The Department of Public Safety (DPS) is charged with the legal and moral responsibility to provide the public with reasonable safety services. The department safeguards lives and property, serving the people by maintaining law and order, and respect of the constitutional rights of the people of the Northern Mariana Islands. DPS, provides a full compliment of police, corrections, fire, emergency medical services and auxiliary services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on all three islands. This is accomplished by maintaining three fully staffed shifts in these respective areas.

The police division is comprised of four sections: Traffic, Patrol, Boating Safety and Criminal Investigation. Cooperative training and technological development with the U.S., such as the implementation of the computerized Criminal Justice Information System keep the police division up-to-date.

The fire division is responsible for fire prevention and suppression, public fire education and Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Personnel of the division are trained to respond to multilevel structure fires, rescue operations, and advanced EMS situations. EMS programs in the Northern Marianas have adopted the National Registry Exam as the system standard