SECURITY

 

     In the 1950s and 60s, Am. Samoa Government offices were located in various quarters and buildings of the old Fagatogo-Utulei Tutuila Naval Station area. When the Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital was built and completed in 1968, government offices were centralized and moved into a vacated hospital complex in Utulei. This Utulei Administrative Bldg. complex was then occupied for about twenty years until it was then replaced by the A.P. Lutali Executive Office Building in 1987. The current Dept. of Adm. Services Security Division seems to have originated during the Interior Administration around 1952.

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     However, during the Naval era of 1900-1951, security was handled by the Navy and the Naval Fita Fita guards and Village Police. In 1953, the first Police Department was created under the Office of the Attorney General and provided security for the various Dept. of Interior Offices and Local Island Government. The DAS Security Division may therefore have originated as a separate unit under the head of the Island Government, the Secretary of Native Affairs or, with the Office of the Attorney General.  

       

     The current Security Division is responsible for guarding the Utulei government offices 24/7 in order to ensure the safety of employees and the general public from harm; as well as crowd control, traffic and pandemic safety.