DPS begins recruitment of new officers
The Department of Public Safety has begun recruiting individuals for its upcoming Police Academy following the termination of 12 department officers.
DPS Commissioner Clement Bermudes said that recruitment for the upcoming Police Academy has begun, with an initial plan to launch the academy in the first quarter of the year.
“We have announced the police officer positions and now we have the eligibility list of individuals that have applied. Those on the list are the people that the police department will further look into and consider for hiring,” he said.
DPS initially considered holding the academy in February, but Bermudes said personnel processing issues mean they could tentatively start in March.
“We will be processing those applicants, so that we can hopefully start the academy between January and March. Personnel processing challenges delayed the police academy,” he said.
Bermudes said DPS is looking to recruit 30 individuals.
“We are looking to hire a total of 30 police officers. That’s 25 on Saipan, and five for Rota and Tinian. The police academy will re-energize [the department] and give DPS an opportunity to regroup. My fear is overworking our officers. That’s one of the concerns I have,” he said.
DPS currently has 168 uniformed officers. If the department can boost its numbers to a total of 250 police officers, that will allow officers to have actual time for themselves and their families, Bermudes said.
Back in November 2023, DPS terminated 12 officers of the initial 28 who were under investigation for allegedly incurring illegal overtimes. Bermudes earlier said it was proven during investigation that these officers managed to accrue illegal overtime hours by manually writing in their hours instead of clocking in using biometrics.
In December 2023, nine of the 12 officers appealed their terminations to the Civil Service Commission.
Commenting on the recently filed appeals, Bermudes said these officers have the right to do so as former government employees. DPS, for its part, will be preparing its response.
Last 2022, the transition team assigned to DPS found that the department requested approval for over 11,000 hours of overtime—roughly one year and a half’s’ worth of regular work hours—in just one pay period in December.
More specifically, the transition report noted that a whopping 11,127.25 overtime hours were requested for the pay period from Dec. 4, 2022, to Dec. 17, 2022.
In addition, the transition team also stated that upon review of timesheets and OT requests from January 2022 to January 2023, it found that DPS had been paying out excessive OT accruals for the same group of officers, some higher-ranking officers and certain lower ranking ones as well—specific to certain sections.
The transition team found that, of the over 11,000 hours in overtime, about 4,000 OT hours, roughly about five-and-a-half months of regular hours, were requested for 40 officers who were allegedly part of former DPS commissioner Robert Guerrero’s “inner circle.”
Clement Bermudes
