The construction of a new Guam Police Department and Guam Fire Department headquarters is an expensive endeavor costing about $25 million and the revenue streams that Bill 301 proposes has brought up concerns with the Office of the Attorney General and the Unified Courts.
During the public hearing on Bill 301 yesterday, it was disclosed that the proposed funding for the new facility will come from the rental fees GPD and GFD are already paying for and other sources of potential revenue streams that are in the bill.
Currently, GPD pays $19,350 monthly for its Tiyan facility and the fire department pays $103,939 a year in rental fees at the DNA Building in Hagatna. GPD is currently in arrears of at least $60,000 (as of December 2009) in its rental payments.
The bill creates a “GPD Headquarters Building Fund and the GFD Headquarters Building Fund.†All monies GPD and GFD are currently paying in rental fees will go into this fund as well as other funding sources to pay for the financing of the new headquarters.
However, Perry Taitano, administrative director of the courts, testified that the concern the court has with the bill has to do with the fact that any law that addresses traffic fines or misdemeanors would impact the Judicial Building Fund since these funds go to the courts and not GPD.
The bill states that all traffic citations issued shall have a 5 percent surcharge which will be deposited into the building fund and any fees collected by GPD shall be deposited to the building fund.
Taitano said that $11 million was refinanced through the Bank of Guam and over $3 million was used to pay off the balance of the judicial building. The remainder was set aside for the design and construction of the forensic crime lab to include the collateral equipment, which the courts purchased for the lab.
“We want to ensure the protection of the agreement the courts has with the Bank of Guam and the loan covenant.â€
Taitano testified that the courts have worked with GPD Chief Paul Suba and staff to propose a substitute bill that would take care of the concerns of the courts.
Deputy Attorney General Phil Tydingco testified that the AG’s office has problems with the provision that would create petty misdemeanor and misdemeanor citation procedures in which all monies collected would go into the building fund.
Tydingco testified that the bill broadly states that GPD in collaboration with the Unified Judiciary and the AG’s office is hereby authorized to create rules and regulations for the petty misdemeanor citation subject to the Triple A process within 120 days.
“I have concerns about the bill, mandating that the AG’s office enter into creating citation procedures especially as they involve misdemeanors,†said Tydingco.
Tydingco testified that if the government were to create a citation system that includes misdemeanors, or DUIs, one of the ramifications is that people will be able to buy their way out and just pay fines.
Also, citations don’t require any police reports.
“If the procedures get set up and the person decides he doesn’t want to go through the citation procedure and wants to go to trial, nobody has written down statements, (because) all he got was a ticket… no one is going to be able to refresh their memory when it does go to trial. These are some of the practical concerns the AG’s office has,†testified Tydingco.
He added that the bill doesn’t determine what types or what degrees of misdemeanors require citations.
