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RegistryGOV · 2026 · 326TopicGovernance and public administrationPosition39 of 39LanguageEnglishEarlierWhy the dunes at the lighthouse are not up for a quick decisionShare
GOV·2026·326

The Police and Our Nature: Looking Away Is Not a Free Choice

A banner split on a diagonal: on the pale left half a contour map of Aruba under the word ROPV in aloe, on the dark right half the word POLICE over the blue light bar of a police vehicle at night.

Driving a quad or UTV through a nature area is an offense, and the police already hold the power to stop it. Criminal enforcement waits for no minister.

Someone drives a UTV or quad straight through a nature area, off the designated roads? That is not a grey zone. That is an offense, and the police have the authority to act. Let me make it concrete.

The officer on the street is an investigating officer. For offenses against our spatial-planning and nature legislation, that means he may stop the driver, establish their identity, and draw up an official report. Driving where it is not allowed is a punishable offense, carrying detention or a fine. That is not a dead letter. That power already exists today.

And here is the point that often gets blurred together.

The criminal enforcement of the penal provisions is a standalone police responsibility. It does not wait for a minister. It does not depend on a decision to shut down or on administrative enforcement. The police can, and must, investigate and cite the offense on their own authority, here and now, regardless of whether the government takes administrative action. But the criminal track stands entirely apart. The one is not a precondition for the other.

In other words: the police do not have to wait for anyone to enforce the penal provisions.

And responsibility for that is not vaguely assigned. It rests with the corps itself, with the chief of police as the highest in command. The KPA's looking away is therefore not the free choice of any individual officer. It is a responsibility that reaches to the top of the chain of command.

The question is not whether the police can act. They can, now, with the powers that already exist today. Stopping the driver, citing the offense, making the driving stop: that is not a matter for the future. That is the law as it stands. It is a matter of enforcement, and of the courage to act. So let's ask one question: how many tickets has the police actually issued, to date, for motorized vehicles operating in protected areas? We all suspect the answer. And that answer is not a gap in the law. It is a gap in enforcement. The powers are there. What is needed is the will to use them.

The power is there, and so is the responsibility to use it. Yet the police remain silent.

9 September 2026