DPS: We will also go after the parents

Stung by a string of school burglaries allegedly committed by students, the Department of Public Safety vowed yesterday to give teeth to the law, not only by pursuing cases against the culprits but also by running after parents of juvenile delinquents for property damages.

DPS spokesman Eric David also confirmed for the first time that the suspects charged in the burning of a Kagman High School room were students of that school.

This comes in the wake of the arrest last week of five students of the Marianas High School in connection with a recent burglary and theft at the school from where some valuables where taken. Over the weekend, unidentified suspects also broke into the Hopwood Junior High School and several items, including two laptops and a digital camera.

David did not comment if police have already identified any suspects in the Hopwood burglary, saying tersely that the case remains under investigation.

“Once we get leads from this investigation, we’re going to let the community know that we’re going to be hard on them [suspects],” David said.

He said the government would run after the parents of juvenile delinquents for property damages that their children have done to the schools. He said the department would confer with the Attorney General’s Office about the matter.

“This would be a lesson to those responsible, to let the community know that the Public School System and the DPS are not fooling around,” the DPS spokesman said.

David said police would heighten patrol checks on schools now that classes are over for the summer vacation.

Three students allegedly set fire to KHS’ Environmental Science and Oceanography Room sometime last month before the school’s graduation rites. The Thief Apprehension Select Coalition joined in the investigation and arrested three teenage boys.

Investigation revealed that the suspects burglarized at least two classrooms. The fire gutted some $50,000 worth of computer and information technology equipment, including LCD projectors, a laptop, a 29-inch television, microscopes, desktop computers, printers, and wireless computer modems.

In the June 1 MHS burglary, five suspects stole a laptop computer, a PlayStation, DVD players, and two cell phones from Room J-106.

Two of the five suspects arrested are aged 17 and 16, and are residents of Susupe and Chinatown, respectively. Police also took into custody three other students, including Sohn Cepeda Macaranas and Ernesto Bicalso Sablan, both 18 years old and residents of Chinatown, and Emanuel Atalig Matagolai, a 19-year-old Dandan resident.