Northern Marianas College President Dr. Galvin S. Deleon Guerrero, Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan, Department of Public Safety Commissioner Anthony Macaranas, DPS Tinian Resident Director Wally Villagomez, NMC Criminal Justice Program Coordinator Zerlyn Taimanao and other college officials pose for a photo in the NMC conference room on Friday.
NMC photo
NORTHERN Marianas College President Dr. Galvin S. Deleon Guerrero, Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan, and Department of Public Safety Commissioner Anthony I. Macaranas on Friday signed a memorandum of agreement to train a new batch of cadets to become police officers.
The MOA allows NMC and DPS to establish a police academy on Tinian for a joint training program between the Tinian DPS and NMC.
According to Tinian DPS Resident Director Wally Villagomez, the island currently has only 10 police officers. “That number is not enough; that is why we are really pushing for the academy to augment the shortage in manpower,” he said. Fortunately, he added, the crime rate on Tinian “has not really gone up” despite an influx of people brought to the island by military construction projects.
Aldan, who served as a policeman for 17 years, said, “We have already seen burnouts among the 10 officers who can no longer spend quality time with their families.” The Tinian municipal government has been operating for two years with only nine officers, he noted. At times, officers “hit the bottom” because they cannot even take their families to Saipan for vacation due to commitments to the police department.
The mayor highlighted that the current officers have been serving Tinian law enforcement for 15 to 20 years. “Hopefully, within the next three months of the new police academy on the island, we should be able to eliminate some of those tensions and burnouts,” he said.
Villagomez added that the sight of a police academy on Tinian will give officers the motivation to continue serving the community effectively.
Aldan thanked Deleon Guerrero and the NMC leadership for making the Tinian police academy possible. In response, the college president said NMC “is always ready to serve. We are very good at getting creative about finding the resources.” He also expressed appreciation to the mayor for partnering with NMC, praising his initiatives to build local capacity with available resources on Tinian.
“It is an honor and privilege to partner with you to build capacity on Tinian,” Deleon Guerrero told the mayor. He also thanked Macaranas and Villagomez for their support in establishing the academy.
To Macaranas, the NMC president said, “You’ve always been a man of integrity. A man of integrity honors his words, and you have consistently followed through on your commitment to upscale our law enforcement community. That is why I really thank you.”
Deleon Guerrero also recognized NMC Criminal Justice Program coordinator Zerlyn Taimanao, describing her as almost like a “Swiss Army knife” in building law enforcement academies. “She brings all law enforcement programs together, mixes in the various agencies and partners, and somehow produces quality cadets and graduates,” he said.
Taimanao acknowledged that none of this would have been possible without the support of the college deans, the vice president, and the college president.
