Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Puerto Rico Lawmaker Seeks Tighter Security for Public Housing Complexes - LAHT

Puerto Rico Lawmaker Seeks Tighter Security for Public Housing Complexes


SAN JUAN – A Puerto Rican lawmaker on Monday asked for tighter controls on access to public housing complexes after a weekend on which three people died violently in one.

Angel Muñoz issued a communique calling for the reestablishment of the housing complex control system that Puerto Rico had had in place in the past.

Muñoz also proposed the creation of a permanent police presence in the complexes, including round-the-clock patrols.

“The tragedy we experienced in Fajardo this weekend has dismayed the entire island. We have, as legislators elected by the people, to seek alternatives to prevent, not only sexual violence but also citizens taking justice into their own hands,” he said.

“It’s imperative that we once again establish the system to control access for all public residences. The (control) booths, with law enforcement officers stationed in them, are necessary in each communal area,” Muñoz said.

The reaction of the lawmaker follows the incident that occurred in the wee hours of Saturday, when a mother and her son were shot to death in an domestic quarrel in the Pedro Rosario Nieves housing complex in Fajardo, a municipality on Puerto Rico’s eastern coast.

The man who fired the fatal shots was murdered a few hours later in the vicinity in what authorities suspect was a settling of accounts.

Muñoz emphasized that his proposal will benefit some 60,000 people who live in 300 housing complexes in Puerto Rico.

On the weekend, there were at least nine murders on the island, bringing to 404 the total number of killings so far this year in Puerto Rico, just 22 less than had been registered by the same date last year. EFE

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