New top cop to bring NYPD tools to PR
By CB Online Staff
Veteran New York City police officer James Tuller is expected to implement core parts of the Big Apple’s anti-crime strategies when he takes the reins of the Puerto Rico Police Department next month.
In announcing Tuller’s appointment, Gov. Alejandro García Padilla alluded to the “broken windows” theory that is credited with helping drive crime down dramatically in New York City over the past two decades.
The NYPD’s crackdown on misdemeanors to reduce overall crime — the foundation of the broken windows policy instituted in the early 1990s — was accompanied by declines in serious offenses including homicides, robberies, assaults and burglaries. The idea is that cracking down on small things reduces the culture of crime that sets the stage for bigger offenses. Recent research has spurred debate on its effectiveness.
Tuller, a 40-year veteran cop who is serving as the NYPD’s transportation bureau chief, has signaled he wants to plug Puerto Rico into CompStat, a system used by the NYPD for mapping crime, allocating resources and personnel, and improving quality of life. That system would arm the Puerto Rico Police Department, the second-largest in the nation behind the NYPD, with better technology.
Tuller’s appointment tightens ties between the island Police Department and the NYPD dating back to a training and collaborative partnership implemented by the previous administration of Gov. Luis Fortuño in 2010.
While the shape of Tuller’s anti-crime strategy will become clearer in the months ahead, what is clear is that plenty of attention will be paid to a sweeping overhaul of the Puerto Rico Police Department required by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Tuller holds a bacehelor’s degree in police science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and a master’s in public administration degree from Marist College. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy and attended the University of Virginia’s Division of Education Program in Criminal Justice.
Tuller, whose mother is Puerto Rican, was born and raised in New York and attended high school in Puerto Rico.
“I am convinced that his experience working with communities in a city as diverse as New York during the transformation of the NYPD makes him the ideal person for the police superintendent post,” García Padilla said earlier this month. “He is aware of the challenges ahead in boosting police morale and complying with the federal accord to professionalize the department and safeguard civil rights while continuing with our anti-crime plan.”
Tuller takes over from Héctor Pesquera, who resigned unexpectedly last week. Pesquera is leaving Nov. 15 and Tuller starts his new job Dec. 1.
Pesquera’s resignation came a day after federal and local officials announced the designation of U.S. Marshal Juan Mattos as technical compliance adviser (TCA) to oversee a sweeping reform of the island Police Department required in a recent settlement between the commonwealth government and the U.S. Department of Justice.
In July, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and García Padilla sealed a sweeping civil rights agreement to modernize and reform the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) that resolves a civil suit initiated by the federal government in December 2012 to remedy a pattern and practice of police misconduct.
Implementing those reforms will be key on Tuller’s agenda moving forward.
In announcing Tuller’s appointment, Gov. Alejandro García Padilla alluded to the “broken windows” theory that is credited with helping drive crime down dramatically in New York City over the past two decades.
The NYPD’s crackdown on misdemeanors to reduce overall crime — the foundation of the broken windows policy instituted in the early 1990s — was accompanied by declines in serious offenses including homicides, robberies, assaults and burglaries. The idea is that cracking down on small things reduces the culture of crime that sets the stage for bigger offenses. Recent research has spurred debate on its effectiveness.
Tuller, a 40-year veteran cop who is serving as the NYPD’s transportation bureau chief, has signaled he wants to plug Puerto Rico into CompStat, a system used by the NYPD for mapping crime, allocating resources and personnel, and improving quality of life. That system would arm the Puerto Rico Police Department, the second-largest in the nation behind the NYPD, with better technology.
Tuller’s appointment tightens ties between the island Police Department and the NYPD dating back to a training and collaborative partnership implemented by the previous administration of Gov. Luis Fortuño in 2010.
While the shape of Tuller’s anti-crime strategy will become clearer in the months ahead, what is clear is that plenty of attention will be paid to a sweeping overhaul of the Puerto Rico Police Department required by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Tuller holds a bacehelor’s degree in police science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and a master’s in public administration degree from Marist College. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy and attended the University of Virginia’s Division of Education Program in Criminal Justice.
Tuller, whose mother is Puerto Rican, was born and raised in New York and attended high school in Puerto Rico.
“I am convinced that his experience working with communities in a city as diverse as New York during the transformation of the NYPD makes him the ideal person for the police superintendent post,” García Padilla said earlier this month. “He is aware of the challenges ahead in boosting police morale and complying with the federal accord to professionalize the department and safeguard civil rights while continuing with our anti-crime plan.”
Tuller takes over from Héctor Pesquera, who resigned unexpectedly last week. Pesquera is leaving Nov. 15 and Tuller starts his new job Dec. 1.
Pesquera’s resignation came a day after federal and local officials announced the designation of U.S. Marshal Juan Mattos as technical compliance adviser (TCA) to oversee a sweeping reform of the island Police Department required in a recent settlement between the commonwealth government and the U.S. Department of Justice.
In July, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and García Padilla sealed a sweeping civil rights agreement to modernize and reform the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) that resolves a civil suit initiated by the federal government in December 2012 to remedy a pattern and practice of police misconduct.
Implementing those reforms will be key on Tuller’s agenda moving forward.
Amid Widespread Corruption, Puerto Rico Police Department Taps New Yorker As Next Chief
Fox News Latino
As Puerto Rico struggles with widespread corruption in its law enforcement ranks and a soaring violent crime rate, the island’s government is looking to the U.S.’s most well-known and heralded police departments for help.
Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla selected New York City Police Department chief of transportation James Tuller Cintrón as the new superintendent of the Puerto Rico Police Department.
Tuller, who was born in New York, lived in Puerto Rico as a child and has had a long law enforcement career in New York. He starts his job Dec. 1.
Tuller will replace Hectór Pesquera, a former FBI official who surprised many last Thursday when he resigned after less than two turbulent years on the job, where the department faced widespread allegations of corruption and excessive force.
Secretary of State David Bernier acknowledged Thursday that Pesquera's resignation took him by surprise and he noted that recently he and the chief participated in a meeting with the U.S. Marshal for the District of New Jersey, Juan Mattos Jr., named to oversee the reform of the 18,000-member PRPD.
The resignation of Pesquera, who was named to the post in 2012 by then-Gov. Luis Fortuño when crime on the island was at an historic high, comes at a delicate moment for the Puerto Rico Police Department.
The second-largest police department in the United States is finding itself unable to halt the crime wave linked to drug trafficking and is facing a reform process demanded by the federal Justice Department to do away with corruption and the violation of civil rights on the part of some officers.
The Justice Department’s pledged in July $10 million to the Puerto Rican government to combat police corruption, extrajudicial killings and civil rights violations, ending what had been two years of tense negotiations that focused on reforming the territory’s plagued law enforcement agency.
The cash infusion follows a DOJ report, released in September 2011, which found evidence that the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) violated the Constitution and federal laws by using excess and unreasonable force, making unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests, and targeting individuals of Dominican descent, among other problems.
“The settlement and the additional resources we are announcing today underscore our determination to work closely with federal, local and tribal authorities to protect not only the safety of our people – but also the civil rights we hold dear,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said during a press conference.
Despite the praise the agreement received, some experts warned not to expect immediate results as the situation in the PRPD is seen as widespread and the Justice Department is giving the U.S. territory 10 years to implement all the changes outlined in the deal.
The 2011 Justice Department report stated that from January 2005 to November 2010, there were more than 1,709 arrests of PRPD officers, with the charges varying from theft and simple assault to rape, drug trafficking, and murder. Hundreds of other officers also engaged in domestic violence; many have been arrested multiple times for harming their partners.
“There are problems at all levels of the police: in its pay, its leadership, its training,” said Rafael Fantauzzi, the president of the National Puerto Rican Coalition. “It’s going to take a while for anything to happen, but this is a good first step for the new government.”
The Associated Press and Efe contributed to this report.
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