The Department of Public Safety’s organizational chart proposed by Acting Deputy Commissioner Save Liuato has come under the scrutiny of two Senior Police officers, Captain Pierre Clemens and Captain Pouuamea Tuaolo Supapo, who are raising a lot of questions and concerns in a letter leaked to Samoa News and addressed to the Commissioner of Public Safety, William Bill Haleck.

MISSING DEPUTY COMMISSIONER TITLE

While a Special Assistant to the Commissioner is included in the chart, it lacks a slot for Deputy Commissioner, and the two say this creates a lot of questions about the line of command.

(Samoa News notes the Commissioner’s Special Assistant is Fuega Moliga, who is the governor’s brother.)

Clemens and Supapao ask who will assume command of DPS when the Commissioner is off-island or if some unfortunate situation or incapacitation arises? “Is it the “Special Assistant,” they ask, or someone else?

They say appointing the Chief of Police as the Acting Commissioner could provoke the question of why?

“DPS is not just police.” The Chief of Police is in charge of a Bureau, just as the Fire Chief and Warden are in charge of their respective bureaus, and “they are all equal”.

“Incidentally, by legal definition (locally) … a Police Chief, Fire Chief and Warden (are) basically the equivalent of a Commander, but (have been) ‘somehow renamed’ on paper (to) give the impression that the bearer of this title somehow has a higher rank when (in) reality his rank is equal to a Commander.

“If we had a Deputy Commissioner, the foregoing issues would be quelled,” they contend.

INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Captains Clemens and Supapo, who are both assigned to Internal Affairs, say that it needs to be a ‘Stand Alone’ section. They tell Haleck, it is vital that every police department, be it a singular entity or part of a Public Safety concept organization, have its own internal policing mechanism.

“Not only does Internal Affairs serve this purpose, among a number of others, but it also serves at the ‘eyes and ears’ of the Commissioner and reports to him directly.” They pointed out that they couldn’t think of one police department in the entire country that has an Internal Affairs section that is incorporated into another section.

FOURTH SHIFT

Clemens and Supapo note that the suggestion by Save for the fourth shift, calls for a serious clarification, “because I do not know this is going logistically, materially and operationally without creating disruption and confusion.

“Unless Save has a ‘creative’ explanation, it seems that in order for this to happen, (unless of course some quantum anomaly has forced time to shift a day from 24 to 32 hours) the fourth shift would have to report for duty in the same station in the middle of the third shift watch and it would have to overlap into the first shift’s watch.”

They told Haleck that this would create the problem of having two separate watch commanders in the shift that have to share the limited amount of vehicles and computers.

“All this will do is create unnecessary confusion and hardship. To exacerbate the confusion and further drain existing material sources, he proposes that the fourth will also serve to assist in Community Policing and clean-up. In addition, “he argues that the purpose of having a fourth Shift is for in-service training.”

Supapo and Clemens point out that it is clearly stated in the DPS Standard Operational Procedures Manual (SOPM) that the responsibility of a Watch Commander is to Direct, Discipline and Train his subordinates.

“As we discussed, the reason this is not happening in some shifts is because their respective Watch Commanders (painfully unqualified from the beginning) were promoted on the ‘Who you know — Not what you know” (basis) … this could be resolved by simply continuing to instill personal accountability and discipline coupled by promotions based on merit.”

SUB STATIONS REORGANIZATION

Clemens and the Supapo are puzzled why Save proposes to allocate more manpower in Fagatogo, while closing the Leone and Fagaitua sub stations.

“First of all Marine Patrol is in Fagotogo (and they have a healthy share of manpower) who can assist Fagatogo… Second, records will clearly reflect, and every Assistant Attorney General (Criminal) will attest to the fact the volume of cases that Tafuna handles far surpasses Fagatogo and Fagaitua combined.”

They suggest a comparison between the areas of responsibility of Tafuna and Fagatogo in regard to population, number of businesses, miles of paved and unpaved roads and topographical lay-out (mountains, accessibility road contours as it relates to response time) of the two areas.

“Taking all the possible scenarios (including natural disasters) in its totality, this is important for several reasons but, to point out two of them, first it (the comparison) will answer the question as to which area of responsibility poses greater difficulty in terms of Public Safety response.”

They also note that it would provide a “clearer picture” as to why it would be unwise to close down the Leone and Fagaitua sub-stations, according to Clemens and Supapo’s letter.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DIVISION

Save is proposing to fix something that works. The letter says that Save renames some units that are already in-place as if this will improve the division. “For example, we already have a White Collar Crimes Unit. Will re-naming it ‘ECONOMIC CRIMES TEAM’ somehow change things?

“Second, why did the ‘Public Corruption Unit and the Juvenile Unit suddenly disappear? Third, he (Save) mentioned Human Trafficking and for some reason felt that assigning two detectives and a police investigator will suffice. This is ludicrous. It appears that he does not have a clear grasp of what is involved in a Human Trafficking case investigation.”

EVIDENCE ROOM

Save suggests that only one officer be assigned to this task. “The reason for this number rests upon the ‘relatively low volume’ of evidence that comes in on a weekly/ monthly basis. However, what he (Save) failed to totally consider is that one officer (who does not have a crystal ball) has no way of knowing when he will be called to handle evidence.”

As such, he is placed in a position of constantly being placed on-call twenty hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The Senior Officers point out that anyone placed in this position can’t expect to have a life. “One cannot make plans for personal reasons, let alone truly enjoy what little time can be spent with family.”

The officers ask, “How would the department expect to handle evidence if this one officer were sick, or if he chose to exercise his Labor Rights to take his ‘Excess Annual Leave’ that he has earned and is entitled to?”

The two captains gave an alternate suggestion: that the Identification Section and Evidence Room be combined and assigned to four officers under the command of a Lieutenant.

“This Lieutenant will be the only one who will have access to the Evidence Room. In the meantime, assign the remaining three officer to three shifts (one on each shift) stationed at Fagatogo.” The captains say the lieutenant in charge will conduct an inventory of the evidence that was seized the night before (in the presence of the submitting officer) and when the items are accounted for, “the lieutenant in charge (THE ONLY ONE WITH THE EVIDENCE ROOM KEY) will turn in the evidence into the evidence room.”

This is beneficial on many fronts, they say: 1) it promotes a consistent handling of evidence, scene photos and sketches; 2) It “frees-up” the patrol officers and provides more time to do follow-up; 3) It presents a situation wherein “less hands” are involved in the handling of evidence, 4) and finally, by having four officers, the department will not be “held hostage” when the one officer is sick or exercises his right to take his excess leave. It will alleviate “burn out” and eventual morale problems at home and at work, Clemens and Supapo say.

And in a final salvo, Captains Clemens and Supapo point out the organizational chart does not address two entire divisions — the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) and the Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV).