Unprecedented pressure on Public Prosecutor and the police

From Amigoe Friday 16 September 2005 :

We wonder why there was so much animosity between former police chief Jan van der Straten and PM Nelson Oduber, his cabinet and the Prosecutor’s office? One only needs to read this article from Amigoe to begin to wonder if the Natalee Holloway investigation was not one along party lines. The former police chief is a speaker at the AVP opposition party function making the following opinions:

“It is very important when a person like Van der Straten that knows the comings and goings in our society, gives such distress signals”.

With such an important investigation like the Natalee Holloway one going on while Van der Straten was the police chief one really does wonder about those so called “distress signals” and whether some one so recently close to the investigation need be making such comments.

ARUBA — During a gathering for the European-Dutch population on the island that was organized by opposition AVP in Club Havana earlier this week, former chief of police Jan van der Straten expressed heavy criticism on the ‘unprecedented pressure’ of the current government on the Public Prosecutor (OM) and the police. Reliable sources within the OM confirmed this situation.

The AVP invited Van der Straten as guest speaker. He used the occasion to talk about the enormous pressure that the Oduber-cabinet had put on the OM and the police in the past period of office. “Not only the system is under unprecedented pressure, but also individuals experience that pressure and are literally being threatened and fired. The government doesn’t even hesitate taking it to the lowest degenerated level.” He even gave a concrete example of intimidation that he experienced: “Isn’t it something when the Prime Minister gives the order to retrieve Van der Straten’s possessions and afterwards comment about these in public?” He didn’t want to go into details about what he called ‘examples where people’s privacy was invaded and where people are locked up because of their actions and expressions.”

Van der Straten says that the Oduber-cabinet won’t last: “The nation does not want a prime minister that has time for such matters. Short term thinking and short term actions are not in the interest of the nation and definitely do not contribute to the increase of the integrity. Oduber will not get the absolute majority and he will then get out. Those were his words, not mine.”

He also criticized the government’s security policy: “You don’t increase the safety in Aruba by giving everybody weapons. You don’t increase the safety by establishing shooting associations with an international character. You don’t increase the safety by throwing hunting methods at illegal persons, while you should have taken actions long before they got here. You don’t increase the safety by appointing people in the police corps that have not been screened enough. You don’t increase the safety by continuously undermining the authority of the Corps management with all sorts of memo’s of so-called advisors. You don’t increase the safety by calling police officers ‘scouts’ and continuously undermining the confidence of the Corps. You increase the safety by taking a model position in the field of openness, honesty, integrity, vision, and decisiveness.”

AVP-leader Mike Eman thanked Van der Straten for giving his opinion: “It is very important when a person like Van der Straten that knows the comings and goings in our society, gives such distress signals. I think that we have to take this very serious and that we cannot continue like this. A radical change is necessary after September 23rd.