At least fifteen officers from Curaçao are scheduled to join St. Maarten’s police on the streets and in the technical division on Monday.
Justice officials are preparing accommodations for the arrival of the long-awaited additional officers with whom rest hopes of closing at least half a dozen unsolved homicide cases, authorities have said in the past.
The officers of Curaçao’s vaunted A-Team began arriving on Thursday, with others are expected to arrive by Sunday.
Antillean Justice Minister David Dick said Thursday that he had long planned to make good on his promise to bolster St. Maarten’s Police Force. "I agreed to support St. Maarten on that a long time ago," he told The Daily Herald.
Local politicians bashed Minister Dick in December for the Justice Ministry’s inaction in providing reinforcements for St. Maarten police during the holidays. The undermanned and ill-equipped St. Maarten police have long been a topic of discussion in government chambers.
The minister did not say how long the officers would remain here, but this newspaper understands the majority of them will be uniformed patrol officers, adding more blue to St. Maarten’s streets. The others will assist the Detective Department.
Minister Dick said his ministry and police officials would assess the effectiveness of the additional support for the island at the end of the officers’ term here. "We always evaluate after new operations," the minister said. "We have the units work almost independently, but still in close cooperation."