Sint Maarten

Fights between students from secondary schools are again becoming an issue of concern. On Thursday September 18th and Friday September 19th 2014, at least three big fights between a group of students from the Sint Maarten Vocational School and a group of students from Milton Peters College took place.

According to the information that was gathered by the investigating officers and the Community Police Officer for that district was that a student from the Sint Maarten Vocational School confronted a student from the Milton Peters College because, according to him that student looked at him “screw face” at which time a big fight broke out between the two groups. When the police officers arrived on the scene the student from the Sint Maarten Vocational School took off running, leaving the students from Milton Peters College behind.

These students were taken to the Philipsburg Police Station where they reprimanded and stayed until their parents came and pick them up. The parents were informed of the situation and requested to have a serious talk with their child. The fight between these students continued on Friday morning in front of the Milton Peters College and at the Sint Maarten Vocational School causing major disruption at the time.

After the situation was under control parents of the students and students were sent to the Police Juvenile Department to file an official report.

Because of these unnecessary fights and police had to be called to restore order, the focus of the police on other important issues was taken away. Because of this unfortunate situation an urgent meeting between the management of the Milton Peters College, members of the Education Department, the Public Prosecutors Office and the Community Police Officer was called on Friday September 19th.

This meeting was to discuss how to best tackle this situation before it gets worse. The media will be informed regarding the issues that were discussed during this meeting.