Guam - In the New Year the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority is expected to see increased security as it moves toward implementing a program to keep neighborhoods safe.

GHURA is continuing efforts to establish its Police in Neighborhoods program.   The agency has been working on the program since last year with hopes of implementation in 2014.  GHURA executive director Michael Duenas told KUAM News, "We are now at the stage where we are engaging in specific discussions with the Attorney General's Office or will be there are some provisions in there that are legal counsel has said the AG has some concerns with over the last few years we will be ironing out those concerns so that both the Government of Guam and the Guam Housing Authority are in a position to minimize any exposure to liability."

Duenas says he's been instructed by the board to implement the program as soon as possible, adding the program is seeking at least four officers to reside in designated GHURA neighborhoods for little to no fee in exchange for their services.

He explained, "We are basically looking at four sites, as you know. We are organized around four property site management regions; we are looking at putting an officer in each of those regions - that's Toto Gardens and developments in Dededo. We're looking the most appropriate place to put an officer, so we'll be looking at the statistics from the Guam Police Department to observe the frequency of calls for assistance we will base that on what the statistics are showing in terms of frequency of calls."

GHURA was looking to implement the program this month.