Police Chief Pedro de Jesús Candelier said he would investigate Father José Núñez’s (Parroquia Domingo Savio) denunciation that police agents assist drug traffickers in the Los Guandules, La Cienaga, 27 de Febrero and Agua Dulce slum barrios. The priest denounced an increase in assaults, sexual violations and consumption and sales of drugs due to lenience and complicity of the police stationed in the area. Virgilio Almanzar, president of the Dominican Committee of Human Rights corroborated the denunciation, saying that three years ago his organization took to the then police chief a photo of a vehicle in which a police officer was delivering drugs. At the time, the officer and a special operations agent were transferred, but nothing more came of this. He said he met with the neighborhood council of another slum area, Capotillo, with two different police chiefs and provided names of the agents that were involved in drug trafficking but nothing happened. Moreover, the president of the National Commission of Human Rights, Dr. Manuel María Mercedes Medina came forth to urge the National Police to continue testing police agents and officers for drug usage. At the start of his term as chief of the Police, Candelier tested agents of which 43 tested positive and were removed from the force. Dr. Medina urged the police to move a step upwards and test officers.
