Funds delay police academy training

A federally-funded program creating 45 new police officers in the Northern Marianas has been placed on hold following delay in appropriating local money to train recruits of the Department of Public Safety, officials said yesterday.

But Mike Sablan, special advisor for finance and budget, said some $235,000 was obligated by the Tenorio administration last September to fund the required training despite failure to include the expenses under the current fiscal budget.

“That is a priority project,” he said in an interview. “It will beef up our law enforcement agencies, reduce overtime pay and pump money into the commonwealth.”

Denying they have yet to provide necessary funding, Sablan said: “I’m surprised that there is a hold up.”

Financed through a federal grant, the program will bolster the enforcement capability of the island while curbing overtime pay and personnel costs of the DPS which has in the past spent millions of dollars for police officers working beyond their shift hours.

Senate President Paul A. Manglona stressed the need to push the program in view of the financial difficulties besetting the NMI government amid declining revenues.

Since the U.S. government will shoulder the cost of paying these new police officers, CNMI will not have to be burdened with raising additional money to hire these badly needed law enforcers, he said.

“Their salaries will be paid out of the federal funds,” Manglona told in an interview. “Not only are we saving on overtime pay, but we are going to be spared from paying them.”

Public Safety Commissioner Charles W. Ingram earlier had asked Manglona to persuade finance officials to allocate $235,000 that will cover training at the Police Academy of the Northern Marianas College as well as travel expenses and stipend for the 45 recruits.

DPS was chosen a recipient of the COPS Universal Hiring Program (UHP) grant in which it will receive about $2 million in annual assistance to pay for the full-time police officer positions, including 25 for Saipan and 10 each for Tinian and Rota.

But Ingram, in a phone interview yesterday, said the grant is currently under review and the amount is being “re-calculated” to determine how much should be provided to the CNMI as the island does not have any federal tax obligation.

“It’s just paper work,” he explained. “I believe local funds have been allocated already and we are just waiting for the federal money to come in.”

According to the DPS chief, the department has received more than 45 applications so far and they are in the process of evaluating each applicant to determine who will be hired for the program.

“I hope the DPS will act promptly on this… It will be significant savings for the government because a lot of the overtime pay come from the department and at the same, it will benefit our efforts to have better protection for the people,” Manglona pointed out.