Chief denies the National Police’s collapse

Santo Domingo.- National Police chief Manuel Castro on Wednesday called for "patience" just hours after a prestigious organization asked that president Danilo Medina intervene the ‘collapsed” law enforcement agency.

He denied the affirmation by Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (Finjus) vice president Servio Tulio Castaños, that the recent scandals had collapsed the National Police.

Castro said the Police is being reformed and modernized, as announced recently by several cabinet ministers. "We’re implementing a new management model where we’ve been emphatic that all wrong practice committed will be punished internally. We’re in a reform and transparency process for which we have to be a little patient because it’s a process."

Castaños’ statement referred to the scandal in Sosua, Puerto Plata, on which Castro affirms the Police acted with due diligence to clarify the incident. "Whenever there’s a complaint or any claim of misuse of force, the National Police immediately conducts an investigation and it first fires its members, and then forced into retirement."