Inmate escape turning habitual
At Issue: Continued escape of inmates from the Susupe jail compound turns into hide and seek game.
Our View: DPS Commissioner must explain a neglect that definitely endangers peace in our community.
It is very unsettling to hear news of inmates convicted of heinous crimes escape from the Susupe jail compound not once, but several times in less than a year. Such bad tidings send chills down the spine of the entire community.
They must, unnecessarily, search for cover to ensure that their children and loved ones aren’t the next victims of prisoners out about town. It is really very uncomforting that this issue has yet to be resolved. Is the problem an issue of the lack of leadership, management skills, a divided agency, poor morale among officers or something?
We don’t necessarily relish the idea of dishing critical assessment of a vital agency whose very presence in this community is so reassuring in terms of security and peace. In saying so, DPS needs to resolve prisoner escape in that it seems it has become habitual.
In its immediate community, there’s Marianas High School with hundreds of students moving from one class to another throughout the course of the day. Their safety is instantly threatened when prisoners flee their jail compound. We dread the day when one of the escapees takes several students or teachers hostage. Anything can happen under this case scenario.
Then there are the barracks of apparel companies at Texas Road. Most of these employees are female workers. Another negative headline against these workers is a tale of the obvious lack of enforcement in this community. We hope the magnitude of this issue is understood forthwith by DPS Commissioner Charles Ingram. We can’t leave anything to chance as a direct result of neglect.
Or what if escapees go after judges who send them to the slammer or jurors and witnesses who were instrumental in their incarceration?
These are more the reasons that DPS must buckle down in the resolution of life threatening neglect. Perhaps it needs to review the qualifications of police officers assigned to guard the Susupe jail compound. Those who have failed their fiduciary duties should be disciplined forthwith, if not, terminated for their obvious neglect.
We hope DPS can resolve this issue. It owes it to the community it serves. We look forward to decisions that will put an end to this occasional hide and seek between police officers and escapees. Si Yuus Maase`!
