Between midnight on Thursday November 27th and Friday November 28th at 03.00 a.m. a general joint control was held between the Gendarmes and the Justice Department on the Dutch Side consisting of the Immigration, Border Control and Protection Service, the Custom Department, Vrijwilligers Korps Sint Maarten (VKS) and the Police Department. This control is one of many that will be planned for the future. This general control was geared toward the continuous battle against crime in general on the island, both French and Dutch Side. The main focuses of this control are the removing of illegal fire-arms and drugs from the streets. The “Stop, Drop and Go” Program has come to an end and the focus will now be to out and search for the illegal weapons and drugs. The group consisted of 70 persons including 10 Gendarmes. The group was divided in to four smaller groups and posted at the four border crossing points namely Low Lands, Belle View, Belvedere and Oyster Bay, where they carried the intense control.
The Prefect Phillipe Chopin, representatives from the French Justice Department and the Commander of the Gendarmes met with the Chief Public Prosecutor Karola van Nie, the Acting Chief of Police Commissioner Carl John, and Chief Inspector Geronimo Juliet from the Immigration Department at the Cause Way /border round-a-bout, in order to inspect how the control was going. During this meeting the main topic was the working relation between both parts of the island, explaining and agreeing that this is definitely the way of jointly working and combating crime and any other illegal activity on the island. Karola van Nie stated that she was very proud to see how the two justice departments were working together to improve the working relations.
During the control a total of 204 vehicles were checked, 24 fines were given, 12 vehicles were towed and 12 persons were arrested in connection with their illegal status on the island.The controls will continue indefinitely.
