DPS expects crime rate to rise

With the current development and economic activity in the CNMI, especially on Saipan, the Department of Public Safety plans to beef up its enforcement and community presence in anticipation of an increase in crimes.

DPS Commissioner Robert A. Guerrero, who was yesterday’s guest speaker in the Saipan Chamber of Commerce meeting at the SandCastle of the Hyatt Regency Saipan, said they expect criminal activities to rise with the opening of the casino and other businesses in the coming months.

“There would be more people on the island. The casino and other big business will bring in more people. And whenever there’s more people, we anticipate crime to increase as well,” he said. “We anticipate the presence of more criminal activities on our streets with the increased economic activity. We’re preparing for everything—robbery, theft, ice, and other crimes. A lot of robberies are connected with drugs and we’re preparing for that.”

Guerrero said the CNMI Drug Task Force—composed of personnel from DPS, the Division of Customs Services, and the Department of Corrections—seized over 2,000 grams of “ice” or crystal meth last year.

“This has a street value of over $800,000. The task force is involved in the daily operations on what to do and who to investigate.”

“We do get briefed on it but we don’t get into the operations issues. But we do have a lot arrests involving ice,” said Guerrero, who added that there are inmates at Corrections on drug-related charges.

Guerrero said the drug court, which is still fairly new in the CNMI, is a separate entity that would do the whole process of reviewing the cases. “What happens is, we bring in guys and then refer them to the [Office of the Attorney General], and go to the drug court.”

DPS has arrested 113 individuals for crimes against property and another 379 for crimes against persons this year alone. “These individuals, as you’ve probably heard, have been prosecuted and others have ongoing trial. We made quite a number of arrests, there are a lot of pending cases that have search warrants, and active cases against criminals being investigated,” said Guerrero.

He added that most of those arrested, either awaiting or have ongoing trial are detained at Corrections. “The facility is built to hold up to 600 inmates. When I left Corrections, there were around 150 and right now, probably around 200 and there’s quite a bit involving ice. The federal detainees are different, they are at the facility for awhile then shipped out to serve time in federal prisons,” Guerrero said.