Puerto Rico Police Department

The Puerto Rico Police Department (Policía de Puerto Rico) is the territorial police force for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the territory. It traces back to 1837, and was created to protect the lives and property of Puerto Ricans, and provides police services to the entire island, even though many municipalities maintain their own police force.

The headquarters are located in the Cuartel General (General Stationhouse) at 101 Franklin D. Roosevelt Avenue in the Hato Rey section of San Juan.

Law Enforcement under United States rule (since 1898)

The United States took possession of Puerto Rico in July 1898 as a result of the Spanish American War and has controlled the island as a US territory since then. The Puerto Rico Commonwealth Police was created on February 7th 1899 with an authorized strength of 313 sworn officers.

Ranks and Insignia

As of 2007, the PRPD has over 18,000 officers: [http://www.gobierno.pr/NR/rdonlyres/B4086E8A-17D3-41A4-8629-82E1C719FEF4/0/SexoGuardia_Crosstab1.pdf]

* Cadet - 90
* Officer - 16,209
* Sergeant - 1,253
* Second Lieutenant - 332
* First Lieutenant - 146
* Captain - 147
* Inspector - 41
* Commander - 21
* Lieutenant Colonel- 16
* Colonel - 7
* Total personnel - 18,262

Insignia:

* Officer - no rank insignia
* Officer assigned as Detective - 1 chevron below the letters AE-rank abolished
* Corporal - 2 chevrons below a letter C -rank abolished
* Sergeant - 3 chevrons below a letter S
* Second Lieutenant - 2 gold bars
* First Lieutenant - 3 gold bars
* Captain - 4 gold bars
* Inspector - 1 gold star
* Commander - 2 gold stars
* Lieutenant Colonel - 3 gold stars
* Colonel - 4 gold stars

Controversies

On Friday, August 10, 2007, Puerto Rico police officer Javier Pagán Cruz, killed a community leader, Miguel A. Cáceres Cruz, after he was brutally shot, an event captured by amateur video. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA4aZXBG-kQ]

The victim was doing traffic control while a quinceañera (analogous to a Sweet Sixteen in the U.S.) motorcade was passing by. The police officer tried to make an arrest of the man for many reasons including disrespect to a female officer, however as the man resisted, the officer began to beat the victim at which time his gun was discharged. [http://www.primerahora.com/noticia/otras_panorama/noticias/federales_tambien_investigan/99323 Federales también investigan (Primera Hora Article)] ] In apparent rage, the officer fired at the man at near point blank range. The victim was shot four times, with a fifth and last shot being fired in the back of the head after a short pause, in what the local media described as "execution style". The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

The victim's family is currently undertaking a campaign against police brutality which has caused much controversy in the Puerto Rico Police Department and other government agencies. [http://www.primerahora.com/noticia/policia/noticias/marchan_en_repudio_a_la_brutalidad_policiaca/99886 Marchan en repudio a la brutalidad policiaca (Primera Hora Article)] ]

Four agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Puerto Rico Police Dept, Puerto Rico Justice Department, and the Civil Rights Commission, are investigating this and many other incidents in which members of the police force have been engaging in criminal acts that have been uncovered at large greatly in part to efforts of the local media.

Calle 13 has contributed with a song named "Tributo A La Policia" to the police of the Puerto Rico Police Department due to the killings of "Christopher", Calle 13's "Brother", "Naldo Dario", "Santiago Marín Pesquera", "Carlos Enrique", "Miguel A. Cáceres Cruz" and "Antonia Martínez" but eventually it is now a war between Calle 13 and the Puerto Rican police so they answered Calle 13 back with a song named "Tributo A Calle 13."Fact|date=August 2007

ee also

* Aguadilla City Police Department

References

External links

* [http://www.gobierno.pr/PoliciaPR/ Homepage] (Spanish)