Tourist Police to carry batons and handcuffs as Justice targets 20 recruits

GREAT BAY--Minister of Justice Nathalie Tackling says St. Maarten’s planned tourist police officers will be permitted to carry batons and handcuffs, while the Ministry is also studying whether equipment such as pepper spray and stun guns could eventually form part of their operational tools.

Tackling told Parliament that the aim is to recruit a class of 20 officers for the tourist police pilot program, which is being developed as a separate security function focused primarily on prevention, visibility and assistance in busy tourism areas. The Minister was responding to questions from Members of Parliament during the continuation of the Central Committee meeting on the draft 2027 national budget.

According to Tackling, the tourist police will not perform the same duties as regular police officers and will not be expected to handle ordinary 911 calls. Their responsibilities will instead center on maintaining a visible presence in crowded tourism areas, assisting residents and visitors, and helping to strengthen the public sense of safety.

She explained that having the tourist police perform those functions should also allow the regular police force to concentrate more of its capacity on high-impact crime and other law enforcement responsibilities.

The Minister said the tourist police initiative will begin as a pilot program and that funding, mandates and other operational details still have to be finalized before it can begin. She also indicated that fully arming tourist police officers is not presently the starting point for the program.

Tackling explained that the current police training system presents practical limitations for quickly expanding the regular police force. According to the Minister, only one training class can presently be facilitated annually, shared among law enforcement organizations, while recruitment remains difficult because the various agencies are competing for candidates from the same limited pool.

She told Parliament that recent recruitment classes demonstrated the challenge, with only seven recruits making the cut in one class and five in another.

The Minister also identified the Dutch-language requirement as one of the major obstacles for recruits entering regular police training. Regular police training is conducted at MBO level 4, and Tackling said the required level of Dutch has proven challenging for prospective candidates.

The tourist police model is intended to create another entry point. Tackling said the training will be significantly shorter because tourist police officers will have a narrower set of duties and mandates than regular police officers. The required Dutch-language level for entry into the tourist police training will also be lower.

She said the Ministry hopes that approach will attract a broader group of candidates and, based partly on recent recruitment experience for the prison, believes it should be possible to fill a class of approximately 20 tourist police recruits.

Once operational, Tackling expects the unit to be deployed in busy areas where tourism activity and public interaction are concentrated. Their presence, she said, is intended to increase visibility, provide assistance and have a preventive effect on crime.

The Minister told Parliament that the tourist police will be mandated to carry batons and handcuffs. Other less-lethal options remain under review.

Research is being finalized on the use of pepper spray and stun guns by the police force, according to Tackling. She noted that the use of stun guns would require amendments to existing legislation and regulations governing the use of force before they could be introduced.

The tourist police pilot will also be used to determine whether pepper spray and stun guns would be feasible for officers assigned to the unit.

The development represents a different approach to increasing visible law enforcement capacity without requiring every recruit to immediately undergo the longer training necessary to become a regular police officer.

Tackling's explanation also makes clear that the tourist police are intended to supplement rather than replace the regular police force. By assigning preventive patrols, visitor assistance and other public-facing responsibilities to the new unit, the Ministry expects regular officers to have more time available for investigations, emergency response and serious crime.

No start date for the tourist police pilot was announced during the Minister's response. Tackling said the remaining funding, mandate and operational issues must first be finalized before recruitment and implementation can move forward.

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