THE recent vandalism incidents in Koblerville involving juveniles reminded me of a front-page story we published over 44 years ago: “Crime Is Our Number One Concern.” The CNMI’s first governor told Variety that “reducing the crime rate will be the major priority” of his administration. “We want not only to reduce the high rate of crime but improve the image and the record of the Public Safety Department…and we must weed out and reverse some of the unfortunate happenings of the past.”
Also on MV’s front-page was a news story about a 15-year-old girl who was hit on the head with “a pipe or a wrench” while she and her family were asleep in their San Jose home. The girl was “bleeding profusely from the head” and was “rushed to Dr. Torres Hospital where X-rays showed she had sustained a fracture on the left side of her head….” She “was unable to identify the person who broke into [their] home before lapsing into unconsciousness, police said.” The girl “was later evacuated by Naval helicopter for emergency treatment in the Guam Naval Hospital.”
We’re talking about the CNMI in the mid- to late 1970s. It was still a Trust Territory-era economy: a few stores, and government as main employer. Not a lot of tourists — the tourism industry was just starting to develop. The garment industry was nonexistent. (The first factory would open in 1983.) About 70% of the CNMI government budget was funded by the federal government. The CNMI population was 14,000 to 16,000. About two-thirds of them received food assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The “alien” workforce consisted of over 800 Filipinos and over 60 Koreans.
And it was in May 1978 when the CNMI government launched an anti-littering campaign: “Trash — Don’t Toss It, Take It.” (Littering was also a major concern during the U.S. administration in the T.T. era.)
In October 1978, Variety reported that taking “time off from school and burglarizing a home seems to be the best form of enjoyment for many juveniles on Saipan, especially since there is nothing to lose. The combination of little supervision and no judge make local homes prime targets for students who want to make their own house nicer but with someone else’s property.”
According to MV, based on police records, “there have been 142 burglaries on Saipan since January; most occur during the day and are committed by juveniles.”
MV added, “All the villages on Saipan have been subjected to numerous juvenile burglaries as well as the standard nigh-time burglaries committed by both adults and juveniles.”
One suspect from San Antonio was 12 years old.
Police “have enough evidence to make an arrest, [but] there is little they can do.”
Why?
“Since burglary is one of the crimes that falls under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Trial Court, none of the cases is being brought to trial because there is no judge for the court.”
In September 1978, Governor Camacho’s judicial nominee was rejected by the Senate.
MV noted that “when juveniles were convicted in the T.T. High Court, they were usually released to the custody of their parents because Saipan has no facilities for juvenile offenders.”
For this reason, a police spokesman said, “the boys continue to do it because they have nothing to lose.” The police spokesman also pointed out that the offenders “are usually juveniles from broken homes who ‘sleep anywhere they can’ and have little, if any, parental supervision.”
Where indeed were the juveniles’ parents?
“The items stolen from a house are usually kept for the burglars’ own use: cash, stereos, watches and sometimes even cars are the most frequently stolen items. In fact, the suspects are sometimes arrested because they are seen carrying the items with them several months after the burglary.”
Several months!
The “burglaries continue despite the arrests because the offenders know that little will be done. Those arrested have usually been arrested before for the same crime.”
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