The Sint Maarten Police of Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius is continuing the upgrading of its police officers in training and equipment.
As a test a police officer working in the Bikers team will be equipped with a video camera also known as a helmet camera. The tests with this equipment will commence immediately. The camera will record what the police officer sees and hears. Stored images are in colour and vocal recordings are of high quality. The police force expects that registering these images will be a positive contribution to increase security at places where the bike team is active.
The aim of recording images are numerous. For instance if an incident is reported and the biker is sent to assist, the finished recordings of the incident can possibly be used for further investigations or prosecution. The police-officer no longer has to write down suspicious situations by having to stop and step off the bicycle, but he or she records the situation as it unfolds, possibly even with verbal comments. This makes the task and the efforts of the police bike team much more effective.
The pilot project has been realised through one of the advisers to the Sint Maarten Police Force Mr. Ron de Milde in close cooperation with the company Zenitel who has made an important contribution by making the camera and technical equipment available to start this test period. Zenitel will also be examining the necessary and desired adjustments of the equipment during the test period for comfort and use.
This project will be evaluated after 2 months regarding the effectiveness. If these tests prove positive it will be then considered by the police management team to have the members of the police biker team officially equipped with helmet cameras.