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Norita suspends 2 Tinian cops, 1 firefighter for marijuana use
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Posted on Jun 16 2008
Department of Public Safety commissioner Claudio K. Norita suspended yesterday two Tinian police officers and one firefighter for marijuana use.
“The process requires me to serve them suspension and if they don’t want to comply with the drug testing, then they will be terminated,” said Norita during a press briefing yesterday.
The commissioner refused to release the names of the three Tinian DPS personnel, saying administrative action is still ongoing against them.
He disclosed that three weeks ago, DPS received information of drug use by some DPS personnel on Tinian.
“Based on that information I instructed our Internal Affairs to conduct an investigation. We directed four employees of DPS on Tinian for drug testing and the drug test came back positive for marijuana on three of the four,” Norita said.
The commissioner said that when the drug analysis was confirmed by the laboratory, the three personnel were put on restricted duty.
He said the two police officers were stripped of their firearms, assigned to administrative support, and grounded.
“We processed their paperwork and as of today [Monday] Internal Affairs is serving them their 30-day suspension,” Norita said.
Under the suspension order, the three will have to undergo drug counseling and complete the program before they can return to work.
“If they do not complete the drug counseling within the 30-day suspension period, they will be reverted to leave without pay,” he said.
With respect to Saipan DPS, Norita said since he was appointed commissioner, he has initiated random drug testing but the results were negative.
About Rota DPS personnel, Norita said no drug testing has been done yet due to logistics or funding issue.
