This has become a necessary topic to share with expats living or thinking of living in DR.
Almost two thirds of Dominicans do not have confidence in their police force.
The Domincan police have been very poorly paid for a very long time, are of insufficent numbers and a large number have been assigned to non policing jobs.
This is finally changing with the Abinader government and there was a stated election promise by the President to raise the police salaries and working conditions. This has begun with a pay rise and improved employment conditions last year and a further pay rise allowed in the budget for the coming year and a doubling of numbers.
Such were the poor salaries paid to police, that we have had to endure being asked for propinas and there has been a rotten core who have resorted to involvement in crime and drugs.
Crime is on the rise of recent in DR but a contiunuing trend is the continuing arbitary killings by police.
Police reform discussions have be afoot for some time but there has been resistance from within apparently. But recent events, as the article below describes, has, and through public demand, accelerated the move to start implementing reforms from top to bottom now.
Police don't kill me: the count of arbitrary executions of police officers
"By mistake", "by confusion", "neutralizing shots" and "cachazos", constants that are repeated in arbitrary executions
https://www.diariolibre.com/actualidad/ … OO29279465
Out of service or not, due to confusion or personal reasons, the executions of citizens by police officers do not stop.
The last three deaths that occurred in less than ten days "by mistake" of the National Police, refreshes the memory of how violent and inexperienced the body called to ensure the safety of citizens is.
Just at the moment in which the transformation of the National Police is being sought, the fruits of which will not be evident until at least 10 years from now (experts say), society suffers with impotence the death of valuable young people, homicides that are not justified nor in the case of the most dangerous criminal. This is the count of the 15 loudest cases of 2020 and so far in 2021.
October 09 - Pedro Antonio Guzman
The most recent death was that of Pedro Antonio Guzmán, a 26-year-old young man. This Sunday in the Hato Mayor sector of Santiago, a police officer identified as Bladimir de la Rosa Valdez killed him "by mistake" , at a time when he was shooting at an alleged criminal.
The law enforcement institution said that the shot that killed Guzmán was aimed at counteracting the aggression of an armed man who, upon noticing the presence of the agents, fired at the patrol. Luis Ángel Cruz Tavárez (Pichón), was the target and was arrested.
October 02 - Leslie Massiel Rosado Mars
Arquitecta 36, mother of three children, died last October 02, was shot in the head that gave him "by mistake" satin Janli Diaz Batista after chase after an alleged accident. This death shocked Dominican society. While the Public Ministry investigates the incident as a voluntary homicide, the bereaved family has the theory that the agent chased her to rob her and her death was an execution.
September 28, 2021 - Agapito Montero Sánchez
Police violence does not exempt other military authorities. Retired Second Lieutenant Rubén Daniel Medina Contreras killed Dominican Republic Navy (ARD) frigate lieutenant Agapito Montero Sánchez, during a discussion at the bus terminal in the eastern sector of Los Tres Ojos. After committing the act, the perpetrator fled with his family.
September 28, 2021 - Yamirelis Cinnamon
Sergeant Ramón Emilio Lafontaine Salvador , 30, used his regulation weapon to kill his sentimental partner, Yamirelis Canela , a 22-year-old girl. After committing the femicide, Lafontaine Salvador tried to kill himself by shooting himself in the head.
September 26, 2021 - Robinson Ramón Méndez Mancebo
At just 27 years old, Robinson Ramón Méndez Mancebo's life was taken away by Police Colonel Oscar Bautista Mendieta, after a discussion during curfew hours in the Padre de las Casas municipality, in Azua.
Bautista Mendieta, together with a police patrol, went to the sector to supervise the closing of the businesses. According to the officer's statement, Méndez Mancebo was manipulating a firearm, so in order to "neutralize" him, he gave him the shot that caused his death.
Due to the fact, the colonel was given an average coercion of three months in preventive detention.
May 30 - Delfin Sabina
Delfín Sabina, 26, was executed when he fled from a “teteo” during curfew hours.
On his way he encountered a police barrier, which he ran over with his car, this action was repelled with shots.
March 30, 2021 - Christian Couple
Evangelical preachers Eliza Muñoz and Joel Díaz were shot to death when they were mistaken for robbers in Villa Altagracia. With this, the National Police excused themselves by indicating that they were pursuing alleged criminals who stripped a citizen of a pasola.
The agents who participated in the operation and Colonel César Maríñez Lora are in prison for this fact.
August 20, 2021 - Anastacio Martínez Arias
In San Pedro de Macorís, in an unclear event, agents killed a man who presumably suffered from mental disorders.
The agents said in the interrogation that they appeared at the home of a woman after the 911 notification, which revealed that the deceased today was trying to kill her with a machete.
The police said that they tried to neutralize the deceased Anastacio Martínez Arias, 31, by firing several shots into the air, but he rushed at them, for which they responded to the action by shooting him in the chest.
August 10, 2021 - Raymeni Alexis Castillo
Society did not come out of one consternation to receive another. Lawyer Raymeni Alexis Castillo was shot dead by a uniformed officer.
The law enforcement agency said that the lawyer's death occurred in the middle of an argument with the agents, when he took out a firearm. The uniformed men just wanted to give him " a smack" says the report, but the lawyer was wounded by a bullet in the head. The officer who shot him was arrested.
09 March 2021 - Eduardo Hiraldo Pérez "The Banker"
The moment in which agents executed Eduardo Hiraldo Pérez “El Banquero” was captured on video , who was wanted for the gunshot wounds that he caused to a sergeant and a corporal, as well as for the murder of Second Lieutenant Chanel and Leonardo Maleno Urbano (Chivale), in the Los Calipsos neighborhood of Hato Nuevo, in Los Alcarrizos.
In the film, it was observed how the agents violently removed Hiraldo Pérez from a vehicle, threw him to the ground and then executed him. The uniformed men who participated were suspended and placed under investigation.
July 10, 2020 - Nicole Ureña Manzueta
At the age of 18, Nicole Ureña Manzueta had a death similar to that of Leslie Rosado. He was shot in the back by a corporal.
After a small accident that consisted of rubbing the motorcycle on which she was traveling with her boyfriend and that of agent Ezequiel Bautista Batista . The latter chased her and killed her.
July 7, 2020 - José Antonio Reyes Ulloa alias El Gordo
While fleeing from a patrol, José Antonio Reyes Ulloa alias El Gordo entered a house in the La Yagua community in Cotuí, where he took the owner of the house and her minor son hostage. In these circumstances, Ulloa requested the mediation of a priest and the presence of a journalist to surrender to the authorities.
The patrol did not comply with his request and an agent disguised himself as a priest to enter the house and killed him. The event was condemned by the Catholic Church and the National Human Rights Commission.
January 3, 2020 - Downcast youths handcuffed
2020, the year of the arrival of the pandemic, opened with an unprecedented event. Photos widely disseminated on social networks showed the shooting death of two young men in handcuffs.
The incident occurred in the Villa Hermosa municipality, La Romana province. Identified as criminals, Ángel Chanel Consoró Rosado, alias Pilo, 25, and Eddy Antonio García, alias Peseta, 24, were killed on the pavement. Four agents participated in the scandalous incident and were suspended and arrested.
February 05, 2020 - Lawyer Argenis Martínez Grullón
The lawyer Argenis Martínez Grullón became another death in custody, that is, the Police killed him after being arrested. The death of the legal professional was violent, the report of the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif) indicated that his death was caused by violent mechanical asphyxia.
Each of the deaths described could be prevented. They have the common factor of errors, confusion and excesses in the use of force and occurred between 2020 and 2021.
However, the database of the investigation work of Diario Libre "Patrol Letal" counts from 2004 to date 1,936 brutal deaths at the hands of agents of the National Police and the Armed Forces.