{"id":233470,"date":"2016-08-02T06:06:46","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T20:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=233470"},"modified":"2016-08-02T06:06:46","modified_gmt":"2016-08-01T20:06:46","slug":"torres-wants-1-2m-increase-dps-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/torres-wants-1-2m-increase-dps-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Torres wants $1.2M increase in DPS budget"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-233470 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/torres-wants-1-2m-increase-dps-budget\/dps-pix-2\/'>DPS-pix<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-233483'>\n\t\t\t\t21st Department of Public Safety\u2019s Police Cycle valedictorian Sasha Marie Basa Pangelinan poses with her mother, police detective Catherine B. Pangelinan, and her grandmother, Teresita Basa Pertudo. (Ferdie de la Torre)\n \n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/torres-wants-1-2m-increase-dps-budget\/dps-pix2\/'>DPS-pix2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-233482'>\n\t\t\t\tGov. Ralph DLG Torres and Lt. Gov. Victor Hocog along with other government officials pose for a group photo with the graduates of the 21st Department of Public Safety\u2019s Police Cycle yesterday at Saipan World Resort\u2019s Taga Hall. (Ferdie de la Torre)\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres wants to increase the overall budget for the Department of Public Safety by $1.2 million.<\/p>\n<p>He made the announcement as he congratulated the 29 new police officers and three other new officers from the Department of Lands and Natural Resources Fish and Wildlife Division and Quarantine Division, and Office of the Public Auditor, during a graduation ceremony yesterday at Saipan World Resort\u2019s Taga Hall.<\/p>\n<p>Sasha Marie Basa Pangelinan was named the valedictorian for the 21st DPS Police Cycle, while Elton Josh Blas Castro emerged as the salutatorian.<\/p>\n<p>Iris Kay John Rangamar was the top gun. Felix Mendiola Hocog was the physical fitness awardee, while Jomalyn Santos Gelacio received the governor&#8217;s leadership award.<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Taisacan Barcinas II and Athan Simeon Odoshi Taisague received the perfect attendance award.<\/p>\n<p>Class valedictorian Pangelinan said she feels very honored receiving the award. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sacrificed everything I had. I always do and I put all I had into this academy,\u201d said the 26-year-old daughter of Police Detective Catherine B. Pangelinan.<\/p>\n<p>Pangelinan described the training as \u201c19 weeks of hell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI plan to marry DPS,\u201d said Pangelinan when asked about her plans. <\/p>\n<p>Salutatorian Castro is the son of Willihardo A. Castro and Leonora A. Blas.<\/p>\n<p>In his remarks, Torres said they have to do more to encourage a vibrant economy that allows businesses to pay a living wage that alleviates stress among the citizens who are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck.<\/p>\n<p>Torres disclosed that he is working with Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan) to increase the local minimum wage to the federal level of $7.25 this year so that the people can have greater resources to build a better life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have pushed for greater economic growth that has already seen more people employed for higher wages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The governor said more and more people get into the workforce and out of social services. <\/p>\n<p>He said more businesses hiring locals are finding opportunities on the islands.<\/p>\n<p>Torres noted that the use and abuse of crystal methamphetamine or \u201cice\u201d still runs rampant throughout the community.<\/p>\n<p>Torres said violence also remains a problem for many families.<\/p>\n<p>The governor said it is not enough to simply arrest drug users and dealers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to treat the underlying causes of this behavior,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Torres committed $1 million in his budget proposal to establishing a substance abuse treatment center to go alongside the newly established drug court.<\/p>\n<p>Torres said he also asked the Legislature to provide an additional $1 million from the casino gross revenue tax this year to the Community Guidance Center to work toward treating this illness immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we stop the urge to use, we can put a stop to petty theft, abuse, and violence that arises from addiction,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n<p>Torres said he worked toward increasing the overall budget for DPS by $1.2 million in his proposed budget to the Legislature along with more positions to increase DPS\u2019 total force.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will continue to advocate for more funding to ensure that you continue to protect our people\u2019s security without worrying about the financial security of your families,\u201d Torres told DPS officers.<\/p>\n<p>DPS Commissioner Robert Guerrero, in an interview said for the interim, the 22 new Saipan police officers are going to be assigned to patrol section.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s where they get into the system, learn actual fieldwork, police work and then from there they go up to specialized unit,\u201d Guerrero said.<\/p>\n<p>He said the seven new police officers, who are from Rota, will go back to Rota DPS today, Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The commissioner said the training was long and hard for the cadets. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think everybody got together as one. They understood how to work together as a team and they put together as you can see,\u201d Guerrero said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres wants to increase the overall budget for the Department of Public&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":233482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[20,35,67,12756],"class_list":["post-233470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-budget","tag-dps","tag-people","tag-taga-hall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233470","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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}