Testimony by the Commissioner of Public Safety, Lefiti Aitulagi Pese, on his department’s proposed Fiscal Year 2024 budget yesterday revealed that the shortage of police officers has been exacerbated by the removal of some divisions of DPS.
These divisions include the Territorial Correctional Facility and the Fire and Marine Patrol, which are now under two new departments: Department of Corrections and Department of Search & Rescue.
Commissioner Pese said in the past, DPS personnel shared functions of the various divisions but the removal of these branches of DPS has added to their staffing problems.
The shortage of police officers has also led to the Fagaitua substation being closed. Responding to a question from Rep. Luaitaua Gene Pan, the commissioner said renovation of the east side substation have been completed but they’ve had to close it for now because there are not enough police officers to man it.
Lefiti told the hearing that DPS has 130 police officers and he’s requesting another police academy so they can recruit new police officers.
He revealed plans to build a new police substation in Tafuna, which will house Police, Fire and the Office of Motor Vehicles, to serve the most populated part of the island. But when asked if funding for such a project is included in their new fiscal year budget, the answer was no.
Non-payment of police overtime is an issue, which is always raised in the annual review of DPS budget; and yesterday was no exception.
Rep. Shaun Vaa asked if there was funding in the budget to cover overtime. The commissioner explained that because the amount of overtime is not certain when the budget is prepared, the department will seek funding in a supplemental bill to cover overtime costs.
Rep. Vaa was dissatisfied with this explanation, saying police are always told there’s no money but they are faced with difficult tasks and should be compensated.
Senator Malaepule Saite Moliga told the Commissioner and the DPS Finance Manager Vele they already know the holidays and periods when police are expected to work overtime, and they should calculate overtime costs and include them in the budget.
DPS’ budget request for Fiscal Year 2024 totals $6.6 million, up from $5.8 million in the current fiscal year.
Of the total amount, $5.5 million is local revenues and $1.1 million is federal grants. The number of employees increases from 141 to 166.
$5.2 million is allocated for Personnel, $844,000 for All Others, $214,500 for Contractual Services, $151,000 for Travel and $94,000 for Materials and Supplies.
