General controls
On Wednesday May 19th and Thursday May 20th during the evening and night hours general controls were held by the members of the Zero Tolerance team, Immigration Department assisted by members of the VKS. Several "hot spots" in the areas of L.B. Scot road, Sint Peters, Dutch Quarter, Middle Region, Cole bay and Simpson bay were controlled by the officers.
During these controls several persons were arrested and brought in for questioning for different violations, such as the possession of marijuana, not adhering to the identification laws etc.
During a control on Back street in the vicinity of DVD-PLUS a group of youngster were spotted standing. Knowing this area to be one of the hot spots the officers proceeded to carry-out a general control. One young man in the group when noticed what was going on dropped a small white plastic container and tried to kick under a parked car. However one of the officers picked-up the container and while checking it he noticed that it contained a large amount of cocaine rocks.
The plastic container and its contents were confiscated for further investigation.
The suspect with initials R.G. from Sint Maarten was arrested on the spot, taken to the police station and handed over the detectives of the Drugs and Fire arms dept.
Major school fight, police called in
On Friday May 22nd at approximately 10.00 a.m. several police patrols were dispatched to the Sint Maarten Academy P.S.V.E. in Ebenezer for a major fight going between rival groups of students attending that school. On the arrival of the patrols the situation seemed to be partially under control by security and teachers. Several of the students involved in the fight had been taken to the main office awaiting the arrival of the police. A total of nine students were taken to the Philipsburg police station to sort out the matter. Many of the students behaved quite uncooperative and rude towards the police however they were severally reprimanded in the presence of their parent(s) or guardian(s). The cause of the physical confrontation is still not completely clear.
Immigration officers receive diplomas
On Friday may 22nd the Immigration officers A.M. NAVAS and N. JAMES received their diplomas after the completing their studies and going through their on-the-job training.
The diplomas were handed out by the acting Chief of Police, Chief Inspector Carl John in the presence of Mr. L.F. Ostiana of the Examination Bureau and Job Training Coordinator G.A. Benita. The acting Chief of police congratulated the officers and wished them much success in their career as such.