I just got done reading an article on Listin Diario about how the Chief of Police is bewildered at how easy it is for criminals to get out of jail after having been apprehended or arrested even while in the commission of the crime(s).
Well, here's my two cents: not long ago, we had an international committee of "legal experts" from all over the American continent (specifically Chile) who gave the DR a particular "insight" as to how the police and judicial system "should" run. Now, I'm sure they had the best of intentions to bring our archaic judicial system out of the stone age by having it migrate if you will, from a Middle Age judicial system to what the new globalized era countries like the US, Chile, the UK and some others that come to mind currently implement.
Problem with that is that they essentially have placed the horse in front of the carriage. They have decided to place a number of criminal offender biased restrictions on the judicial system, like having to release suspected criminals if they're not properly processed through our version of the prosecutor's office and court system within say, 48 hours. Now, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that before you start placing this type of pressure on the authorities the infrastructure must already be there. The backbone system must already be standing and operational otherwise we will continue to see everyday occurrences where the police will not only have to watch criminals simply walk out of the jail, but eventually this is all going to start taking a toll on the officers. Frustration will start to settle in, the morale of the police force will start to deteriorate (if not already) to the point where officers will all be guilty of dereliction of duty or official misconduct, as if this is not an already rampant problem in the DR.
My suggestion? Withhold any further 48 hr detention time lines or at the very least increase it appropriately so as to allow the judicial system, in its current state to catch up.
Well, here's my two cents: not long ago, we had an international committee of "legal experts" from all over the American continent (specifically Chile) who gave the DR a particular "insight" as to how the police and judicial system "should" run. Now, I'm sure they had the best of intentions to bring our archaic judicial system out of the stone age by having it migrate if you will, from a Middle Age judicial system to what the new globalized era countries like the US, Chile, the UK and some others that come to mind currently implement.
Problem with that is that they essentially have placed the horse in front of the carriage. They have decided to place a number of criminal offender biased restrictions on the judicial system, like having to release suspected criminals if they're not properly processed through our version of the prosecutor's office and court system within say, 48 hours. Now, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that before you start placing this type of pressure on the authorities the infrastructure must already be there. The backbone system must already be standing and operational otherwise we will continue to see everyday occurrences where the police will not only have to watch criminals simply walk out of the jail, but eventually this is all going to start taking a toll on the officers. Frustration will start to settle in, the morale of the police force will start to deteriorate (if not already) to the point where officers will all be guilty of dereliction of duty or official misconduct, as if this is not an already rampant problem in the DR.
My suggestion? Withhold any further 48 hr detention time lines or at the very least increase it appropriately so as to allow the judicial system, in its current state to catch up.