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ABTC joins police academy
The CNMI Department of Commerce’s Alcohol Beverage and Tobacco Control division has entered its first batch of cadets into the police academy.
According to Public Safety Commissioner Robert Guerrero, the police academy has gained the participation of numerous government divisions like Fish and Wildlife but, for the first time, ABTC has entered its first batch of cadets.
Commerce Secretary Mark Rabauliman hopes this will be the first of many.
“This is the first time from the Department of Commerce. …We are now part of the law enforcement family. And as such, whatever standards were set…we adopted and here we are, a couple of years later, my first batch of cadets. Thanks to Northern Marianas College, the administration, and the DPS commissioner, they really helped us out. It worked out and I hope this is the first of many,” he said.
Rabauliman said it is important to extend the CNMI’s enforcement arm because of the development of numerous industries, aside from tourism.
“We try to grow the enforcement arm of not only the Department of Commerce but also other departments as we develop new industries. Outside of tourism, we now have the gaming industry and on the horizon is the cannabis law that just passed, so it would require and need a lot of help in enforcement in order to really effectuate the purpose [of] driving the economy,” he said.
Rabauliman said that the ABTC cadets started the academy on April 29 and, after graduation, the ABTC officers will be enforcing alcohol beverage, tobacco, and betel nut laws. The officers will also enforce cannabis laws once they have been established.
“It also allows them to carry firearms. We also need to understand constitutional rights but our main focus is alcohol and tobacco and, of course, betel nut. But we’re still open and waiting as the cannabis commission puts the rules together. The whole idea is to be in uniformity with the conduct and how we deal with people, like how the other law enforcement are,” he said.
