Commonwealth of Northern Marianas national flag Photo: 123rf
Authorities in the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas (CNMI) say prison officers on the island will not will allowed to take their guns home when they are off duty.
The decision has been made by CNMI's Department of Corrections after an officer pointed his service weapon at his girlfriend after getting into and argument following work on April 9.
It means that all service firearms issued to corrections personnel have been recalled following the incident while the department's firearms policy is currently under review.
The 47-year-old jail guard has been charged.
Corrections commissioner Anthony Torres said the CNMI is the first Department of Corrections he was aware of that allowed personnel to take their service-issued firearms home.
Torres clarified that corrections officers will still have access to firearms when on duty and assigned to a special unit or when escorting inmates out of the institution.
In CNMI, police officers are usually the enforcement officers authorised to take home their firearms, not jail guards, he said.
The corrections chief, who has extensive experience as a correctional officer in the United States, said he wants to thoroughly review CNMI's policies regarding service firearms.
"Sworn personnel here have service-issued firearms, but this is the first institution [Corrections] where they have been allowed to take it home," Torres said in a statement.
"I recalled all of them and I am reviewing policy," he said.
The corrections department has about 150 personnel.
