Sen. Jim Moylan wrote to the police chief today concerned about the governor’s redirection of about $2 million every year from the Guam Police Department. In another analysis he has conducted from public records, Mr. Moylan has calculated the personnel cost of using police officers to protect the governor and lieutenant governor at $825,385.75 for the first two quarters of the fiscal year alone.
The senator has been critical of Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero’s use of police resources for her detail as GPD struggles to fight crime. The letter he wrote is just the latest of several, where he points out the governor’s security costs eclipse the already-high amount the Calvo administration spent.
The text of the letter follows:
Dear Chief Ignacio;
With the budget season upon us, our office recently sent a FOIA request to the Department of Administration to inquire into how much of the Guam Police Department’s budget was spent on Executive Security for the first two quarters of 2022. We were certainly concerned at the amount expended, considering the need for your department to achieve its many objectives, particularly when it comes to keeping our neighborhoods safe.
For the first two quarters alone, $825,385.75 was spent to protect 2-3 individuals. At this point, the expenditures for Executive Security will easily surpass $1.7 million (considering that the 18% LEO increase didn’t take place until the second quarter), which represents nearly 5% of GPD’s overall budget. While this is certainly a reduction from the excess of $2,000,000 spent on Executive Security in each of the past two Fiscal Years (2020 and 2021), it is alarming that this service is being treated as an unlimited credit card.
While I am not challenging the need to provide the Executive Security for the Governor and Lt. Governor, I would like to request that a plan be established for this expenditure, and further that the very plan be followed. We introduced Bill 203-36 last year to authorize the Chief of Police to establish a plan and incorporate a budget for Executive Security, and to add this as a line item as part of GPD’s budget. The amount established would be based on your recommendations, and if reasonable, the legislature would adopt it as part of the overall budget. I am hoping to attain a public hearing on the measure in the coming weeks, and more importantly to obtain your thoughts and recommendations.
In Public Law 36-54, we were successful in securing language to mandate annual Police Cycles, hence the importance that the budget provided to your department is stretched to maximize the manpower available to protect the entire island. Likewise, in 2018, the previous administration was being criticized by the 34th Guam Legislature, as they exceeded $1.3 million in expenses associated with Executive Security in Fiscal Year 2018. The numbers spent on this service over the past 2.5 years make those figures seem very modest, and unfortunately that just doesn’t seem right.
I appreciate your thoughts and comments on this issue, and as we have done so several times over the past 3 plus years, I always look forward to a healthy and collegial conversation with you. My objective is to give you and your department the ammunition needed to keep our island safe, and I am always here to assist when needed. Thank you very much for your time.
Respectfully;
Jim C. Moylan
