Kralendijk/Oranjestad- The Police Force Caribbean Netherlands (KPCN) say they are looking into allegations of possible wrong-doing by their officers in St. Eustatius.

According to KPCN, recently employees of the Force have been accused on Facebook of acting unlawfully on St. Eustatius. “A video has been posted on Facebook that the police on St. Eustatius would not have acted correctly in enforcing the emergency ordinance regarding Covid. Today, Monday 28 September, the same person who posted the film has filed a complaint with the KPCN. This will be investigated in accordance with the existing complaints procedure” according to a statement from Police on Tuesday morning.

Internal affairs

The Police Chief has now instructed the Internal Affairs Office to investigate the case. According to KPCN, the same person also posted a film on Facebook at an earlier point time, in which he accused a number of employees of the Police on St. Eustatius of wrong-doing and even of criminal offenses. “All this gives a negative image of the Police on St. Eustatius. The Internal Affairs Bureau has investigated virtually all of the previous allegations and has determined some of them to be untrue”, said Police in their statement.

Evidence

According to KPCN, attempts have been made to contact whoever posted this film for any additional evidence to support these accusations, but this has not been successful to date. “At the moment, based on this investigation and on the basis of the ongoing complaints investigation, the police chief has no reason or evidence to believe that the accusations are true. He distances himself from these allegations and asks everyone to deal carefully with the so far unfounded allegations on social media”, according to KPCN.

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