Puerto Rico police accused of corruption

by urbano411 | October 6, 2007 at 05:57 pm

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As a teenager I remember how the police force in Puero Rico was always a bit over the top. Corruption in PR's Police Department is a well know and blatant reality. A soaring crime rate that has reduced many parts of the island to 3rd world status. Puerto Rico is in desperate need of new leadership and we are closely watching the political situation and anticipate an interesting fight for governor.

Mistrust of police has been ingrained for years in this bleak coastal town, where a basketball court mural shows a girl running from a baton-wielding officer under the slogan: "To be poor is not a crime."

So there was some sense of vindication when the FBI arrested 10 officers this summer, accusing them of planting drugs on residents of housing projects and other poor neighborhoods in one of Puerto Rico's worst police corruption cases.

The reach of the scandal became apparent this week when the local Justice Department recommended throwing out cases against 51 people accused of drug offenses in Mayaguez, a town on Puerto Rico's western shores.

The police unit in Mayaguez considered residents of housing projects near their precinct as "targets of opportunity," said Luis Fraticelli, the top FBI official in Puerto Rico, in an interview with The Associated Press.