55th Anniversary Netherlands Antilles Police Corps — Commemorative booklet Congratulatory Message by Governor Franklyn E. Richards. LLM

On the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the Netherlands Antilles Police Corps, I wish to extend sincerest congratulations and best wishes to the distinguished men and women performing police work in our communities.

The commemoration of this anniversary comes at a time when police work can be both dangerous and stressful, and where the crime rate is high.

In addition to the obvious dangers of confrontations with criminals, officers nowadays need to be constantly alert and ready to deal appropriately with a number of threatening situations. On occasion, a law enforcement officer may even witness death and suffering resulting from accidents and criminal behavior, so that a career in law enforcement may take a toll on that officer’s private life.

The nature of police work has always been special, considering that people depend on police officers and detectives to protect their lives and property

Quite often, police officers are expected to exercise authority when necesary even when off duty.

Uniformed police officers who work in our communities have general Law enforcement duties, including maintaining regular patrols and responding to calls for service. They may direct traffic at the scene of a fire, investigate a burglary, give first aid to an accident victim or mediate in a quarrel between neighbors.

Nowadays, there is a growing trend to support community policing—a practice in which an officer builds a relationship with the citizens of local neighborhoods, thereby mobilizing the public to help fight crime.

It is against this background that I salute the members of the Netherlands Antilles Police Corps, with special recognition of those serving St. Maarten and the Windward Islands, in the course of the past decades.

Your frequently working on weekends, holidays and nights as well as your long hours during investigations, have not gone unnoticed and serve to provide us all, with some sense of security.

Because personal characteristics such as honesty, sound judgment, integrity; and a sense of responsibility are especially important in law enforcement, police officers may frequently find themselves under scrutiny, at the same time when other difficulties have to be overcome.

With that in mind, allow me to use this opportunity to call upon the community to continue supporting the members of our police force, as they embrace the opportunity for public service through law enforcement work, which, in any case, remains attractive, because of the challenging nature of the job and because of the personal responsibility involved.

May God’s guidance and blessings continue to be with the members of the police force as, together, we place our sights on the future and join you in celebrating the 55th anniversary of your organization.
 

Franklyn E. Richards, LL.M

Governor of the Island Territory of St. Maarten


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I am most honored to be part of the celebration of the 55th Anniversary of our police force. We of the Police Force of St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius are proud to be host of this momentous celebration. We are proud of our commitment to educate our citizens and of our continuous effort to fight crime effectively in our community.

Over the past 55 years the personnel of all our forces has done excellent job in making our community a fine place to live by making it relatively free from crime. We will continue to need the eyes and ears of you as a community to make criminals feel unsafe.

Most of all we are proud of that momentous decision of 55 years ago to choose freedom for our selves that led our leaders to draft that decree and approve the existence of the Korps Politie Nederlandse Antillen, thus severing our ties from the distant past. It was a choice not to be forgotten. A choice that we should always cherish and never forget. 

Why are we still celebrating? First of all, we celebrate our choice of freedom. We celebrate that police officers in the past have agreed that democracy was worth dying for We celebrate that police officers continue to believe that fighting crime is worth dying for We celebrate that as individuals we have the rights that no one ruler can take away. We celebrate that we as one police force has the sole rights to protect the rights of our people. We celebrate the freedom to create jobs for our people within our organizations. We celebrate the freedom of our people to acquire the top positions in our organi7ations without restrictions.

But in addition to our celebration of choices, let us also remember that we celebrate the freedom to change. To become all that we can be. To improve the condition of ourselves and our visitors horn the world over In our less than perfect community, we can change our skills and lot in life through education of our personnel. We can change our environment with new legislation. We can change our environment with research and dedication of our personnel. We can change our islands through compassion and involvement.

Yes, we can do disagree about how to go about all these changes. Nevertheless, we are free to choose and change. To enjoy what we have now and grow to what we can become as a police force in the God given and blessed nation. Today we celebrate our freedom to choose and change. We are one body “Korps Politie Nederlandse Antillen” and must continue to be one spirit in the fight against crime, but most of all we must continue to be one body and spirit against anyone that threatens take this freedom away.

Let us also celebrate the cooperation with other forces in the kingdom and around the region and around the worlds in our never ending fight against the ills of our societies. Let us celebrate that we have been a proud police force and can stand proud with our achievements of second to none over the past 55 years fighting crime, protecting our citizens and saving our communities as committed police officers.

As we stand resolved to improve that which is not to perfection in our police force and our community I congratulate you and wish you an enjoyable 55th anniversary and hope that all our brothers around the world can one day choose and change.

Let us enjoy our selves in the good spirit of brotherhood with our brothers from throughout the kingdom. Aruba, Surinam and the United States of America.

Derrick F. Holiday

Chief Commissioner of Police Police Force St. Maarten, Saba & St. Eustatius

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I am Inspector of Police, Alfred R. Marsdin, better known to man as Churchill”. I was born on Aruba on the 9th day of August 1956. 1 joined the Police Force of the Netherlands Antilles on Aruba, on August 16th 1975. On December 1 st 1978 as a young Police officer, I was transferred to the detective department in San Nicolaas Aruba. There I worked until November 25th 1985, when I was transferred to Sint Eustatius, and stationed there until November 25th 1987.

In November of 87,1 was assigned to St. Maarten, where after a short time working in the uniform division, I was transferred to the detective department. In 1991 , I was transferred to the fraud department, and in 1994 after obtaining the rank of mayor I was promoted to Chief of the fraud squad. In 1999, after being promoted to Inspector of Police, I was then transferred to the Department of Internal Affaires for the Police Force of Sint Maarten Saba &t Sint Eustatius. I worked as Chief of said department until October 1 st 2003.

On October 1st 2003, after serving as the acting Chief of Immigration at the Princess Julian International Airport for little more than a year-and-a half, I was transferred to the Immigration Division as Head of the Immigration at Princess Juliana International Airport. This is the position which I currently hold. As a young man I was active in practically every sport in the Netherlands Antilles, but Baseball has always been my favorite.

In the past I have been the Treasurer of the Local Baseball Association and currently the treasurer of the Police Sports Organization, a position I have been holding for quiet some time. In addition I also was involved with representation of the members of the Police Force since the early eighties back on Aruba. In Sint Maarten, I was the representative of the Police Union Section Windward Islands, where I was known to be very outspoken on issues relative to the rights and benefits of the membership.

On the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the Police Force of the Netherlands Antilles, I would like to encourage and challenge you, the people of our community , to stand up and render some praise to the officers of our Force which throughout these difficult and testing times, through tough and rough times has been nonetheless diligent and courageous in proudly protecting you the community of the Netherlands Antilles. For 55 long years our officers have committed their lives to serve and protect you, the people.

Our task, over these 55 years have not been executed without some bitter moments for our Police Force and the Community which it serves. As in every organization there are ups as well as downs and in every battle there would be some casualties. The Police force of the Netherlands Antilles has had it’ s share of good, bad, not so good and also sad times. Throughout the years we have lost many colleague’s, some losses were due to weakness, while others have left the force for some one reason or the other.

And then there are others who have gone home to the good Lord before us. Nevertheless, the community of the Netherlands Antilles can be indeed proud of this Police Force, for with the limited resources with which we are provided, we can still adequately and courageously defend this great nation the Netherlands Antilles, with pride and loyalty. Therefore with all due respect, I would like to ask you our, community ,to ‘pin me in saying,”

Congratulation Korps Politie Nederlandse Antillen” (pabien) for the work that you have done and which you continue to do. Keep up the good work and may the good Lord Bless each and every single person that makes this great nation, the Netherlands Antilles- their home. May God bless the Netherlands Antilles and may he protect our faithful law enforcement officers, as we continue to dutifully protect and serve our people with pride and dignity . We are, indeed, proud and honoured to serve our country .

AR. (Churchill) Marsdin,