PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The Police force of St. Maarten in collaboration with the Public Prosecutor’s Office came together on Monday 30th September 2019, to form a Task force aimed at bringing stakeholders together to collectively reduce the number of schools fights among our St. Maarten youth.
It seemed imperative that we remind the community of a previously released plea for peace among our youth.
The task force consists of individuals of the Police Management Team, the Public Prosecutor’s office, community police officers and the Juvenile department. Some objectives of the taskforce will be:
- First and foremost to inform and educate the parents and public of their role/ responsibilities when it comes to the school fights;
- Result-oriented visits with schools.
- To meet with governmental intuitions about this topic to stimulate a multidisciplinary, but also preventative approach with positively empowered youth as the outcome.
We are well aware of the increase in the number of school fights that have been taking place within this school year and would like to send a stern warning to all students and parents that there will be severe consequences for such actions.
The KPSM police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to school and gang fights and are pleading with all parents in the community to get involved in trying to alleviate this rapidly growing problem by talking to their children about the dangers of getting involved in fights.
Penalties vary from community service to jail time. Police officers are trying to avoid getting into any hostile situations with minors, however they will not shy away in the event it becomes necessary to do so, if it’s in the best interest of public order and safety.
Violence is never the answer and the Sint Maarten police force hopes that we all can come together as a community and put a stop to this unnecessary violence within our community.
