A campaign to minimize\u2014if not eradicate\u2014the proliferation of methamphetamine or \u201cice\u201d will be \u201clong, dangerous, and expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is according to Department of Public Safety Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero during a budget hearing at the Senate chamber on Capital Hill yesterday.<\/p>\n
A visibly emotional Deleon Guerrero again pleaded to lawmakers to increase his department\u2019s budget, which he said will allow the DPS to properly carry out its duties.<\/p>\n
He, along with other senior officers of the DPS, faced member of the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs chaired by Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian).<\/p>\n
The DPS has requested a budget of $7.2 million, which is way higher than the administration\u2019s proposal of $4.5 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe war on ice is long, dangerous, and expensive,\u201d Deleon Guerrero said, stressing that the DPS would need more training, more people, and dedicated legal counsel.<\/p>\n
The police chief said \u201cice\u201d is on the DPS\u2019 top list of priorities, along with preparations for a \u201cbooming\u201d tourism industry, and preparations for a soon-to-emerge gaming industry, highlighted by the opening of Saipan\u2019s first casino in Garapan.<\/p>\n
Deleon Guerrero said the DPS needs to have the necessary staff, the necessary expertise to deal with all the developments happening in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t work with (a budget of) $4.5 million,\u201d Deleon Guerrero told lawmakers bluntly, when asked if he has a \u201cPlan B\u201d should the DPS fail to get its $7.2 million budget.<\/p>\n
The police chief\u2019s budget request included allocations for 20 more police officers, a dedicated legal counsel, and a counselor.<\/p>\n
Currently, the DPS \u201cshares\u201d a legal counsel provided by the Attorney General\u2019s Office, with the Board of Parole.<\/p>\n
Deleon Guerrero specifically cited the legal counsel\u2019s role of updating the DPS\u2019 employee handbook, which has been in use since 1985.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe DPS is perhaps the most liability prone agency in the CNMI. The government has to deal with costly settlements,\u201d he said, adding that this concern can be directly addressed by an updated handbook.<\/p>\n
\u2018Eye-opener\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Hofschneider, meanwhile said \u201cit was an eye-opener\u201d after hearing the police chief\u2019s recommendations and his report on the current state of the DPS.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are trying to get fund sources outside the general appropriations that we can tap into, so that we will be able to come up with a more clear budget for DPS,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Back in June, Deleon Guerrero practically begged lawmakers to give his department the necessary budge.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not just asking, I\u2019m begging,\u201d Deleon Guerrero said.<\/p>\n In the budget presentation, the DPS said it is earmarking a big chunk of the budget, about $5.1 million, for personnel, and $1.6 million for operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A campaign to minimize\u2014if not eradicate\u2014the proliferation of methamphetamine or \u201cice\u201d will be \u201clong, dangerous,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[20,26,152,35],"class_list":["post-206144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines","tag-budget","tag-cnmi","tag-deleon-guerrero","tag-dps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}