'Crimebuster' arrives on Saipan • Former FBI agent tapped to help solve criminal activities in Western Garapan

When there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who are you going to call?

The CNMI government called for a federal investigation expert and former FBI agent Phil Godwin came.

Mr. Godwin reportedly arrived on Saipan last week to help as consultant to the newly created anti-prostitution task force.

Mr. Godwin, who is also former head of the Attorney General’s Office-Investigation Division, arrived on island in time for the weekly-meeting of the 15-man anti-crime task force. He arrived ahead of the scheduled date.

Government officials disclosed Friday that the former FBI man participated in the weekly-meeting held at the Marianas Visitors Authority to get a grasp of the existing flesh trade and illegal activities in Western Garapan.

During the recent meeting, task force members briefed Mr. Godwin on illegal trades in Western Garapan. The team brainstormed on the existing statutes and soon-to-be implemented government policies that will discourage illegal activities in the CNMI.

Mr. Godwin’s participation in the newly formed task force appears to be part of the government’s desperate attempt to curb the proliferation of prostitution and other illegal activities on Saipan’s prime tourist area.

Sources said the former chief investigator is being considered for a two-month consultancy services.

The administration is reportedly convinced that the CNMI needs the services of an investigation expert, not to mention someone who have worked with America’s prime probing body, in order to finally eliminate proliferation of crimes and prostitution on the island.

However, it remains unclear which fund will be tapped to finance the services of Mr. Godwin who will be working with the task force for the next two months.

The newly-created task force, headed by CNMI Attorney General Herbert Soll, seeks to provide concrete solutions to the mounting problems of prostitution and increasing crimes committed against the island’s tourists.

Government agencies and private sector organizations joined hands in this fresh move to completely eject commercial sex workers, thieves, robbers and other unlawful elements from the streets of Western Garapan.

All government agencies have reportedly pledged active involvement in the initiative, in a last-ditch effort to save the local tourism industry.

Prostitution topped the most prevalent concerns raised by businessmen in the Western Garapan area, according to a survey commissioned by the Department of Public Safety from September to December 2000.

Prostitution equally tied with public parking in the list of the district’s most pressing concerns. Purse snatching, theft, burglary, sewage, trash bins, closed roads, street market, and littering completed the roster of problems a tourist destination venue can certainly do without.

Business owners particularly have long been pleading authorities to put a halt to the proliferation of prostitution on Saipan especially as these alleged sex workers have been known to encroach on their establishments’ premises in going about their “business” deals.

While police authorities and community members both agree that prostitution is an act that is so hard to prove, businesses especially hotel establishments are seeking a solution to this burning social problem.

Around the nation, statistics from the National Task Force on Prostitution states that over one million people in the US have been employed as sex workers, or about 1 percent of American women.

This figure is according to records compiled in the 1980s. Statistics further reveal that average prostitution arrests in the US mainland include 70 percent females, 20 percent male prostitutes and 10 percent customers.

Over the years, strong and heated debates have been devoted to the issues on prostitution. Today, there is reportedly no official definition of legalized decriminalized prostitution.

According to research, most societies that allow prostitution do so by giving the state control over the lives and businesses of those who work as prostitutes. (EGA)