by Krystal Paco

Guam - A complaint made against Guam's police chief could take months or even years to review. As such, the Guam Community Police Review Commission has its hands tied.

The Guam Community Police Review Commission may have been established back in 1999, but fifteen years have gone by with nothing to show for it.

As outlined in the Community Partnership for Police Accountability Law, the Commission was created to review and investigate allegations of misconduct for officers and employees of the Guam Police Department.

But according to Commission chairman Roland Taimanglo, he wasn't even aware a complaint was made against Chief of Police Fred Bordallo until he read headline news.

As he met with members this afternoon, he emphasized that without rules and regulations to guide the commission, none of them are purview to such information.

"There was a letter sent to me and its with the chief of police. I did not look at it. I suspect it may be the Meno case. But I did not open it primarily because I didn't want to have any information that I'm not supposed to have," he said.

Former Port Authority of Guam marketing administrator Bernadette Sterne Meno filed a complaint against Bordallo alleging he illegally provided confidential documents to Attorney Mike Phillips who is believed to be his cousin. Meno's complaint follows her appeal to the Civil Service Commission for her termination from the Port. Meno along with six of her coworkers were terminated for their alleged roles in a scheme to defraud government and cover it up.

With only five active members in place who often struggle to meet quorum, Taimanglo states it'll take hours upon hours of work to build guidelines from the ground up. Rather than sit idle, members passed Resolution 1 this afternoon. The resolution gives that responsibility back to the Legislature to create the rules and regulations for the commission to take breath as well as informs senators that members are ready for direction.

He said, "I think if the people of Guam wants this commission and they believe that this is the main ingredient to get justice then maybe it is. But let's not forget you have the Attorney General's Office you have the FBI if you believe the Guam Police is falsifying or conjuring up this information that's why you have these agencies so I just think that a community review commission is just a small component of this whole scenario."