A true 'police' story

One rainy morning, a woman found a lady's bag on the ground outside a business establishment in Garapan. The bag's contents were in disarray; some of them soaked in rainwater. The woman, who thought that the bag's owner could have been a victim of robbery, took the bag in and inspected it for identification.

All the credit cards were still there, plus a Social Security ID, medication, and other papers. Not a single dollar was in the wallet. The woman called the Department of Public Safety office to have the bag picked up and returned to the owner.

The police officer who took the call told the woman to just drop the bag off at DPS in Susupe. But the woman said she doesn't have a car to go to DPS, so the officer told her to look for somebody with a car to have it dropped off, and he then put down the phone.

The woman was shocked to be hearing such statement from a police officer whom she thought couldn't see the urgency of having the bag returned immediately to the owner. Just how many DPS patrol cars ply the streets of Garapan? It took three days for the police to finally pick up the bag.

What's their tagline? Saipan's finest? CNMI's finest?

Stay Put and Relax!

These are the words coming from a masked man robbing a mini-supermarket located at Navy Hill last week. A colleague shared his encounter face-to-face or should I say face-to-mask with the robber. The grocery store is located at the ground floor of their Apartelle near Miha Housing.

My colleague was carrying his laundry basket when he ran into the robber. "Drop it and relax!" shouted the masked man. My colleague did what he was told and crossed his arms to relax staring at the robber. He said the guy was about 5'6" tall and with strong accent.

This week's robbery was recorded through the store's security cam. He was wearing a mask too. Are we going to have this robbery every week? What can the police do? What can the community do? I guess nothing but to stay put and relax....