‘Crimes in the CNMI staggering’

Just last year alone, more than 15,000 crimes, car collisions, and criminal complaints were reported to the Department of Public Safety in the CNMI, a number that, according DPS Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero, is a “staggering” sad reality.

On the methamphetamine or “ice” problem alone, Deleon Guerrero disclosed that over the last two years, the joint DPS, Customs, and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force seized over $720,000 worth of “ice” off the streets and confiscated over $84,000 in assets in the process.

Deleon Guerrero discussed crimes and his war on “ice” in his speech during the grand opening of the Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation Building behind the DPS Bureau of Motor Vehicle in Susupe.

While there were 15,000 incidents reported last year, the commissioner said DPS now has less than 100 police officers on Saipan to handle them.

That’s not including non-essential services the public expects the police to provide. Deleon Guerrero said these range from funerals, religious processions, and public and private education fundraisers to marathons, non-government service provider fundraisers, bike races, triathlons, fun runs, to name a few.

“The taxation against our department’s fiscal, physical, and human resources is enormous. We need help and we need it now,” he said.

Over the next few months, DPS will begin hiring more than 20 police officers or cadets, depending on the qualification of applicants that are made available through the CNMI Office of Personnel Management.

Deleon Guerrero said this will allow DPS to allocate more personnel to CBI and critical first response functions of the department like patrol and the Community Oriented Policing Services project.

This, however, will not be enough to meet the current demands, so he is appealing for assistance wherever they can get them.

On war on “ice,” Deleon Guerrero said the solutions to the problems are not complicated to implement, but do require political courage to carry it out.

In the same way that DPS and Division of Customs have been cleaning their own houses, the commissioner urged other law enforcement, regulatory and government entities to adopt rules that call for the expulsion of members found to be involved in drug possession or drug trafficking-related activities.

“We need to send a message to the public that we are serious and we shall not allow anyone involved to hide under the guise of constitutional protection at the expense of organizational integrity,” he said.

Deleon Guerrero said the cost of “ice” right now is $400 per gram, a highly profitable illegal trade that “has to be destroyed.”

The commissioner recalled that since he declared a war on “ice” in January 2014, what followed were several drug-related arrests, two double murders, and a missing person who has yet to be found.

He said that when he declared a war on “ice,” he warned everyone that it was going to be “long, dangerous, and expensive” to prosecute.

Deleon Guerrero said he also called for the establishment of a drug court and a process by which drug users can be rehabilitated and reintegrated back to society.

He said law enforcement cannot fight this war alone and be expected to win it. He said he is now pushing for a “shift” by taking swift and decisive actions.

He challenged all detectives assigned at CBI to find those drugs and to aggressively pursue drug offenders.

“We shall not spare anyone in the process. I want every police officer in the Commonwealth today to be actively looking for drugs and offenders every time, all the time,” Deleon Guerrero said.

The commissioner urged the Legislature to provide DPS the $200,000 they are seeking to fund the war on drugs.

“We will not only win the war on ‘ice’ but return the Northern Mariana Islands to the peaceful islands status we all once knew,” he added.