GREAT BAY--As modern slang goes: Minister of Justice Nathalie Tackling woke up on Thursday and chose violence.
The Minister delivered a pointed response to Member of Parliament Egbert Doran in Parliament on Wednesday over calls to arm the proposed tourist police, accusing the MP of misrepresenting the purpose of the new unit and suggesting that criticism of the initiative has become opposition for the sake of opposition.
In fact, the Minister at various times responding to Doran on this issue and others dismissed his questioning and statements as disingenuous, dangerous, false, misinformed and weak. Specifically on the tourist police, the Minister did not hold back.
Tackling said the tourist police were deliberately designed as a visible, preventative and service-oriented force that will work alongside the Police Force of St. Maarten, KPSM, rather than duplicate the role of fully trained police officers.
The Minister rejected the argument that because certain other categories of persons may be authorized to carry firearms without completing the full police training program, tourist police officers should automatically be treated in the same way.
“That is a false comparison and it is an attempt to minimize what is at stake,” Tackling said.
She stressed that a minister or other person carrying a firearm for personal protection is not performing the same function as an officer who patrols public areas, makes arrests or confronts suspects.
According to Tackling, the legal framework allows certain officers to be authorized to carry specified weapons under particular conditions, but authorization is not automatic and the Government has deliberately chosen not to make firearms part of the routine tourist police model.
“The proposal is to arm officers on the strength of training that was never designed for that purpose, in a function that does not call for firearms,” Tackling said. “The public and officers themselves would carry the risk. That is a risk I am not willing to take and I will not support it.”
The Minister said a firearm cannot simply be treated as another piece of protective equipment. Carrying one gives an officer the authority and responsibility to use lethal force and therefore requires appropriate training, proficiency, supervision and operational procedures.
“The task determines the powers, the powers determine the training, and the operational risk determines the equipment and the level of police response,” Tackling said.
She reiterated that the tourist police are intended to assist residents and visitors, maintain visibility, observe and report incidents and call in KPSM when a situation requires full police intervention.
When an incident involves firearms, serious violence or a dangerous suspect, Tackling said that response belongs with trained and equipped KPSM officers.
“The tourist police complements KPSM. It does not duplicate it, and it will not stand in for armed officers,” she said.
Tackling also pushed back against suggestions that deploying tourist police without firearms means sending personnel into dangerous situations without protection.
She said their safety will depend on deployment procedures, communications, equipment and clear protocols governing when regular police intervention is required.
“To suggest that these officers are being sent into danger or that they cannot do this work unless they carry a firearm is wrong and it is damaging,” Tackling said.
She said such arguments misrepresent the role being created, could discourage potential recruits and send the wrong message to the public by suggesting that safety is measured simply by the number of firearms on the streets.
Tackling acknowledged that officers with similar status may have been armed in the past, but said previous practice does not bind the current Government to repeat it.
She added that if the tourist police role were later expanded to include situations in which lethal force might reasonably be required, the entire model would have to be reassessed, including recruitment standards, training, continuous firearm proficiency, command, supervision and reporting.
The Minister then turned directly to the political criticism surrounding the proposal, saying she was surprised by the intensity of the reaction, but also suggested that she had come to expect criticism from Doran regardless of what Government proposes.
Tackling said Parliament and the public have repeatedly demanded increased police visibility and stronger crime prevention measures.
“That is that plan,” she said.
She added that while she welcomes debate about the details of the tourist police initiative, she believes the criticism has moved beyond legitimate policy disagreement.
“It has become clear that unless a plan is exactly what the member wants, it will be criticized, and even when it is exactly what he wants, he will find a new reason to criticize the plan in order to oppose it,” Tackling said.
She concluded that residents and visitors are not served by political stagnation, but by Government taking action.
“They are not served by stagnation. They are served by action, and I intend to continue acting,” Tackling said.
