Amigoe: Superintendent of police in Aruba Ronnie Bernadina gets out

Bernadina is disappointed in what his job has made of him.  “When you get in that highest position, you realize that nobody appreciates you; not your colleagues, not your employer, not the government.” 

Superintendent Ronnie Bernadina, sometimes its not about you. Actually when in positions of authority, most of the time its not about you. Most of the time its about results and the quality of investigations. On a Caribbean island that depends primarily on tourism … its about the protection and safety of those tourists. Bernadina has some questions to answer as to why the investigation of Natalee Holloway’s disappearance was not handled in a normal, professional and competent manner. Why was it handled differently? Van der Stratten leaves the case … then Dompig leaves the investigation … now Bernadina retires early. I am sensing a trend.

Amigoe, June 21, 2006: Superintendent of police in Aruba Ronnie Bernadina  gets out 

After having worked as chief of corps for a few years, chief superintendent of police Ronnie Bernadina will take early retirement at the end of this year.  

ARUBA – Superintendent Ronnie Bernadina will take early retirement at the end of this year.  The chief of the Aruban police corps mentioned in a letter to the rest of the corps that he thinks that he had ‘sacrificed’ enough for his country.  After 37 years, he’ll pack the police work in. 

He emphasized that his decision to stop working has nothing to do with the recent commotion about the unpaid overtime.  He has submitted his letter of resignation a few weeks ago already.  Bernadina is disappointed in what his job has made of him.  “When you get in that highest position, you realize that nobody appreciates you; not your colleagues, not your employer, not the government.”  He indicates that he had experienced many good moments during his years of service, but that the bad experiences of the last phase of his career had led to the decision to leave.  He wants to leave at the end of this year in order to give the government time to appoint a successor and allow him enough training time. 

Bernadina and Justice-minister Rudy Croes (MEP) met yesterday morning with amongst others some experts of the Finance Administration.  They agreed to do everything possible to find funds for the overtime payments of this month.  At the end of the meeting, they emphasized that the main subject of the meeting was not the amount of overtime, but the payment of the claimed overtime.