About the results of the police reform that Dominican society demands so much, President Luis Abinader said this Monday, in his accountability speech, that the only way the system can be changed is through a long process of training and educating those who make it up.
“We cannot change the problems of eight decades in months… Completely changing the system is through the training and education of the Police and that takes time and it is the only thing that guarantees the reform”, explained.
When starting the police Reform, The president took stock of what has been done and achieved in 2022 in this area.
Said they graduated 906 flats and it is expected that this year the formation of three thousand new members. He highlighted that now, thanks to the reform, police training has gone from three months to seven months. “More time and better training”.
In addition, he maintained that he began the continuous training process with 1,400 courses in two years aimed at all the police officers in service.
The president said that police training programs will begin in the two new campus of Río San Juan and Boca Chica.
He specified that, thanks to an agreement with the Ministry of Education, starting next school year, the Bachelor of Security, which will mean the generation of a pool of young people who will be able to start the police career with greater prior preparation.
He remembered that the police reform which began a year and a half after the coronavirus pandemic, is based on three basic aspects: compliance with the law, the fight against corruption and improving the living conditions of agents and their professional skills.
crime decline
In his speech, the president highlighted the fruits of the reform effort in police operations, beginning with statistics.
“For the first time we have reliable, rigorous and continuous statistics where a new systematization, based on complaints, allows us to establish the daily crime incidence and deploy preventive police patrols throughout the country according to heat maps in real time. , which describe the criminal phenomenon based on the georeferenced position, the day, the hour and the type of crime”, he said.
The president explained that, using this measurement and monitoring system, since June 2022 the mixed operations (National Police, Armed Forces and DNCD) have allowed the incidence of crime in the streets to drop by 7% in 2022 compared to 2021.
However, Abinader said that the incidence figures, disaggregated by type of crime, establish that homicides by delinquency and those related to social conflicts have suffered, in both cases, an increase.
The president indicated that this phenomenon is not exclusive to the Dominican Republic, since the same has happened with other countries after the confinement of COVID-19.
He indicated that these indicators have decreased in the last three months, “this phenomenon is beginning to decrease.”
“Compared to the year 2021, homicides due to crime fell by 2%, but those of social conflict increased by 7%. Today, 60% of homicides that occur in the Dominican Republic are due to violent conflicts between citizens”Republic President
He indicated that, in the line corresponding to robberies and robberies, thefts of motorcycles and vehicles have increased compared to 2021 by 19 and 21%, respectively, but in terms of assaults, outbursts, thefts and break-ins the decrease compared to 2021 is 4%, 14%, 9% and 14%, respectively.
“The government is no stranger to the concern of Dominicans over the increase since the end of the pandemic in some of the most serious crimes, and it is working to reverse this situation, but if we compare the crime incidence with that of 5 years ago, we will see that the crime level has dropped by 11% and if we compare it with the figures of 10 years ago, the drop is 45%”.
patrol by quadrants
Abinader explained that the system of quadrant patrol Started a few months ago, it has already been implemented in four areas of the capital and has led to an average drop of 60% in crime rates in the affected areas.
He announced that by December of this year this system will be implemented, at least, in the Greater Santo Domingo, San Cristóbal and Santiago de los Caballeros.
Complaints. In addition, he said that the new structure of face-to-face and virtual complaints from the Police, with 37 new reception offices open in 2022, up to 154, has made it possible to manage more than 436,000 files, “almost 19% more than in 2021”. .
He also pointed out that in 2022 Dicrim resolved more than 70% of criminal acts in less than a week.
fight against drugs
Abinader reaffirmed his fight against drugs and explained that last year the authorities seized an average of 37 tons of drugs each year, compared to the 7 tons per year that were seized between 2004 and 2020. He added that for these criminal acts more have been arrested of 31,000 people related to drug trafficking.
“We know that, in order to have a safe country, we must combat all forms of delinquency and especially the most organized ones. For this reason, we are carrying out a policy of an iron fist against drug trafficking and its networks, ”he stressed.
