An esteemed group of panelists discussed corruption and the lack of resources as part of Guam’s War on Drugs Forum, hosted by University of Guam students who plan to graduate with a degree in criminal justice later this year.
On Wednesday morning, the community was invited to attend the forum at UOG, which featured panelists including Attorney General Douglas Moylan, Judge Maria Cenzon of the Supreme Court of Guam, Senator Chris Barnett, Executive Director of Public Defender Service Corp. Stephen Hattori, Homeland Security Investigations Supervisory Special Agent Robert Ramirez, Guam Police Department Commander Col. Joe Carbullido, and GPD Bureau of Investigation Chief Major Fred Chargualaf.
The forum was organized by UOG students from the Fall 2024 class of Criminal Justice Capstone, who were responsible for choosing the discussion topic, inviting panelists, and creating questions to ask the panelists.
Cole Merfalen, one of the students in the class, told The Guam Daily Post that the purpose of the forum was to bring together diverse individuals to share their perspectives on the methamphetamine epidemic plaguing the island.
“I think this is very useful because, for example, this is a unique group of panelists who are not always together and cannot always talk about the same topic,” Merfalen said.
Some of the questions posed to panelists focused on how corruption and a lack of resources are hindering drug enforcement efforts on the island.
In response, the panelists gave their insights into what they see in their respective positions.
“I don’t think many people know that there are connections between some of the so-called major human trafficking organizations and those connections extend to the highest levels of our government,” said Barnett, who also examines the island’s “cultural and family connections.” mentioned. can sometimes jeopardize ‘people’s ability to do good’.
From a law enforcement perspective, Carbullido said at the local level that corruption hinders the GPD’s ability to enforce laws, while Ramirez explained that corruption investigations can fail even if it affects only part of the process.
Moylan further emphasized that the amount of money made in the drug world often leads to corruption.
Hattori and Cenzon later discussed the lack of resources that affected not only law enforcement efforts, but the entire justice system.
Hattori mentioned the Department of Corrections, which currently houses 950 prisoners and detainees, and how conditions will affect them once they are released.
“We basically just house four to six people (in) a cell and that’s fine as long as they’re there, but they get out and if you treat people like animals, what happens when they’re there?” If they are not given the resources to succeed when they are released, then we will address the problem two to three years later,” Hattori said.
Cenzon then referred to a trial she held in her courtroom where testimony was given that six GPD officers were needed on a given shift to respond to a traffic stop.
“Resources are definitely limited,” Cenzon said.
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