Athletes fed up with Marpi crime

There’s a dirty little secret at one of Saipan’s most pristine areas—one that has hampered both tourists and locals alike. While it doesn’t grab the headlines in print or on the evening news, thieves have been attacking unsuspecting tourists and locals in Marpi by breaking into their unattended vehicles and stealing their belongings.

Sometimes it’s a pair of sunglasses, a purse, a wallet, a passport, or a cell phone, but the ne’er-do-wells have even made off with a car within the last couple of months while the victim was running on the north island roads.

According to an e-mail circulating throughout the sporting community, another incident occurred Monday night when a woman was touring around three visitors from Korea enjoying the sights.

Allegedly the foursome left their vehicle for approximately three minutes, observed one car pull up, park next to their car for a few minutes, and leave. Upon their return to the car minutes later they found a broken window and the absence of passports, purses, airline tickets, and a large sum of money.

Department of Public Safety’s Pubic Information Officer Ken Concepcion verified that the incident occurred and said that the case is still pending further investigation. He also said that recently there have been other cases, but that the problem has been an ongoing issue for the department “for quite a while” and that while there have been several arrests.

“We do want to enforce that by having the officers out there. We’re working on that as we speak,” he said.

According to Concepcion, there was a similar robbery three weeks ago at Bird Island when the victims had their car burglarized when they went to the lookout and returned to find that their camera and some clothing were missing.

Concepcion said that he is aware of the apparent lack of police presence at some of the island’s most notable landmarks but that DPS is working to protect the public.

“The commissioner and the police director are coordinating their efforts. We have officers going out there for the preliminary checks on an hourly basis and we trying to get them out there in the evenings to focus on Marpi and San Roque,” he said.

Concepcion said that DPS is looking into expanding the department’s coverage of the north side by positioning an officer at a proposed station 24-hours a day to specifically concentrate on that area.

In the meantime, Concepcion advised those looking to take a stroll or go for a jog in Marpi to take some common-sense precautions with regards to leaving their possessions behind in the car.

“Try not to leave valuables in there and keep them out of sight. If [the thieves] see valuables in there it gives them the tendency to want to break in,” he said

Some athletes have voiced their frustration by making statements like “Without a consistent presence of police up there, these guys have an open range, unless we start taking some action,” said one.

While vigilantism would not help the situation, the sporting community is keeping a watchful eye for vehicles reported to the police as being in the vicinity of the purported crimes at the time the criminal acts were carried out.