Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
MARIGOT--The law pertaining to the Police Cooperation Treaty between St. Martin and St. Maarten was finally examined and adopted on Thursday, March 19, in the National Assembly and will come into effect around May this year the Préfecture indicated previously.
MP Daniel Gibbs who was the appointed rapporteur confirmed the treaty has now been ratified by both France and the Netherlands.
Gibbs noted that one of the important benefits of the reinforced police cooperation will be control on immigration. He indicated St. Maarten had regularised over six thousand foreigners since 2009 while the number of illegal immigrants on the French side stands at between five to eight thousand persons from a population of 37,000 inhabitants.
"This situation exacts a heavy toll on the economic and social fabric of the island particularly on the French side where public policies tend to be more generous," he said. "It also creates congestion in public services, especially for social aid and hospital services. Add to that the huge deficits shouldered by the Collectivité due to fraud and abuse of benefits."
The text which has been awaited for many years is aimed at giving the island a modern and more efficient cross-border police cooperation plan, inspired in particular by the provisions of the Schengen agreement of June 14, 1985, and it's convention for implementation.
It permits law enforcement of both sides to benefit not only from observation and pursuit over a wide range of offences but also to conduct joint patrols as well as providing an increase in coordinated services. In addition it will intensify exchanges of information, essential in the fight against organised crime, given the unique configuration of the island.
A particularly welcome change will be the ability from now on for law enforcement from either side to cross the border in situations of a "hot pursuit" without the need to stop and refer the matter to the other policing authority. Criminals had always taken advantage of this anomaly to make their escape.
