Thursday, July 18, 2013

Puerto Rico’s Police Force Considers Reforms - Puerto Rico Report - Posted on January 4, 2013

Puerto Rico’s Police Force Considers Reforms

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Puerto Rico’s police force is the second largest in U.S. states and territories, second in size only to that of New York City. The Puerto Rican police force includes more than 17,000 officers.
Puerto Rico has a high level of violent crime, largely as a result of its position as a largely undefended border used in the drug trade with the United States.
Unfortunately, Puerto Rico also has a history of problems within its police force. The U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a report in September that  identified a pattern of civil rights violations, and followed up last week with a lawsuit.
Former Governor Fortuno did not contest the lawsuit and instead created an agreement with the Justice Department that gives new Governor Padilla time to review the recommendations and make any changes his government requires.
The agreement calls for extensive reforms, as well as improved training for law enforcement officers in Puerto Rico.

Violence in Puerto Rico – Could Statehood Help?

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Violence in Puerto Rico continues to rise, in contrast to falling levels of violent crime on the mainland. Does the status of Puerto Rico affect the problem?
Puerto Rico currently has a homicide rate 500% higher than that of the mainland United States. Last year, it was estimated that 70% of Puerto Rico’s violent crime was drug-related. Puerto Rico is appealing to drug cartels because the island offers easy access to U.S. drug consumers.
It makes sense, then, to compare the federal commitment to protecting Puerto Rico from drug-related violence, compared with the commitment in border states like Texas, New Mexico, and California.
According to the 2011 National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy report from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, there were a number of strong actions taken on the Southwestern border of the United States:
  • Congress appropriated $1.4 billion to Mexicofor an anti-drug partnership.
  • Congress dedicated $600 million to enhance border protection.
  • The U.S. Customs and Border Protection more than doubled its agents since 2004.
  • The Drug Enforcement Administration has allocated nearly 30% of its domestic agents to the Southwest border.
  • The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency increased its agents on the border by almost 300 since 2010.
  • President Obama authorized the deployment of over 1,000 National Guard troops to the Southwest border
  • The Department of Homeland Security operates a Predator Unmanned Aircraft System along the entire Southwest border.
  • A leadership group composed of over 20 federal agencies holds strategic meetings about this issue several times a year.
By contrast, this is the federal commitment to Puerto Rico:
  • While there is also a  National Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategy, there is no comparable strategy or strategy document covering Puerto Rico.
  • Puerto Rico receives less than $50 million a year in direct federal funding for drug abuse prevention, investigations, prosecution, and interdiction.
  • In spite of requests for additional assistance, the number of government agents has stayed about the same in Puerto Rico.
  • The Coast Guard has only four helicopters in all of Puerto Rico – fewer than in the city of Miami.
  • There are extraordinarily high vacancy rate in federal agencies in Puerto Rico – 39% at Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), 12% at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and 15% at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The people of Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens, just as the people of Florida and Texas are. What’s the difference between Puerto Rico and the states which have so much more U.S. protection?
  • The four states (CA, AZ, NM and TX) which touch the border with Mexico send eight Senators and almost 100 House Members to Washington to represent them.
  • The ten states directly touching Canada (WA, ID, MT, ND, MN, MI, NU, VT, NH and ME) send 20 Senators and approximately 90 House Members to represent them.
  • Puerto Rico has one non-voting Resident Commissioner.
Were Puerto Rico to become independent, the United States might be expected to make passage from Puerto Rico to the mainland more difficult, which would help protect the states from violence but do nothing to help Puerto Rico. Were Puerto Rico to become the 51st state of the Union, new voting representation in Washington would advocate for more protections. As it stands, the federal government can provide exactly the level of protection that it chooses to provide with no accountability to Puerto Rico.
National publications has weighed in to this debate for months.  “To the 3.7 million Americans living in Puerto Rico, Washington’s inaction on the violent Puerto Rican drug trade signals that federal protections afforded to US citizens do not fully convey outside the 50 states.  The federal government must step up to the plate and ensure that all of its borders are secure and all of its citizens are safe…. As the magnitude of the crisis grows, so does the necessity for Washington’s help.” (Christian Science Monitor; February 16, 2012)

DHS to expand ‘Operation Caribbean Resilience’ in Puerto Rico - Fri, 2013-07-12 05:39 PM

DHS to expand ‘Operation Caribbean Resilience’ in Puerto Rico

As part of its continued commitment to public safety in Puerto Rico, DHS will expand Operation Caribbean Resilience. 
The operation, which focuses on interrupting and dismantling criminal organizations, as well as identifying and arresting individuals involved in criminal activity in Puerto Rico, will be expanded through September 2013 and will receive additional agents and resources. 
Last July, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico to underscore the department’s commitment to collaborating with local law enforcement in the region. DHS is also working with stakeholders in Puerto Rico to maintain a coordinated approach to support the execution of the Operation, said a DHS news release issued on July 11. 
The Operation includes intelligence collection, interdiction, and other law enforcement activities directed at disrupting the flow of illegal weapons, drugs, money, and migrants into and out of Puerto Rico, with a focus on transnational criminal organizations and targeting violent gang members for federal prosecution. 
Operation Caribbean Resilience is a joint initiative led by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with support from CBP and the Coast Guard, including the Puerto Rico Police Department and the Municipal Police Departments of San Juan, Ponce, and Toa Alta. 
DHS is augmenting the local enforcement efforts with 30 additional HSI special agents and resources, says the release. Their efforts will focus on high intensity crime areas with a nexus to transnational criminal operations. 
Since its inception in January 2012, Operation Caribbean Resilience has led to 560 federal and state arrests; and the seizure of 470 illegal weapons, more than 30,000 rounds of ammunition, more than $388,000 in cash, and various quantities of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and crack cocaine.  
Operation Caribbean Resilience began in the municipality of Loiza, Puerto Rico, a town considered by law enforcement to be an area of high-intensity criminal activity. Under Operation Caribbean Resilience, Loiza experienced a 50 percent decrease in homicides between January and May of 2012, as compared to the same period during 2011; as well as a 78 percent decrease in robbery and a 52 percent decrease in assault. The initiative was later expanded to the Caguas and San Juan areas where it experienced similar results. 
DHS continues to coordinate its efforts with interagency partners in Puerto Rico, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the Puerto Rico Department of Justice to address violent crime on the island.

A Department of Justice Report on the Puerto Rico Police Department Reveals an 'Agency in Profound Disrepair' - Published Oct. 29, 2012.

A Department of Justice Report on the Puerto Rico Police Department Reveals an 'Agency in Profound Disrepair'

Joel Féliz de Jesus shows the scars on his abdomen following emergency surgery from blunt trauma to his internal organs allegedly inflicted by a group of Puerto Rican police. Photo by Brandon Quester
Joel Féliz de Jesus shows the scars on his abdomen following emergency surgery from blunt trauma to his internal organs allegedly inflicted by a group of Puerto Rican police. Photo by Brandon Quester
By AJ Vicens
Cronkite Borderlands Initiative
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Three women in Marcia de Jesus' house laugh and chatter as they prepare the day's food in a cramped kitchen.
The house sits on a narrow street of Barrio Obrero, a heavily Dominican working class neighborhood in the Santurce area of San Juan. De Jesus runs a neighborhood eatery out of the house.
Sunlight streams through slats in an old wooden fence, lighting a patio where the little restaurant's employees laugh and socialize with locals who enjoy home-cooked meals of rice, beans, chicken, pork and steak. They sometimes drop small scraps for a mangy looking but affectionate cat.
But the revelry evaporates when uniformed members of the Puerto Rico Police Department come in for food. De Jesus still serves the police, but she will never get over what they did to Joel, her 26-year-old son.
  Joel Féliz de Jesus poses for a portrait within his home in Barrio Obrero, a largely Dominican neighborhood in Santurce, Puerto Rico. Police allegedly beat Joel when they stopped him after leaving a party with friends. Joel said he remembers very little after the police started beating him, later regaining consciousness in the hospital after emergency surgery. Photo by Brandon Quester
SLIDESHOW: The U.S. Department of Justice investigated the Puerto Rico Police Department for alleged brutality against civilians in Puerto Rico, particularly Dominicans.
"It's very difficult" when the police come in, she said. "[N]ot all police are the same. But it is very difficult for me."
In May 2009, Joel Feliz de Jesus had been drinking at a party and was walking on the street when he got into an argument with a few police officers. He remembers asking them why they were looking at him and telling them to leave him alone. He recalls a cop he swears was seven feet tall approaching him and telling him to put his hands behind his back. His next memory is waking up in a hospital with a fresh scar running the length of his torso, the result of surgery to repair severe internal injuries his family claims were inflicted by the police that night.
Claims like those made by the de Jesus family aren't uncommon in Puerto Rico. The 17,000-member Puerto Rico Police Department – the second largest police force in the United States and its territories – has been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice since July 2008.
In a report released in September 2011, the Department of Justice said its investigation uncovered a litany of major problems.
"The amount of crime and corruption involving PRPD officers … illustrates that PRPD is an agency in profound disrepair," government lawyers wrote.
The most prevalent and troubling problems include allegations of excessive use of force by police and a sustained disregard for the constitutional rights of many of the island's 3.7 million residents. The Department of Justice noted that more than 1,700 police officers in Puerto Rico -- roughly 10 percent of the force -- were arrested between January 2005 and November 2010. That's nearly triple the number of officers arrested in the New York Police Department, a force more than double the size of the Puerto Rico's police department, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union.
These problems come at a time when crime is soaring in Puerto Rico. The island saw a record 1,136 murders in 2011, much of it attributed to a burgeoning drug trade. Violent crime of all types is up sharply over the last few years.
Top police officials and Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno's legal advisors said the police department has room for improvement but the major cases highlighted by media reports and the Department of Justice are isolated and not representative of the entire police force. Government officials claim they've updated police training curricula, upgraded technology, increased police officer pay and created citizen interaction committees.
Multiple follow-up emails and phone calls to the police department and the governor's office asking for specific data to back up these claims have gone unanswered.
Street-level police officers have a more nuanced view of the report. Many agree with some of the overall points -- political alliances driving promotions, poor leadership -- but say the dramatic allegations of abuse, corruption and discrimination are wildly exaggerated.
The Justice Department says the police department's failings impact a wide range of Puerto Rican communities.
But alleged brutality in Dominican communities like Barrio Obrero was one of the investigation's initial focuses, according to Luis Saucedo, the acting deputy chief of the special litigation section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and one of the lawyers who is working the case.
Dominicans are by far the largest minority group in Puerto Rico. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, there are roughly 68,000 Dominicans living in Puerto Rico but the real number is at least double, maybe triple that amount, according to Dominican activists, lawyers and even Saucedo.
But Saucedo said the Justice Department can't come to any conclusions on the extent of police abuse in the Dominican community because of a shortcoming in record keeping.
"The problem … was that Puerto Rico does not keep sufficient data to be able to know whether they're enforcing the law in a way that's fair and equitable," Saucedo said.
When Justice Department lawyers asked the PRPD how it knows it's not profiling Dominicans, the department didn't "have the systems to be able to demonstrate that they're not."
A key issue is that the Puerto Rico Police Department incident reports allow officers to identify people as Indian, white, black, Asian, Hawaiian or as a native of Alaska, but not Dominican.
"The data just isn't being captured," Saucedo said. "Supervisors aren't being given the tools to be able to make sure that it isn't happening. What was clear was that the allegations were being made and that the complaints, many times, were not being investigated."
A lack of quantifiable data doesn't change the minds of people who say that PRDP abuse and harassment of Dominicans is widespread and well known.
William Ramirez, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union in San Juan, says abuse of Dominicans by the police department has gone on for years, and the problems are systemic, not isolated.
"There's an animosity toward the Dominican community on the part of many police officers," Ramirez said. "I'm sure it's not all, but it's enough of them that it's a problem."
Enrique "Kike" Cruz, a popular Puerto Rican conservative radio host who supports the Fortuno administration, has been studying problems with the police for the last seven years.
"It's unfortunate what's happened in the Dominican community but what happened to the Dominicans also happens to Puerto Ricans," he said. "It's the same ignorances, the same lack of respect. The ineptitude of the police does not discriminate."
Cruz added that the Department of Justice exaggerated some of the problems but there's no way to refute it.
"(The Puerto Rico Police Department) statistics are ridiculous, they're not good they're not reliable," he said. "The Puerto Rico police cannot defend themselves because they have such poor statistics."
Despite a lack of quantifiable data, the Justice Department highlighted several major incidents of misuse of force and brutality.
In 2009, police clashed with Dominicans in a squatter community called Villas del Sol, located in Toa Baja, a town located southwest of San Juan. A weeks-long police presence in the community resulted in a violent confrontation, where women and children were pepper sprayed, according to the Department of Justice.

In August 2006, a Dominican man named Ignacio Santos Rosario was at a bar in Rio Piedras. Also at the bar was PRPD officer Gregorio Matias Rosario. According to federal court records, Matias was talking badly about Dominicans and Santos asked him to show some respect. Matias then pointed his police-issued gun at Santos and called for backup. Santos tried to leave the area but Matias shot him twice in the leg. Santos alleged that additional PRPD officers arrived on the scene and began beating him as he lay on the ground. In 2009, Santos' civil rights case was dismissed after the parties entered into a confidential settlement.

Also in 2006, a Dominican man named Felix Escolastico Rodriguez was parking his car in Rio Piedras. According to court records, several officers approached him and began beating him. As they were attacking him, at least one of the officers unloaded a string of racial and ethnic slurs against Dominicans. In 2010 Escolastico settled out of court with the police officers.

High-profile incidents will always get a lot of attention but activists and the Justice Department say abuses and discriminatory policing happen on a regular basis.
"Evidence suggests that PRPD officers violate the rights of individuals of Dominican descent or appearance through targeted and unjustifiable police actions," Justice Department lawyers wrote.
The ACLU's Ramirez says Dominicans in Puerto Rico, the majority of them undocumented, can't fight back or go public with allegations of abuse in many cases.
"The first (worry) is deportation," Ramirez said. Documented Dominicans can also face police backlash, he added. "You become a target for police, you're a troublemaker. You'll be watched, and at the slightest thing that they might think constitutes a crime, you become a victim. You'll get set up."
The Department of Justice reported allegations of Puerto Rico Police Department officers planting drugs on people, as Ramirez suggested. Jose Rodriguez, the spokesman for the Dominican Committee on Human Rights, said that could have happened in Joel Feliz de Jesus's case.
Feliz de Jesus's beating allegedly took place in May 2009. Two months later, federal court records show that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service accused Feliz de Jesus of receiving 280 grams of heroin in the mail from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. A judge signed an arrest warrant on Aug. 3, 2009, and Feliz de Jesus spent six days in jail. On Aug. 24, the United States Attorney's office dismissed the charge. Feliz de Jesus denies that the heroin was his and said he's not sure why charges against him were dropped.
Multiple calls and emails to the U.S. Attorney's office were not returned and the police did not respond to multiple records requests for any information related to Feliz de Jesus.
Feliz de Jesus's case is isolated, said Puerto Rico Police Sgt. Iran Sanchez. Sanchez is an 11-year veteran and one of a handful of sergeants responsible for running the Barrio Obrero precinct. Sanchez, who has also worked in police precincts in San Juan and nearby Bayamon, said most of his officers are good people and that discrimination against the Dominican community is isolated to a relative few officers.
"There may be some officers that will discriminate against people from other nationalities, but believe me, the majority of police officers here do not," Sanchez said. "(The Department of Justice) is trying to show that we're, to some extent, a racist police department when it is not."
Lorena Garcia Rios, a legal advisor in the Puerto Rico Police Department Superintendent's office, said discrimination against the Dominican community is not widespread.
"The media sometimes exaggerates it," she said. "As a whole, it's not, like, the current practice. It's minor, isolated incidents."
While Sgt. Sanchez dismissed claims from Dominican activists and community members alleging widespread discrimination, he said there are a host of problems with the police department.
He pointed out the police force's "merit" promotions system. Until December, officers could be promoted by a superior "on merit" rather than by examination. The system was rife with officers moving up the chain of command based on who they knew and their political affiliations, according to Sanchez.
"Not every time (officers are promoted) they are actually qualified and prepared to be in a supervisory position in police work," Sanchez said. "A lot of officers were going up in rank because of favors. As simple as that."
The Department of Justice noted this problem in its report. Between January 2008 and September 2010, 1,615 of the 1,707 of officers promoted to sergeant – 95 percent – were promoted without testing.
The non-testing, "merit system" was largely the result of Puerto Rico's unique system of an all-powerful governor. The governor appoints the superintendent, but also directly approves leadership positions several layers down into the bureaucracy. The idea that politics and alliances rather than good work enhances careers has real consequences on the street, according to the Department of Justice.
"(It) fosters a dysfunctional professional atmosphere and encourages subordinates to question the qualifications and competence of command officers," Department of Justice lawyers wrote. The system also makes it hard for lasting reform because of the massive turnover and reassignments with each new administration.
The consistency in the leadership of the police department has been further strained by constant turnover in the superintendent's office. Superintendent Emilio Diaz Colon resigned March 28, and Gov. Fortuno appointed Hector Pesquera to replace him. Pesquera, the former leader of the FBI office in Puerto Rico, is the 10th superintendent since 2000.
Alfonso Orona-Amilivia, a deputy adviser to the governor for legal affairs, said the police offered a sergeant's test in December 2011 to give worthy, qualified officers a fair chance to move up in rank, and roughly 534 out of 2,000 that took the test passed. Sanchez said the department brought the test back because of the Department of Justice investigation, which began three years earlier. Orona and Garcia deny that was the motivation.
Other officers complained about a culture that rewards political affiliations and alliances over good police work. Many current sergeants and higher-level supervisors benefited from this system, and are reluctant to change it, they said. And when officers who don't play the game speak up, they're punished with arbitrary transfers far away from their hometowns and denied promotions.
Luis D. Mercado Fraticelli, a retired first lieutenant with the Puerto Rico Police Department and current president of the Sindicato de Policias Puertorriquenos union in Ponce, explains why he believes the recent U.S. Department of Justice report is inaccurate in its portrayal of Puerto Rican police forces. Photo by Brandon Quester
Luis D. Mercado Fraticelli, a retired first lieutenant with the Puerto Rico Police Department and current president of the Sindicato de Policias Puertorriquenos union in Ponce, explains why he believes the recent U.S. Department of Justice report is inaccurate in its portrayal of Puerto Rican police forces. Photo by Brandon Quester
"We've always said the police in Puerto Rico is directed by inept people," said Luis D. Mercado Fraticelli, a 33-year veteran of the police force who retired as a first lieutenant in 2004. Mercado is the president of the Sindicato Policias Puertorriquenos -- the Union of Puerto Rican Police -- which represents roughly 1,300 officers and is one of five police unions in Puerto Rico.
Mercado said he and the union support the current government but are adamant that rampant politicization over many years has created an entrenched leadership group that is resistant to change or suggestions that threaten its power. The Sindicato has also called for higher pay for police officers, leading a demonstration in November 2011 in San Juan where more than 6,000 officers demanded raises promised to them over many years.
The Sindicato points to the plight of one of its regional directors as an example of the system. Sgt. Jose Cruz Martinez, a 20-year veteran of the police force, took simmering internal complaints of outdated equipment and unpaid overtime to the press two years ago. Three days later, Sgt. Cruz was transferred from his position in Ponce -- a city on the south coast of the island close to his home -- to a prison many miles away. Sgt. Cruz has faced seven additional transfers since then, according to the Sindicato.
Sgt. Jose E. Cruz Martinez, a 20-year veteran with the Puerto Rico Police Department, talks about his frustrations with unfair treatment of officers and promotions within Puerto Rico's law enforcement system. Martinez also is the regional director for the Sindicato de Policias Puertorriquenos, a police union that is headquartered in Ponce. Photo by Brandon Quester
Sgt. Jose E. Cruz Martinez, a 20-year veteran with the Puerto Rico Police Department, talks about his frustrations with unfair treatment of officers and promotions within Puerto Rico's law enforcement system. Martinez also is the regional director for the Sindicato de Policias Puertorriquenos, a police union that is headquartered in Ponce. Photo by Brandon Quester
The police department has not responded to several requests for records on Sgt. Cruz's transfer orders.
The resulting environment within the police department is behind many violations of civil rights, said Sgt. Jose Marin Martinez, the vice president of the Sindicato.
"Every time a police officer makes a mistake, it's because they don't have any way to deal with the pressure," he said. "It's not because police aren't trying, it's not because officers aren't given instruction. (Police) fail because they are under big pressure."
Miguel Pereira was the superintendent of the Puerto Rico Police Department in 2002. Now an opposition-party candidate for the Puerto Rico Senate, Pereira said street-level police officer morale is low and has been for years.
"The sense of frustration that policemen have about the value of their own work, and self-worth, is very low," he said. "They do not feel supported by the establishment … they feel like they are in this by themselves."
Couple that context with poor training and a political patronage system that rewards all the wrong things and problems are bound to occur, Pereira said.
"Angry and violent reactions (against the public) should be condemned, and I'm not suggesting we don't, but it needs to be understood," Pereira said. So when an officer is out on the street and someone happens to cross him, "the reaction is going to be instant and violent."
Orona, governor Fortuno's deputy advisor for legal affairs, said the governor is trying to correct the myriad problems facing the police department. He said police officers' pay has been brought up to scale but didn't respond to multiple requests to provide data to prove it. He also said that reform is a complex process because of the varied needs of places like urban San Juan compared to mountain regions or smaller towns.
"We have a mixture of needs within the police and I think that's the main challenge, Orona said. "Maybe other administrations didn't understand the importance of actually seeing the police as a whole. There have been some years within some administrations where there has been improvement but I think that the structural improvement that has been going on in this administration is the one that's going to have a lasting result and lasting improvement in the police department."
The Department of Justice and Puerto Rico are negotiating how reforms will actually take place. The federal government prefers a court-enforceable agreement to mandate reforms regardless of Puerto Rico's political leadership.
"[I]n the end … the only instrument that I think is going to carry us through the long haul is a court-enforceable agreement," said Saucedo, one of the Department of Justice's lawyers negotiating with Puerto Rico. "We want some assurance that [reforms] are going to be carried out." That process, known as a consent decree, would require an independent monitor agreed to by both the Department of Justice and Puerto Rico to watch the process and report to a judge.
The government of Puerto Rico doesn't think a court order is necessary.
"Cooperation is key, and a consent decree is usually when some of the jurisdictions have not been cooperating," Orona said.
Puerto Rico Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock called a consent decree totally unnecessary.
"If someone would do that it would only be for political reasons to show that they were doing something," McClintock said, "because we are reacting positively, much better than anybody ever has."
All involved -- from the Department of Justice to the government of Puerto Rico to the lawyers and activists -- agree that meaningful reform will take years. But for people like Feliz de Jesus and his family, the damage is already done. His mother said all she wants is justice, and for the police to respect the community.
But Yarmesha Rios de Jesus, Joel's 16-year-old sister, represents the future. She said the Puerto Rico Police Department seems to think they have more rights than Dominicans because they're Puerto Rican.
"They don't respect the people," she said. "They should be the example. They're not like what they look. They're supposed to protect the people."
Does she trust the police? "No. Not at all." Will she ever? "Never."
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Published Oct. 29, 2012.
The Cronkite School has been covering immigration and border issues since 2006 with the generous support of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

Holder announces plan to curb abuse in Puerto Rico's police force - Reuters

Holder announces plan to curb abuse in Puerto Rico's police force

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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at the NAACP convention in Orlando
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder speaks at the NAACP convention in Orlando (David Manning Reuters, July 16, 2013)

Reuters 
6:31 p.m. EDTJuly 17, 2013

SAN JUAN (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced sweeping changes in Puerto Rico's Police Department on Wednesday aimed at curbing violence and abuse within its ranks and settling a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the department in December.

"This agreement will serve as a blueprint for building a modern law enforcement agency that's well-equipped to keep the people of Puerto Rico safe, while protecting their rights and civil liberties," Holder said.

The agreement includes new rules for the handling of civilian complaints and internal investigations, and introduces strict new policies on the use of force by police officers in the crime-plagued commonwealth.

It also focuses on recruitment and training, and contains new measures to strengthen oversight of the 17,000-member police force, the second-largest in the United States.

The Justice Department and former Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno agreed to the overhaul of the island's police in a consent decree filed in December. They delayed putting the changes in place until Garcia Padilla had an opportunity to review them and weigh their costs on the island's cash-starved budget.

The consent decree was filed the same day as the lawsuit from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and followed a scathing 116-page report about Puerto Rico Police Department issued by the Justice Department in September.

That report said Puerto Rico's police force had a "longstanding" pattern of civil rights violations that had essentially left it as a "broken" tool for law enforcement.

"This agreement is being made to guarantee that the public will be free from being victims of excessive force, illegal searches and seizures and systematic discrimination by the police," said Garcia Padilla.

"The goal is that when these measures are totally implemented, the country will have a police force that in addition to overseeing the safety of all, will guarantee individual civil rights and have the public's trust."

(Reporting by Reuters in San Juan; Editing by Tom Brown and Steve Orlofsky) 

Japan Planning to Deepen CARICOM Ties - CJ

» Japan Planning to Deepen CARICOM Ties
17/07/13 22:44 from Caribbean Journal
TweetAbove: Japan By the Caribbean Journal staff Japan is planning to strengthen its ties with the Caribbean Community, according to Ambassador Akira Yamada, the director general of Japan’s Foreign Ministry. Yamada, who was speaking a...

PNP demanda a García Padilla y a la PRFAA - ENDia

17 de julio de 2013
5:21 p.m.
 

PNP demanda a García Padilla y a la PRFAA

Buscan que el tribunal declare ilegal utilizar fondos públicos para cabildeo relacionado al plebiscito
 
La conferencia de prensa fue convocada por el director ejecutivo del PNP, Jorge Dávila, y el Secretario General, José “Pichy” Torres Zamora (en la foto).(Archivo)
Por Antonio R. Gómez / antonio.gomez@gfrmedia.com
El Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) y cuatro ciudadanos privados, entre los que figura la exsenadora Lucy Arce Ferrer, radicaron hoy una demanda contra el gobernador Alejandro García Padilla en la que solicitan al tribunal que declare ilegal utilizar fondos públicos para cabildear en contra de la interpretación que hace dicha colectividad de los resultados del plebiscito del pasado año.
La demanda fue radicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia de San Juan y figuran también como demandados la Administración de Asuntos Federales de Puerto Rico (Prfaa), y su director, Juan Eugenio Hernández Mayoral.
El anuncio sobre la demanda, que fue adelantada desde la pasada semana por el presidente del PNP, Pedro Pierluisi, lo hicieron en conferencia de prensa el director ejecutivo del PNP, Jorge Dávila, y el secretario general de la colectividad, José “Pichy” Torres Zamora.
"El pasado 6 de noviembre, el pueblo de Puerto Rico envió un mensaje claro rechazando el status colonial en el que vivimos y pidiendo la anexión de nuestra isla como el estado 51. No existe justificación legal alguna para utilizar fondos públicos en contra del mandato del pueblo", sostuvo Dávila.
Explicó que el PNP fundamentó su reclamo en las expresiones que hizo el director de Prfaa en un artículo publicado en El Nuevo Día sobre el uso de los cabilderos del Gobierno para adelantar gestiones “en contra de los resultados del plebiscito, donde el pueblo rechazó el Estado Libre Asociado y pidió la estadidad”.
Según Dávila, esa “era la última pieza que necesitábamos".
“Ciertamente, el gasto de fondos públicos… por parte de la presente administración es ilegal e inconstitucional por ir, no solo en contra del mandato y la voluntad expresada por el pueblo de Puerto Rico en la consulta de status realizada el pasado 6 de noviembre, sino también por constituir un uso indebido de fondos públicos para fines no públicos y contravenir el axioma constitucional de igualdad electoral en su vertiente de igualdad económica para los partidos políticos”, se argumenta en la demanda.
Se incluyen como causas de acción la violación del derecho fundamental al voto, el uso indebido e inapropiado de fondos públicos y el derecho internacional.
“Se solicita específicamente al Tribunal que dicte la correspondiente sentencia declaratoria determinando la ilegalidad de la utilización de fondos públicos por parte de los demandados con el fin de impedir la consecución del mandato emitido por el pueblo de Puerto Rico el 6 de noviembre de 2012”, reza el documento.
Se reclama, además, que se ordene a los codemandados “a cesar y desistir de erogar fondos públicos para fines políticos partidistas”.
Firman el recurso los abogados Luis Benjamín Méndez, Francisco J. González y Oscar Santamaría.
"La Constitución de Puerto Rico es clara. Los fondos públicos se utilizarán únicamente para fines públicos. Intentar adelantar la agenda del PPD, en contra de la voluntad del pueblo, es contrario a esa disposición, y Alejandro García Padilla debe responder por sus actos y desistir de los mismos inmediatamente. El PNP protegerá la voluntad del pueblo y acudirá a los foros que sean necesarios para hacerla valer", señaló el secretario general del PNP.
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US, Cuba Hold Talks in Washington - CJ

US, Cuba Hold Talks in Washington

July 17, 2013 | 10:16 pm |Print
US, Cuba Hold Talks in Washington
Above: Washington
By the Caribbean Journal staff
US and Cuban officials held their first bilateral migration talks since the beginning of 2011 on Wednesday.
The talks covered the implementation of the 1994 and 1995 US-Cuba Migration Accords, according to a release from the State Department.
The department said the agenda for the talks “reflected longstanding US priorities on Cuba migration issues.”
“The US delegation highlighted areas of successful cooperation in migration, including advances in aviation safety and visa processing, while also identifying actions needed to ensure that the goals of the accords are fully met, especially those having to do with safeguarding the lives of intending immigrants,” the department said.
The US said it also reiterated a call for the “immediate release” of Alan Gross, an American citizen who has been imprisoned in the Caribbean country since 2009 for what the US said was “solely for trying to facilitate communications between Cuba’s citizens and the rest of the world.”
The US side on the talks was led by Alex Lee, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, while Cuba’s delegation was led by Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, the Director General for US affairs in Cuba’s Foreign Ministry.
In a statement, Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said the talks had been held in a “climate of respect.”
Cuba said it “reiterated its willingness to maintain these exchanges in the future, given their importance to both countries.”
The two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations.

US, Puerto Rico Sign Deal to Reform Police Agency By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Agreement Is Reached on Police Reforms in Puerto Rico - NYT | Agreement announced to reform Puerto Rico's police force - CNN | ACLU: “Esperamos que los puertorriqueños no tengan que temer más a su Policía” - ENDia

The New York Times


July 17, 2013

Agreement Is Reached on Police Reforms in Puerto Rico



The government of Puerto Rico and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights division on Wednesday formalized a sweeping agreement meant to overcome a history of discrimination, violence and corruption in the commonwealth’s Police Department. The agreement is the result of a long investigation by the Justice Department and a consent decree announced in December to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit. Its implementation was delayed to give the new governor, Alejandro García Padilla, time to review it and it is subject to approval by Judge Gustavo Gelpi of Federal District Court. Among other things, it will require the Police Department to implement new policies on the use of force and specialized tactical units, domestic violence, interactions with transgender people, crowd control, police training and promotions.

17 de julio de 2013
4:51 p.m.




The New York Times


July 17, 2013

US, Puerto Rico Sign Deal to Reform Police Agency




SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder pledged $10 million on Wednesday to the Puerto Rican government as it finalized a deal to reform the U.S. territory's police agency, which has long been accused of illegal killings, corruption and civil rights violations.
The announcement ended two years of negotiations to transform the department. It is the second-largest force in the U.S. with more than 17,000 officers.
Puerto Rico has 10 years to implement all the changes, Holder said.
"Although I recognize that complete and lasting reform will not take hold overnight, I'm confident that this agreement lays out a clear path for responding to concerns, correcting troubling practices, safeguarding the rights of Puerto Rican citizens, restoring public trust, and ensuring public safety," he said.
The 100-page agreement calls on the police department to build public confidence, establish new disciplinary procedures and create a use-of-force policy. It also demands additional training for officers before they're assigned to the streets, and for a supervisor to be present when suspects resist arrest, among numerous other changes.
U.S. and local officials had signed the deal in December, but Puerto Rico's government requested more time to modify the agreement.
Some changes were made given the economic realities of Puerto Rico, said Justice Secretary Luis Sanchez Betances. The island of 3.7 million people is struggling to emerge from a seven-year recession.
Sanchez said an estimated initial investment of $60 million to $80 million will be needed for changes in the first two years.
He said that U.S. and Puerto Rico officials have 90 days to choose an independent adviser to oversee the changes and if no agreement is reached, a federal judge will appoint someone.
Puerto Rico Police Chief Hector Pesquera said the department is committed to making all the changes.
Acting Associate Attorney Tony West said that on Thursday he will discuss the agreement with high-ranking police officials. He stressed that community leaders will be essential in helping reform the agency.
The call for reform came after a September 2011 federal report in which prosecutors condemned the police for what it said was numerous constitutional violations.
"Officers have unnecessarily injured hundreds of people and killed numerous others," the report said. "The amount of crime and corruption involving ... officers further illustrates that the Puerto Rico police department is in profound disrepair."
Shortly afterward, the U.S. government filed a lawsuit noting that authorities had arrested more than 1,700 officers on charges including murder, rape and drug trafficking from January 2005 to November 2010.
Puerto Rico residents also filed more than 1,500 complaints against officers for unjustified or excessive force from 2004 to 2008.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed its own lawsuit accusing the police department of excessive force and civil rights violations. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said the organization is close to reaching an agreement with the police agency to drop the legal action if the U.S. requirements are followed.
"We trust that this historic settlement means that Puerto Ricans will no longer have to live in fear of their own police force," Romero said.

ACLU: “Esperamos que los puertorriqueños no tengan que temer más a su Policía”


Elogia el acuerdo que permitirá dejar en suspenso la demanda federal

Romero se expresó satisfecho con el acuerdo entre el gobierno federal y el gobierno de la Isla. (archivo)
POR ELNUEVODIA.COM
WASHINGTON – La Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles (ACLU)  expresó su esperanza de que con el acuerdo que regulará la demanda del gobierno federal contra la Policía de Puerto Rico “los puertorriqueños no tengan que temer más” a su propio departamento policial.
“Estamos muy contentos de que finalmente, el gobierno de Puerto Rico trabajará con el Departamento de Justicia para ponerle fin al rampante abuso policial que ha plagado a la isla por tantos años”, indicó hoy el puertorriqueño Anthony Romero, director ejecutivo y principal funcionario de la ACLU, con oficina principal en Nueva York.
Tras meses de negociaciones, el Departamento de Justicia de los Estados Unidos firmó este miércoles un acuerdo con el Gobierno de Puerto Rico para impulsar la reforma en la Policía local, en aras de establecer mayores controles en ese cuerpo de seguridad pública, profesionalizar a sus integrantes y procurar que se garanticen los derechos civiles de las personas.
Romero sostuvo que la ACLU y el bufete de abogados Kirkland & Ellis, que sometieron su propia demanda que denunció a la Policía por violarle sistemáticamente los derechos civiles a los residentes de Puerto Rico, están cerca de llegar a una transacción que eche a un lado la otra batalla judicial.
El acuerdo de transacción se basaría en gran medida en las promesas que hace el gobierno de Puerto Rico en el decreto de consentimiento suscrito hoy en San Juan por el secretario de Justicia de Estados Unidos, Eric Holder, y el gobernador Alejandro García Padilla.
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Agreement announced to reform Puerto Rico's police force


By Carol Cratty, CNN
July 18, 2013 -- Updated 0010 GMT (0810 HKT)

A statue of Juan Ponce de Leon sits in front of the second oldest church in the world in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.
 A statue of Juan Ponce de Leon sits in front of the second oldest church in the world in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.
















STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: ACLU welcomes the agreement
  • A federal judge still needs to approve the agreement
  • Investigation found police used excessive force to suppress free speech
  • It also cited unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests

(CNN) -- The Justice Department and Puerto Rico signed a major civil rights agreement Wednesday to reform the commonwealth's very troubled police force.
The pact faces final approval by a federal judge, who will oversee its enforcement.
An earlier Justice Department investigation found numerous problems in the Puerto Rico Police Department, the nation's second-largest, including:
-- Excessive use of force to suppress free speech.
-- Unconstitutional stops, searches and arrests.
-- A failure to investigate sexual assault and domestic violence allegations.
"Although I recognize that complete and lasting reform will not take hold overnight, I'm confident that this agreement lays out a clear path for responding to concerns, correcting troubling practices, safeguarding the rights of Puerto Rican citizens, restoring public trust, and ensuring public safety," Attorney General Eric Holder said in remarks prepared for a news conference.
According to the Justice Department, the agreement with Puerto Rico is among the most extensive agreements involving the police misconduct provision of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
The American Civil Liberties Union welcomed the agreement on an issue it highlighted more than a year ago.
"At long last, the government of Puerto Rico will work together with the Justice Department to end the rampant police abuse that has plagued the island for so many years," Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a statement. "We trust that this historic settlement means that Puerto Ricans will no longer have to live in fear of their own police force. A court-enforceable agreement like this ensures that the PRPD will be held accountable if it fails to overhaul its policies and practices."
An ACLU report in June 2012 disclosed evidence of widespread abuses and violations of civil rights by the 17,000-strong police department, saying the force "has run amok for years." The abuse was "pervasive and systemic, island-wide and ongoing," the report said.
The Justice Department announced in December that it reached a preliminary agreement with Puerto Rico. It delayed implementation to allow then-incoming Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla the time to review it and suggest possible changes.
Puerto Rico's police force serves almost 4 million residents.