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Puerto Rico Police
The Puerto Rico Police (PPR; Spanish: Policía de Puerto Rico, lit. 'Police of Puerto Rico'), officially the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (Spanish: Oficina de la Policía de Puerto Rico, lit. 'Office of the Police of Puerto Rico'), is a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the entire Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a division of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety (PR DPS), alongside the Puerto Rico Special Investigations Bureau and the Puerto Rico Municipal Police and handles both traffic and criminal law enforcement in the commonwealth. As of 2020, the Puerto Rico Police force had 11,532 members. It is organized into thirteen regions within the island for operational purposes. Its headquarters are located at 601 Franklin D. Roosevelt Avenue in San Juan.
The first form of the Puerto Rico Police began in 1837, when Spanish governor Francisco Javier de Moreda y Prieto created La Guardia Civil de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Civil Guard) to protect the lives and property of Puerto Ricans, who at the time were Spanish subjects. It provided police services to the entire island, although many municipalities maintained their own police force.[citation needed]
Since taking possession of Puerto Rico in July 1898, as a result of the Spanish–American War, the United States has controlled the island as a US territory. The Insular Police of Puerto Rico was created on February 21, 1899, under the command of Colonel Frank Techner (US Marine Corps officer during the Spanish–American War), with an authorized strength of 313 sworn officers.[citation needed]
On March 21, 1937, approximately 30 officers placed themselves in an intersection in downtown Ponce to block a march by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party to celebrate the abolition of slavery and protest the incarceration of Pedro Albizu Campos. As the demonstrators marched, singing La Borinqueña (Puerto Rico's national anthem), General Blanton Winship, the U.S. appointed governor of Puerto Rico, ordered Chief of Police Guillermo Soldevilla to open fire on the protesters. The massacre lasted 15 minutes and resulted in 19 fatalities. This and other incidents involving the Insular Police fueled the Puerto Rico independence movement, leading to the burning of police stations and post offices in 1950, and the Jayuya Uprising.
In 1980, in accordance with Law 26 of 1974, it was described as "a quasi-military" organization of public safety, later to be changed by the "Puerto Rico Police Act" (Act No. 53) of 10 June 1996 as a "Civil Organization" of public safety as those on the US mainland.[citation needed]
In 1993, governor Pedro Rosselló created a new plan to fight back against crime called Mano Dura Contra el Crimen (or "Strong Hand Against Crime") in which Puerto Rico Police officers were assisted by the Puerto Rico National Guard in everything that involved police work, except police investigations. They were better known because of the raids that they made in public housing complexes or "Caseríos" with rapid force and precision and also, the use of military vehicles and tactics. This program was put to the test from 1993 to 1996 and in total 48 police officers died in the line of duty.[citation needed] It was later activated again in 2004 by the governor Sila María Calderón but not with the same intensity as in the early 1990s.[citation needed]
In 2009, Police Superintendent José Figueroa Sancha reorganized the Puerto Rico Police in terms of commanding officers and regional organization. Every police zone was changed to have two commanding officers: one in charge of the field operations, and the other in charge of investigations. The name was changed from Police Zones to Police Regions. Also, a new policy of the agency was to get involved in the community. Officers must get out of their patrol cars and sometimes patrol on foot in neighborhoods, so they can talk to citizens and socialize, as well as identify the problems that exist in the neighborhood.[citation needed]
In 2017, Ricardo Rosselló, Governor of Puerto Rico, created the Public Security Department with Héctor Pesquera as its head which combined various government agencies under the control of a larger umbrella agency.
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Puerto Rico Police
The Puerto Rico Police (PPR; Spanish: Policía de Puerto Rico, lit. 'Police of Puerto Rico'), officially the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (Spanish: Oficina de la Policía de Puerto Rico, lit. 'Office of the Police of Puerto Rico'), is a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the entire Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a division of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety (PR DPS), alongside the Puerto Rico Special Investigations Bureau and the Puerto Rico Municipal Police and handles both traffic and criminal law enforcement in the commonwealth. As of 2020, the Puerto Rico Police force had 11,532 members. It is organized into thirteen regions within the island for operational purposes. Its headquarters are located at 601 Franklin D. Roosevelt Avenue in San Juan.
The first form of the Puerto Rico Police began in 1837, when Spanish governor Francisco Javier de Moreda y Prieto created La Guardia Civil de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Civil Guard) to protect the lives and property of Puerto Ricans, who at the time were Spanish subjects. It provided police services to the entire island, although many municipalities maintained their own police force.[citation needed]
Since taking possession of Puerto Rico in July 1898, as a result of the Spanish–American War, the United States has controlled the island as a US territory. The Insular Police of Puerto Rico was created on February 21, 1899, under the command of Colonel Frank Techner (US Marine Corps officer during the Spanish–American War), with an authorized strength of 313 sworn officers.[citation needed]
On March 21, 1937, approximately 30 officers placed themselves in an intersection in downtown Ponce to block a march by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party to celebrate the abolition of slavery and protest the incarceration of Pedro Albizu Campos. As the demonstrators marched, singing La Borinqueña (Puerto Rico's national anthem), General Blanton Winship, the U.S. appointed governor of Puerto Rico, ordered Chief of Police Guillermo Soldevilla to open fire on the protesters. The massacre lasted 15 minutes and resulted in 19 fatalities. This and other incidents involving the Insular Police fueled the Puerto Rico independence movement, leading to the burning of police stations and post offices in 1950, and the Jayuya Uprising.
In 1980, in accordance with Law 26 of 1974, it was described as "a quasi-military" organization of public safety, later to be changed by the "Puerto Rico Police Act" (Act No. 53) of 10 June 1996 as a "Civil Organization" of public safety as those on the US mainland.[citation needed]
In 1993, governor Pedro Rosselló created a new plan to fight back against crime called Mano Dura Contra el Crimen (or "Strong Hand Against Crime") in which Puerto Rico Police officers were assisted by the Puerto Rico National Guard in everything that involved police work, except police investigations. They were better known because of the raids that they made in public housing complexes or "Caseríos" with rapid force and precision and also, the use of military vehicles and tactics. This program was put to the test from 1993 to 1996 and in total 48 police officers died in the line of duty.[citation needed] It was later activated again in 2004 by the governor Sila María Calderón but not with the same intensity as in the early 1990s.[citation needed]
In 2009, Police Superintendent José Figueroa Sancha reorganized the Puerto Rico Police in terms of commanding officers and regional organization. Every police zone was changed to have two commanding officers: one in charge of the field operations, and the other in charge of investigations. The name was changed from Police Zones to Police Regions. Also, a new policy of the agency was to get involved in the community. Officers must get out of their patrol cars and sometimes patrol on foot in neighborhoods, so they can talk to citizens and socialize, as well as identify the problems that exist in the neighborhood.[citation needed]
In 2017, Ricardo Rosselló, Governor of Puerto Rico, created the Public Security Department with Héctor Pesquera as its head which combined various government agencies under the control of a larger umbrella agency.