Previous Story
DPS: Only major intersections get cops during outages
|
Posted on Sep 04 2008
The Department of Public Safety has been assigning uniformed police officers at major traffic intersections only during power outages.
DPS Traffic Section chief Sgt. Paul Ogumoro said yesterday that their primary concern is to make sure that there will be officers deployed at major intersections when there is no power.
Major intersections are the ones at Microl-San Jose, Chalan Kiya, Navy Hill-Commonwealth Health Center, and Middle Road-Garapan near the Happy Market.
“Majority of people pass through these intersections. We put people there when the traffic lights are out because that’s where we think serious accidents would occur,” he said.
He said DPS does not have enough resources to cover all the smaller intersections.
Ogumoro advised motorists to treat smaller intersections just like what drivers do at the three-way intersection in front of the Garapan Fire Station.
“Have courtesy, have respect, be attentive, be smart when operating a vehicle. Whenever you approach a traffic light that is down, you treat as it is a stop sign or a U sign,” he said.
Ogumoro said police officers will also monitor major intersections at nighttime during outages.
He, however, pointed out that officers will not be standing in the middle of intersections at nighttime during outages for their safety.
On the issue of four to five police cars usually seen parked at the Microl-San Jose intersection during outages in daytime, Ogumoro said these police vehicles are not there the whole day.
“They must have seen a shifting of the guards at the intersection,” he explained.
