DPS urges funding to solve manpower woes

Department of Public Safety Commissioner Santiago Tudela again reiterated yesterday his plea for government funding to start the hiring of new policemen, disclosing that four officers would be retiring in December and further deplete the manpower shortage at the department.

Tudela did not identify the police officers who would retire soon in his media statement, but said that their ranks range from police officer III to captain.

He stressed the need to recruit police cadets even before the retirement of some policemen, urging Gov. Juan N. Babauta and the Legislature to approve appropriate measures that will allow the police department to begin the recruitment process.

“We have an abundant candidate pool of interested individuals in the law enforcement field but lack the resources to recruit them. It would also be more cost efficient to recruit new officers at the starting level of a police cadet,” Tudela said.

Tudela said the last time when the department recruited cadets was in January 2003. He said the department currently employs a total of 127 police officers, 66 of which have ranks of police officer I. For vital services such as patrol, however, the department earlier disclosed that at least 13 men only had been working per shift on Saipan, resulting in overtime costs.

Since the deployment of some 21 Army reservists to Iraq on Aug. 21, 2004, the DPS has not hired any new police officer, except for former boating safety officer Tony Diaz, who joined the department’s patrol section last February.

The department has been pushing for at least $15 million in annual government budget, higher than the fiscal year 2005 budget of approximately $10.9 million, excluding the appropriation for the now separate Department of Corrections, an agency that used to be under the DPS.

Meanwhile, Tudela reacted to news reports on allegations that the department would be run by rookie policemen. He said that no policeman at the department is a rookie, considering that the last recruitment of some 20 cadets happened over two years ago.

“These freshly graduated officers in 2003 are no longer classified as rookies because they have been with the department for over two years. They are already seasoned officers with acquired training and experience depending on their assignments,” the commissioner said.

But Tudela lauded veteran police officers for their hard work and sacrifices through the performance of public safety services.

“Should the Legislature introduce legislation to provide an incentive for retiring police officers to remain employed without losing their 30-percent bonus, then the department will greatly benefit from that as well when they decide to stay,” the commissioner said.