DPS re-hires former policeman to beef up its depleted ranks

The Department of Public Safety has re-hired a former policeman—the first one to join the department after the deployment of several others to Hawaii for Army training.

Tony Diaz, who used to be assigned at the boating safety section, joined the patrol section in mid-February, according to DPS spokesman Eric David.

The re-hiring of Diaz brought the total number of policemen patrolling Saipan to 44.

The manpower shortage at the department lags on, however, as DPS couldn’t hire as many policemen to fill in vacant positions due to funding woes, David said.

He said the manpower problem would continue this year. The DPS would have to train some 75 cadets at the police academy before the cadets could be sworn in as police officers to fill in vacant positions at various offices at the department.

Cadets are paid some $13,000 per annum. When they become police officers, they get at least $16,000 per annum as starting salary.

According to DPS commissioner Santiago Tudela, his department shares approximately $15 million with the new Department of Corrections under the fiscal year 2005 budget. The government is operating under the same budget as that of FY 2004 due to the failure to adopt a new one for this fiscal year.

Diaz became the first one to be hired by the department after 21 policemen—most of them from Saipan—were deployed to Hawaii last Aug. 16, 2004, for Army Reserve training and eventual deployment to Iraq.

The DPS spokesman said that, while the department has about 154 employees, there are only 44 policemen patrolling Saipan’s roads to ensure public safety. Thirty-three policemen belong to the patrol section, while 11 others work for the traffic section.

The manpower shortage compels those assigned at the traffic section to work on 12-hour shifts. David said patrol officers work in three shifts.

Sometime last month, the DPS commissioner disclosed that no emergency hiring took place after the deployment of several policemen for Army training.

Before the re-hiring of Diaz, Tudela had said that the Office of Personnel Management was processing the re-hiring of three former policemen.

According to Tudela, the DPS could not simply take in anyone who would like to become a police officer, noting the rigorous requirement needed of 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.