It’s the view of Director Samana Semo Ve’ave’a that power of arrest is the teeth that Homeland Security needs to address the growing drug problem in the territory.
And he’s hopeful that, in the next Legislature, lawmakers will see it fit to approve legislation that will give his department the authority to arrest law breakers.
Legislation to do just that was tabled by the Senate because of what senators felt was unclear language pertaining to arrest powers of some of the departments and agencies, which would have received that authority under the bill.
The House had approved the bill but the Senate returned it to the committee.
Samana told KHJ News, that both Senators and Representatives have repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction with unsolved and unprosecuted high profiles drug cases, white collar crime, and other offences.
But he explained that while Homeland Security has investigative powers, it does not have power of arrest. He feels the legislation that was tabled would help crack down on the out of control drug situation in the territory, a topic that government leaders have labeled a major social ill.
At Fono hearings, lawmakers were critical of the Homeland Security director for unsolved drug cases, which have been widely reported in the last five years. Examples were large quantities of ice delivered in the LBJ Hospital mail; drugs found at the Post Office; drugs found in imported vehicles, said to belong to a relative of a government leader; ice found during a raid of the fire crash unit at the airport and a few others.
The Homeland Security director feels investigations by their department will amount to something, if they are given arrest powers.
In a background paper, Samana outlined the territorial security landscape and pointed to the threat of China as reason for concern.
The 2020 census recorded 49,710 residents. There are 120 police officers, so that’s a ratio of 415 residents to 1 police officer.
Samana said, giving other agencies and departments of the government with law enforcement functions will alleviate the load on the Department of Public Safety.
He revealed that efforts are underway to establish a unified monitoring call center for emergency services with the Emergency Operations Center at Homeland Security. It allows for “seamless coordination of all first responders and boosts their ability to deploy resources on time sensitive emergencies to save lives.”
Samana also pointed out that he serves as the territory’s liaison to the Federal Emergency Management Agency on all emergency planning and management response, together with the Governor’s Authorized Representative. And he has the authority to deputize, under special circumstances, to support local response to natural and man made disasters.
It’s his opinion that the bill tabled in the Senate will complement their ability to act as stewards of public trust — of federal funds from potential fraud, waste and abuse.
