Dominican Republic Defense chief: Don’t charge cops who kill criminals

Santo Domingo.- Defense minister Sigfrido Pared on Wednesday urged prosecutors not to charge cops who kill criminals in the line of duty and "simply conduct an internal investigation in the case."

The unusual requests comes in the heels of a wave of murders of police agents and other law enforcement officers by gunmen usually riding on motorcycles in pairs.

Pared cited the case of National Police Capt. Miguel Ferreras Bonifacio, who last week shot and killed one of two men who allegedly robbed a woman of her purse containing more than RD$700,000 in the Urbanizacion Fernandez sector of the capital. "Unfortunately that police officer has to respond to justice."

"Nowhere in the world is a policeman who confronts criminals, where they are killed, is subjected to charges. Simply a police report jointly with prosecutors to back it up," the top general said.

"That’s why we urge the Justice Ministry, that when these cases occur where a police officer has to shoot and kill an offender, that prosecutors, in coordination with police, just conduct an internal investigation to demonstrate that it was a criminal or that it was the victim for committing an assault on a citizen," Pared added.

Bomb threat suspects identified

In another development, Pared announced that the two men suspected of making the bomb threat which halted operations at Las Americas Airport have been identified. “Intelligence agencies determined that two telephone calls were made from Sabana Perdida, in Santo Domingo North.”