Dominican Police and Soldiers

Even I would like to know too

Natasha

Could anyone post a list of the different Police/soldiers one sees around the DR, especially Santo Domingo.

I have encountered, White Shirted with hand guns, Slver Helmeted with M-16's, Blue Uniforms with I don't know automatics, others with haphazard uniforms and shotguns. A few traveling around in Land Rovers, most on foot or mo-ped.

Are their National Police, Metro Police, City Police, State Police. Tourist Police, Local Police etc.

I would really like to know "Whos'who", their duties and authority.

Thanks

Tom

Mr. Guzman, I also agree with you of been intimidating to any tourist that comes from a civilised country where policemen only carry handguns,m-16 is an assault rifle used to kill people in war. I have seen this all thru latin america, all this countries that shows this kind of force in public is to keep the populace in line, its ridiculous to see people armed to the teeth in street corners while at the same time telling the world how democratic they are.

>>>>m-16 is an assault rifle used to kill people in war>>>>>>>

You are very corect about the M-16, it is/was not designed to preserve peace, keep law and order or for use as a civilian weapon. It's desin as a weapon to inflict the most damage to the human body is evidenced in the very design of the supersonic 22 caliber parabolic round that is designed to "tumble" upon impact, traveling along bones, and bouncing around inside the body to cause the most damage, and thus tax enemy medical facilities as much as possible. This weapon was purposely designed with a high speed, small caliber bullet to sustain horrendous injuries as opposed to "stopping power" that is the primary purpose of Police firearms such as the low speed non penetrating .45 caliber

Tom

Tom your discription of the m-16 assault rifle is correct.All your latin american countries use this kind of force in public to intimidate the populace and to keep them in line, I can,t imagine a kid getting sprayed with an m-16 for stealing a mango??

I am not an expert on this but here it goes. The Dominican Armed Forces are composed of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. The Army dresses usually in khakis or green, the Navy in white and the Air Force in blue. The Armed Forces are supposed to protect the country from its foreign enemies. The National Police, which is not considered a part of the Armed Forces, dresses in gray. It is supposed to enforce internal law and order. Traffic policeman wear white shirts; regular policemen, gray shirts. M-16's are carried by members of the armed forces while policemen carry handguns, except in case of disturbances when I have seen policemen, especially the "Cascos Negros" ("Black Helmets"), carry M-16's. In any case, there are too many armed soldiers around for my taste. I believe it's an outdated practice inherited from Trujillo's dictatorship when soldiers in the streets were a constant reminder to Dominicans of who was the boss.