At their regular tripartite meeting on Wednesday this week, Police, Immigration and Customs officials from Anguilla, French St. Martin and Dutch St. Maarten discussed various matters of mutual interest including the issue of crime, the commonalities they find in the occurring offences and ways and means of dealing with the situation.

Officials from the three Territories outside Police Headquarters

A number of the top agency officials spoke with media representatives in Anguilla following their meeting at Police Headquarters in The Valley. Commissioner of Police, Keithly Benjamin, said: “The meeting primarily dealt with common issues as far as crime within our three jurisdictions are concerned. We had the benefit of sharing statistics and the modus operandi in some cases where there appear to be some commonalities. Generally in the three countries we have seen a decrease in certain categories of crime but as far as the general pattern of crime is concerned, robberies are a major matter for all three territories.” He noted that car thefts in St. Martin/St. Maarten were a major concern there as would be spoken by the representatives at the press briefing.

“We also focussed on cooperation among the three countries and it is imperative that we continue to cooperate because of the proximity of the islands,” Mr. Benjamin went on. “It is known to us that criminals travel between the islands with easy access… and the resources that are available to them afford them the ability to travel in the shortest possible time, commit a crime in either country and before it is properly discovered, they can be in any jurisdiction. It is therefore very important that we continue to cooperate and share resources to combat the criminality existing among the three islands.”

Mr. Benjamin continued: “All three countries also have problems as far as youth violence is concerned and we have focussed on some of the best practices in what has been applied in dealing with youth violence. It is an area for much concern and we will continue to try and combat it as far as practicable to ensure that there is further reduction in respect of youth violence.”

Mr. Baras, the Commanding Officer of the Gendarmerie said that the major concern on the French side was car theft and smuggling of parts of vehicles. “About one car per day is stolen and we have organised a task force to fight this delinquent behaviour,” he stated. He reported that stolen vehicles were recently discovered in French Quarter and on the Dutch side but a third had not been found.

He said there was an increase in delinquency during the summer, but noted that violence against the person and armed robberies were decreasing.

Mr. Baras reported that there was a harmonisation of traffic rules for drivers in French St. Martin and Dutch St. Maarten, relating to the wearing of seat belts and the banning of the use of cellular phones while driving. This has led to an increase of safety on the roads.

Dutch St. Maarten’s Commissioner of Police, Derick Halliday, said there were practically the same problems in the twin-island with car thefts and other incidents. “We are analysing the situation and hopefully by next week or so we may be able to join the French task force to tackle that problem. He stated that statistics on youth violence such as fighting in schools were dropping. He pointed out however, that car thefts, burglaries and other crimes were matters of much concern.

He spoke on a draft agreement between both sides of the island whereby they are to work closely in such areas as cross-border hot pursuits, joint patrols and other initiatives that would help in better cooperation in the fight against crime.

Anguilla’s Deputy Comptroller of Customs said one of the matters discussed at the meeting was cross-border movements in terms of vessels in particular. “That has been a concern to us as far as it relates to the increase in gun-related crimes on our islands,” he observed. “We are all aware that we do not manufacture guns in any of our countries. However, the flow of guns seems to be increasing rather than increasing and can be attributed in a lot of ways to smuggling.

“This is the responsibility of the Customs Department. It is a concern and we believe that persons have been engaged in moving illicit goods which include firearms and drugs from one side to the other and we would really like to see a decrease in this. What we from the Customs Department would ask is that persons who have engaged in this should desist because, surely, the arm of the law will be out there looking for persons engaged in this activity…There has always been a nexus between drug abuse and firearms and it is really one of the major concerns for us.”

Anguilla’s Chief Immigration Officer, Laureen Bryan said there were similar issues in the three territories pertaining to immigration. She noted that the main current emphasis in Anguilla was on illegal entry which was on the increase. Ms. Bryan said her department was seeking the assistance of its counterparts in St.Martin/St.Maarten to monitor small vessels involved in the transportation of illegal immigrants between Anguilla and those two territories.

“We know there are a quite a number of open bays and we in Anguilla are faced by that problem,” she went on. “We have stepped up our patrols and have intercepted persons and prosecuted someone who entered the island illegally. Another problem is persons who might have entered legally but remain on the island refusing to comet the Immigration Department to update their status.

“Presently we have an amnesty which runs until October 3rd where we are asking all persons who are on the island of Anguilla to please come in and update their status. After this period would have passed we intend to deal with them to the fullest extent of the law.

“Persons would have heard recently that the Government of Anguilla has imposed a visa requirement on nationals of Trinidad. Over the past year plus we have seen a large number of nationals entering Anguilla from that country. The Visa requirement more or less allows us the opportunity to monitor and control the movement of persons from that country into Anguilla. That will be effective from October 1.

“We continue to see a number of nationals mainly from Dominica and St. Vincent and Trinidad coming to Anguilla. We welcome our Caribbean brothers and sisters to our island, but at the same time it has to be done in accordance with the laws and regulations of Anguilla.”

One of the other two speakers from St. Martin was Fabrice Dando, Second Head of the French Immigration, said: “I enjoy this kind of meeting because it is a testimony of our fruitful collaboration between Anguilla, the French Immigration and the Dutch side,” he remarked. He spoke about the new immigration requirements on both sides of the half French, half Dutch territory.

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