By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

THE Criminal Justice Planning Agency will provide the CNMI with a $1.1 million grant for local law enforcement programs.
Criminal Justice Planning Agency Executive Director Jerome Ierome communicated the news to the governor on Friday during a proclamation signing at the administration building.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said the federal grant is timely and necessary.
Department of Public Safety Commissioner Rebecca M. Warfield, in a separate interview, said they were “very excited and happy.”
“We thank the CJPA for working with us to make that happen,” she said. “We’re trying to show the public, the CJPA, the administration and the Legislature that we need to use that money wisely, so hopefully that money can go toward security and getting some of the equipment and training that the department desperately needs.”
She added: “Of course every grant has rules and restrictions. Once we get the paperwork done, we will be able to examine that and see how to use those funds.”
Every year, the CNMI gets an allotment of more than $1 million from the U.S. Department of Justice for local law enforcement activities.
The grant comes with a set of special conditions related to how it should be used.
The Criminal Justice Planning Agency is the administering agency for several federal programs from the Office of Justice Programs in the U.S. Department of Justice.
The CJPA has six staff members and two councils: the Supervisory Council and the Youth Advisory Council.
The Supervisory Council has 16 members and serves as the agency’s governing board.
The Youth Advisory Council also has 16 members and it advises the staff on youth activities.
The governor appoints the members of both councils.
Through these councils, the CJPA brings the CNMI over $1 million per year from the federal government for direct services to victims of crime, the prevention of juvenile delinquency, the reduction of substance abuse problems, and the promotion of other activities that aim to improve the local criminal justice system.
The CJPA’s responsibilities include preparing and developing several federal grant applications every year.
As part of the grant application packages, CJPA publishes extensive review and analysis of crime and social problems confronting the justice system.