Prosecutor?s Office to be boosted to 19-man team

Rienk Mud leaving after three-year stint�

PHILIPSBURG--Prosecutor's Office spokesman Senior Prosecutor Rienk Mud has come to the end of his three-year stint in St Maarten.

Mud returns to the Netherlands on March 22 to resume his post as senior prosecutor for the town of Alkmaar in the north of the country.

He officially handed over his responsibilities to Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos on Friday, although he will be standing in for Mos until Mos returns on March 9.

At a specially-set-up press conference Friday, the press was treated to coffee and cookies as details of the handover and further communications were dealt with.

Mos explained that the role of the Prosecutor's Office was increasing and the workload was currently too great for the existing team of eight. The plan is to increase that number to 14 prosecutors by the end of the year and eventually to 19. This was part of the planned strategy required for Country St. Maarten status.

The police also were to be enhanced to a total of 375 officers. That growth has not occurred and is currently on hold due to lack of finances. Plans were in hand to attempt to increase the numbers in other ways, including the import of officers from the Netherlands. No further details are yet available as to how or when this might occur.

Mos said, "The one good thing for us is that our budget for this department has not been touched despite the cuts that other departments have had to contend with. It is very hard to get the right people to join this department in St Maarten. There is a great deal of work and, of course, the private sector pay is usually higher than the pay in the public sector."

Mud said, "We do have plans to train local people to the standards required. However, our university in St Maarten is not yet at the level where appropriate law degrees can be obtained. This means that people have to go away to be trained. Most who have achieved that level of education do not come back."

Mos expressed the private opinion that they should have to come back for a period of, perhaps, two years to give them the opportunity to find work and put something back into the community that had invested in their education or training.

One aspect of the situation in St. Maarten about which the prosecutors expressed concern was the lack of victim aid. Mos said, "We have no victim aid, none whatsoever. It is something that we should have and it is very important that we are able to give assistance and information to them."

There is, by law, the requirement that in the event a person believes that a prosecution should take place that has not, that person may go before a judge to express that opinion as a complaint. Should the judge agree and believe there is sufficient evidence, he can order the prosecutors to take the case before the court. That facility is not yet available in St Maarten.

Both Mud and Mos expressed the opinion that victims of crime should be kept better up to date regarding the status of their cases.

Mud and Mos explained that new laws regarding offences, penalties for crime and the means by which crime is detected were to have been in place for 10-10-10. Those laws still are not yet in place and are desperately needed. For example, offences such as causing criminal damage are punishable by paltry fines in comparison to the extent of damage caused.

According to Mos, it is often better for the victim and for the offender to impose a conditional sentence, as part of which the offender pays for the damage. In that way, the offender is less likely to re-offend, because he has this offence hanging over his head, he does not have a criminal record that can affect his future, and the victim actually is reimbursed for the damage. Once new laws are in place there will be many measures available to deal with modern crime situations.

Mos was asked his views regarding the Minister of Justice's assertion that he wants to make gun ownership easier. Mos said, "My advice regarding that is 'No, don't do it.'" He said introducing more weapons into society would increase the ease by which criminals could obtain them. He also believes the result would be an escalation of violence, in that criminals would more likely to shoot first and without provocation.

Both prosecutors agreed that as much as possible should be done to remove illegal weapons from criminals' hands.

Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/14174-prosecutors-office-to-be-boosted-to-19-man-team.html

Niclas Alexandersson Mark Bright Robert Schumann Dorset Internet Luis Moreno-Ocampo