When we came to Saipan, we didn’t expect to be invited to meet with members of the Municipal Council and we certainly didn’t expect to see our picture in the local paper but there we are! Municipal Council Chairman, Ramon Camacho, is one of the prime movers behind the new Saipan Neighborhood Watch Task Force and it was his idea to invite the leaders of the various churches on the island to become involved in spreading awareness of this new initiative.

Neighborhood Watch is a program that is designed to reduce crime and to instil a greater sense of security by putting the “neighbor” back into neighborhood and involving individuals in making their community a safer place to live. Petty crime or “mischief” as Task Force adviser, William S. Torres, called it is increasing on the island. He attributes this, in part, to the present recession which has hit Saipan particularly hard.

Though bringing the program to Saipan has been in the works for some time, it’s introduction is particularly timely given the fact that the most heinous crime in the island’s history was committed just over two months ago. Early on the morning of May 25, 10 year old Faloma Luhk and her 9 year old sister, Maleina, disappeared without a trace while waiting for their school bus. The FBI were brought in to participate in the search, as was a search and rescue dog from Hawaii, but not a thing was found that would lead them to the girls. Their faces stare at us from posters and banners all over the island but the search has pretty much come to a dead end. People are definitely ready for anything that will make the island a safer place for their children.

Though it was neat to see our photo in the paper, we weren’t at all happy with the reporting. During the meeting, Rev. Pete Miral of the Christian Bible Church mentioned that it would be difficult to get people to report suspicious activity if they didn’t have confidence that the Department of Public Safety would follow through on those reports. He said that his church was burglarized a year ago but the DPS has yet to solve the case. Knowing that there is general unhappiness with the DPS on the island and knowing, of course, that headlines sell newspapers, the title of the article became “Religious leaders disappointed in DPS” which in no way reflects either the purpose or the focus of our meeting!

In addition to being unhappy with the reporting, we were also very disappointed by the poor turnout from the churches. We were particularly surprised to see no representation from the Catholic church which holds most of the islanders tightly in its grip. Camacho emphasized the important role that religious leaders play in the community and the powerful influence that they can have for good. I’m sure he was just as disappointed as we were.