IN SOUTH Korea, “The Blue House” is the house of the president, like the White House in the United States. This is just a surface aspect of the political dimensions of the Guam Blue House case. Human trafficking is as lucrative as illegal drugs. In the FSM victim case, my question is beyond Guam. How many other young FSM women have been exploited and sent to the U.S. mainland under the Compact of Free Association? Guam is just the closest location to the FSM. These girls were recruited as part of their exploitation. For safety reasons alone, the federal government should keep close track of FSM migrants to make sure they are not exploited.

In the Guam Blue House case, this aspect may have inhibited information-sharing between law enforcement at the federal and local levels. No one seems to have been communicating very well. The federal side didn’t share information with the local side. Also, the federal side did not seem to go after the police misbehavior under their "color of law” enforcement powers. These were police using their positions to do illegal things. Maybe there is a plausible reason for this. The local side has been split into several pieces between the AG and GPD and these pieces don’t communicate very well. The AG's Office has become notoriously inefficient and dysfunctional following the change to an elected AG. This was obvious when the governor had to ask the AG to assist in pursuing this case. If this disconnect continues, the governor may have to appoint special prosecutors in the future to assist with handling these types of issues. Part of this disconnect may be based on a fear that those investigated will be tipped off. As I have said before, Guam needs an inspector general that is insulated from these types of dynamics.

If we are serious about addressing the concerns raised in this case, Guam needs a criminal corruption hotline that is designed specifically to address law enforcement and regulatory corruption. About 10 years ago, there was a guy running around here posing to be a health inspector. He was using a set of fake credentials to get all sorts of items from stores. Why didn’t any of these stores ever report him? Bribes are bribes, extortion is extortion. There is not a lot of faith that anyone really will do anything. Who guards the guardians? Many police are embarrassed and concerned about this case. The vast majority of police are hardworking and have a real concern for protecting the community. The police themselves wanted this case to be looked into.

I know a lot of effort was made to establish a commission to review law enforcement here. It seems as if the Legislature has run for the hills on this Blue House case. I personally don’t have a lot of faith in these types of commissions. If you want to know why, just look at the mess we call public education. In effect, the school board is a dysfunctional commission that serves to provide a buffer between the Legislature and you, the voter. While scapegoats can be good for getting elected, they are bad policy tools.

Don’t get me wrong when I sound critical. My general point is that we have created a disconnected set of systems that operate as power fiefdoms that do not really serve the community. We could do better and we could have more accountability. We could also have more trust in government. Guam citizens trust the federal government twice as much as the local government. Even here, all seem to have failed.