DPS chief vows relentless operations vs burglars

Department of Public Safety Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero has vowed that police will actively pursue burglars in the CNMI and bring them to the court.

“We are going after you and we are going to come after you relentlessly,” said Deleon Guerrero in his message to burglars.

In an interview, the commissioner said they are going to work hard and spend a great deal of resources to apprehend burglars and bring them to justice.

He said there are way too many community members who have suffered for years because they became victims of burglary and theft.

“I for one will probably spend the next four hours just listing down the same people that I know who are victims of burglary,” he said.

Deleon Guerrero said DPS is going to build the capacity of investigative function so that they have the necessary resources to go after burglars.

He said it would also help if both the prosecution and the court will look at these repeat offenders and send them to jail for longer periods of time.

He also hopes the Board of Parole will not release repeat offenders without having convincing rehabilitation to ensure that these these persons will not re-offend.

“We have been catching way too many burglars and have been putting them in jail and only to be released much too early,” he lamented.

He said this is one of the chief reasons why they are actively pursuing drug offenders.

“The sad reality here in the Commonwealth is that people steal to support their drug habit or people steal to gamble or to do both,” he said.

The commissioner said it is time that DPS focus on the “ice” problem because it’s very rare for a person to steal something to support a family.

“It’s mostly to buy drugs and gamble, or buy drugs or gamble,” he added.