During the first sixty days of the Mejia administration, the National Police (PN) have used deadly force on twenty-six civilians. Chief of Police Pedro De Jesus Candelier provided the statistic. He also noted that police killed 328 persons since he took command on March 1, 1999. At the same time, Candelier affirmed that ?certain sectors? are trying to defame the PN. Several international human rights organizations have faulted the country?s police establishment, among them, the Organization of American States, and the human rights office of the United Nations. This past June, the Miami Herald reported that so far this year there had been 70 ?extra-judicial executions? in the Dominican Republic, and that there had been 221 in 1999 and 168 in 1998. Locally, the National Human Rights Commission and the Foundation for Justice and Institutionality have fiercely criticized police methods. Former Santo Domingo District Attorney Francisco Dominguez Brito stated that the PN needs ?total reform.? Narciso Isa Conde, head of the extreme left wing Revolutionary Forces Party described the PN as ?rotten to the core.?
