possibilities for the coordination of joint traffic controls, combined border patrols and so on. All this could be done based on the principles of equality and reciprocity.