MOU signed to set up CNMI criminal justice information system

Picture this: Once a patrol officer pulls over a motorist for traffic violation, that officer will enter the motorist’s name into a system and find out if that person has a warrant or is a fugitive and therefore be able to bring that person to justice.

This system of linking up information from one law enforcement agency to another will become a reality as early as this year, officials said Tuesday as they signed a memorandum of understanding to implement a fully developed and effective Criminal Justice Information System, or CJIS.

Once implemented, this system will allow a customs officer at the airport, for example, to have the ability to call up warrants at his or her fingertips if someone is trying to flee the CNMI to escape prosecution.

“Imagine if such a system were in place before the recent tragedies, which have so shaken our communities. Today, we sign a memorandum of understanding showing our commitment to this worthy project,” said Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said shortly before signing the 11-page MOU in front of law enforcement agency officials and other community leaders on Capital Hill Tuesday afternoon.

Associate Justice Alexandro C. Castro said the timing of the signing of this MOU is perfect.

“The economic downturn here and abroad requires our respective justice system agencies to work together for a better Commonwealth. .For us in the CNMI, let us work together to set up the most effective justice system ‘network’ in the Western Pacific,” he said.

Castro said he looks forward to the day when police officers are able to know within minutes whether a motorist being stopped for a traffic violation has an outstanding warrant; is violating a condition of probation/parole; or violating a temporary restraining order from the family court.

Judge Joseph N. Camacho, chairman of the Criminal Justice Information System, said the CJIS’s goal is “to unify all the fragmented parts into one essential and useable system so that the guilty shall not escape justice and the innocent shall be vindicated.”

“And to get to where we need to go, we must remove the small and petty things that hold us back. We must abandon the tendency to be territorial among co-equal branches, departments, and agencies,” he said.

He cited the three objectives of CJIS: To have CJIS up and running within a year; to ensure that each department and agency has the computer hardware and software to be able to access CJIS; and to ensure that there is a CJIS infrastructure in place to provide stability and continued support in the coming years.

Twenty of the 22 expected signatories to the MOU signed the document Tuesday.

The signing of the MOU came nine years after a law came into effect with the promise of a more integrated, modern, and secure criminal justice system.