Time to get serious

Last Friday a car belonging to visiting tourists was broken into at Ladder Beach. Frankly, I don’t see why this is even news. After thousands of car and home break-ins over the years this seems to be as predictable, and as acceptable, as the sun setting or the tide rising. Not only is there a lack of will to stop this activity, there doesn’t even seem to be a desire. The general reaction seems to be, “tsk, tsk, that’s Saipan…”

So, we sit back and say what a shame. Meanwhile, the tourists involved go back home to China, Russia, Korea, and Japan. If we’re lucky they will simply consider their trip a bad memory and vow to never return. But more likely they will tell everyone who will listen about their experience in the CNMI. And, with the help of the Internet, that is a big audience. What should happen in a situation such as this is for MVA to immediately step in with a rapid-response team to offer assistance to the victims and help them salvage their vacations. Yes, even if it is a weekend. High-level elected and appointed officials should make immediate contact with the victims and offer apologies. I doubt if this has ever happened even once, much less on a routine basis.

Any good that may have been accomplished by MVA spending tens of thousands of dollars attending the latest tourism trade shows will be obliterated by this negative publicity. If the Legislature would spend a tenth of the time addressing crime that they do obsessing about casinos I have no doubt that the problem could be solved.

Tourists will not come to Saipan for casinos and shooting ranges. We already have casinos, and the shooting ranges we did have accomplished nothing but result in a half dozen murders a few years ago. Tourists will come to Saipan when they are not robbed, when the beaches are clean, and when they can drive down our roads without having to look at abandoned and burned-out buildings and dead animals.

It is time to get serious. Clean up the island. Clean up the criminal punks, clean up the litter, clean up the abandoned buildings, and the tourists will return. As it is now, coming to Saipan is like vacationing in Baghdad. In retrospect it probably is good that James Cameron chose not base his expedition on Saipan or that the Queen Mary couldn’t enter port. The submarine probably would have been broken into and the Queen Mary stolen.

DPS and MVA, set up some sting operations. Wildlife monitoring cameras (very appropriate, since we are dealing with animals) are available for less than $200. Put one at every tourist site. DPS and Commerce, hammer the pawnshops. We have laws regulating them. Check their records. If they don’t have records for every item in their shop shut them down and prosecute them. Legislature, enact some habitual offender legislation instead of discussing expunging criminal records. And judges, let’s see some real punishment, not suspended sentences, reduced bail, and letters of apologies.