~ Nine vehicles purchased through Crime Fund, six from College Van Korpschefs~
PHILIPSBURG: --- The Police Force of St. Maarten is set to receive 15 new vehicles within the coming days. This was due to the intervention of Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina, who met with the management of the Police Force of St. Maarten and the NAPB Union. Six other vehicles were purchased by the College Van Korpschefs (Association of Police Chiefs), who agreed to assist St. Maarten since the Police Force of St. Maarten lacks vehicles to fight crime, which has been escalating over time.
Several of the much-needed vehicles have been delivered to KPSM over the past two days; however, those vehicles are still not ready to be on the public roads since KPSM must ensure all vehicles are fully insured and striped.
KPSM only has four working vehicles, which the Dutch government gave to St. Maarten after Hurricane Irma passed in 2017. However, KPSM sometimes only has two working cars at a time since they have to be placed in garages for constant repairs.
The lack of vehicles has negatively impacted KPSM's crime-fighting efforts since it could not respond to several areas to fight crime.
With the new vehicles, detectives and Uniform Officers are expected to be able to work on several ongoing investigations.
The Police Force of St. Maarten has been pleading with the Government of St. Maarten for years to purchase vehicles for the Force; however, their cries went on deaf ears. The former government indicated that the much-needed cars were to be bought earlier this year, as it was budgeted as part of the Capital Expenditures in the 2024 budget.
