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DPS manpower shortage results in $2.2M OT
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Posted on Aug 04 2005
The manpower shortage at the Department of Public Safety has resulted in overtime cost of at least $2.2 million from the beginning of the fiscal year to July.
DPS deputy commissioner Juan Salas said the Legislature should pass the $15 million budget for the coming fiscal year, saying that there is a need to raise policemen’s salaries to attract new graduates to join the police force.
According to Salas, the present fiscal year’s budget for the DPS only totals $10.9 million, excluding the appropriation for the new Department of Corrections, which used to be under the police department.
“If the salaries go up, we can tremendously cut down overtime,” Salas said.
Since the deployment of some 21 Army reservists to Iraq on Aug. 21, 2004, the DPS has not hired any new police officer, except for former boating safety officer Tony Diaz, who joined the department’s patrol section last February.
For instance, Salas pointed out that the salary of a police sergeant in the CNMI is $22,000 per annum, the starting salary of a police officer 1 on Guam.
For police operations, Salas said patrol officers work on three 12-hour shifts. With each shift having at least 13 men. Each policeman works at least 60 hours weekly or 120 hours per pay period, he said.
Salas said, though, that operations are not hampered, but the department has to reduce manpower in police stations, such as that in Kagman.
Even though the manpower shortage problem has lagged on, Salas said the department has managed to cut down on overtime costs compared to those of fiscal year 2004.
The department’s overtime costs for the new fiscal year up to July totaled approximately $2.20 million, while the same period in fiscal year 2004 incurred overtime costs of over $$2.236 million.
