DPS manpower shortage drags on

There are currently only 40 policemen taking shifts to ensure Saipan’s public safety, according to police commissioner Santiago Tudela.

Tudela added that the Department of Public Safety is also experiencing vehicle shortage, but it could not procure new ones due to financial woes.

The manpower shortage at the DPS lags on following the deployment of some 21 personnel for Army training last August 16—most of them from Saipan.

“We have not hired any officers yet for replacement,” Tudela said in an interview Friday. “There is really no emergency hiring that exists.”

Currently, the Office of Personnel Management is processing the rehiring of three former policemen, the police commissioner said.

He said that the DPS could not simply take in anyone who would like to become a police officer, noting the rigorous requirement needed for a law enforcer.

An aspiring policeman must have successfully passed English 101, physical agility and academic tests, and three months of training at the academy.

“If we have the funding, I’d like to get the police academy going,” Tudela said.

Those who are accepted in the academy as cadets get paid $13,000 per annum. The salary rate increases to $16,000 per annum immediately after graduating from the academy.

“If I were to hire 20 officers with a base salary of $16,000 per annum, the training will cost about $400,000 for the salaries and equipment,” Tudela said.

There are actually 56 vacancies at Saipan’s police force, but Tudela said those could not be filled up due to funding woes.

Ironically, he said, the lack of manpower results in greater overtime cost for the department. “We can still operate, but [it] costs a lot of overtime,” the commissioner said.

Tudela also disclosed that many police vehicles are undergoing repair, but the department is hobbled with the lack of funds to acquire new ones.

At least two police vehicles marked as “out of service” could be seen parked at the DPS headquarters. As of press time, the DPS could not disclose how many vehicles are functional and patrolling the island.

Tudela said the DPS shares approximately $15 million with the new Department of Corrections under the fiscal year 2005 budget, with the government operating under the same budget as that of FY 2004 due to the failure to adopt a new one for the new fiscal year.