DOJ: Puerto Rico cops out of control

The Justice Department released a report Thursday showing the Puerto Rico police are out of control, systematically engaged in illegal practices that have injured hundreds of people and killed many others.

In a 116-page report by the Justice Dept.’s civil rights division finds the 17,000-strong police department has routinely conducted illegal searches and seizures without warrants, discriminated against people of Dominican descent and used “deadly force, when no force or lesser force was called for,” the New York Times reported.

 “The degree of police corruption and criminal misconduct in Puerto Rico is high and contributes to the public safety and civil rights crisis,” the report said. “More P.R.P.D. officers are involved in criminal activity than in any other major law enforcement agency in the country.”

The report says the police force has a “profound” and “longstanding” record of civil rights violations and illegal activity, and the department is “broken in a number of critical and fundamental respects.”

“Unfortunately, far too many P.R.P.D. officers have broken their oath to uphold the rule of law, as they have been responsible for acts of crime and corruption and have routinely violated the constitutional rights of the residents of Puerto Rico,” the report said.

The police are also accused of failing to address sex assault and domestic violence cases and attacking nonviolent protesters, bystanders and journalists. The report said officials cooperated with the civil rights division’s investigation, but it was marred by the P.R.P.D’s poor record-keeping.

The DOJ’s investigation began partly as a result of complaints by the American Civil Liberties Union, which sent President Barack Obama a letter claiming the police department “engaged in a level of brutality against U.S. citizens” in ways that “would not be tolerated in the 50 states.”

American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Anthony Romero said the report underscores the urgent need to tackle the police department’s civil rights violations.

“The report confirms a breathtaking level of violence and corruption throughout the P.R.P.D.,” he said in a statement. “With the facts laid bare, it is now the responsibility of the Puerto Rican government and the Justice Department to make sure the police abuse and brutality end as quickly as possible.”

The report recommends 133 measures to reform the corrupt force.

Puerto Rico Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock told POLITICO that the government is working to fulfill the DoJ recommendations and that they are “on the same track” as the department in pushing for comprehensive reform.

He said Puerto Rico has already addressed 110 of the 133 recommendations, such as improving police recruitment, strengthening the police academy curriculum and filling thousands of supervisory vacancies.

“The responsibility of the state government goes beyond the scope of the report, but we will fulfill everything that has to be done to satisfy the very legitimate concerns of the civil rights division,” McClintock told POLITICO.

He called the report “an extraordinary instrument we will use to guide our future plans.”