Puerto Rico Police Accused of Human Rights Violations, Police Brutality

By Stuart Smith
Impunity Watch, North America

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The American Civil Liberties Union, in a June 2012 report, lambasted the Puerto Rico Police Department, the second-largest municipal police force in the United States, asserting that “the police force is plagued by a culture of violence and corruption.”

Puerto Rico Policia
Puerto Rican police clash with civilians. (Photo Courtesy of the Associated Press)

“These abuses do not represent isolated incidents or aberrant behavior by a few rogue officers. Such police brutality is pervasive and systematic, island-wide and ongoing,” the report stated. According to CNN and Fox News, the ACLU report alleged routine use of excessive force, failure by the PRPD to crack down on sexual assaults and violations of civil and human rights, particularly against low-income people, Puerto Ricans of African descent and Dominican immigrants.

Additionally, the Huffington Post reported that, from 2004 to 2010, nearly 27,400 complaints against police officers alleging misconduct were filed by civilian, causing the department to recommend the expulsion of 884 officers. And according to department statistics, 1,768 of those complaints alleged excessive or unjustified use of force.

Ruth Jimenez was among those who filed a complaint against the PRPD. When her son Jorge Polaco Jimenez was shot eight times by police officers, in October 2007, while unarmed, Ruth Jimenez filed a complaint with the PRPD, reported the Washington Post. Police maintain they acted in self-defense.

Yet, despite filing numerous complaints, she only recently obtained a received a copy of her son’s autopsy. “I have had zero answers. Zero,” she said in a phone interview. “I want the truth.”

In response to ACLU’s report, Fox News reported that Hector Pesquara, PRPD’s superintendent, in a radio interview, said that the report is not an accurate reflection of reality, proclaiming it to be incorrect and irresponsible.

However, reports of violence and corruption within the ranks of the PRPD are not new. The ACLU’s report comes nine months after a DOJ report describing similar abuses on the island and stating that “the path toward lasting reform will require nothing less than federal judicial intervention.”

Similarly, the ACLU report called on the PRPD to implement a series of reforms, including: developing and implementing policies on the use of force, creating comprehensive procedures for investigating allegations of police abuse and other civilian complaints, and taking measures to address the problems with policing of domestic and sexual violence.

The ACLU’s report, affirming the recommendation of the DOJ, also recommended that the Department of Justice, to ensure the full implementation of these reforms, take control of the PRPD.

Jennifer Turner, the ACLU human rights researcher who authored the report, explained, “there’s clearly no will by the police force there to change its ways,” reported Fox News. “There’s also no leadership in Puerto Rico that’s interested in effective and real reform. That’s why it’s so necessary for the Justice Department to act.”

For further information, please see:

Washington Post – ACLU accuses Puerto Rico police of excessive force and other abuses, urges US to take control – 19 June 2012

CNN – ACLU report blasts Puerto Rico Police Department – 19 June 2012

Fox News Latino – Puerto Rico Police Brutality Against Residents Remains Persistent, ACLU Says – 19 June 2012

Huffington Post – Puerto Rico Police Department Faces Human Rights Crisis Of ‘Epic Proportions’, According To ACLU – 19 June 2012

ACLU – Island of Impunity: Puerto Rico’s Outlaw Police Force Executive Summary – June 2012

Department of Justice – Investigation of the Puerto Rico Police Department Executive Summary – 5 September 2011

Author: Impunity Watch Archive