This year 37 people have been shot dead by the police in alleged ?exchanges of fire?. The Dominican Human Rights Committee (CDNH) is urging National Police Chief General Jaime Marte Mart?nez to investigate these cases and bring those responsible to justice. Although there is no death penalty in the Dominican Republic, deaths of criminal suspects at the hands of the police are common, and often witnessed by family members and campaigners as ?summary executions?. As well as the 37 deaths there are 50 accusations of injuries as a result of police brutality. El Caribe reports on one such case in which a family in Ban? has called for an investigation into an incident on 11 March where their relative, a young deaf-mute man, was beaten by police after he failed to respond to their calling him over. His wounds required medical treatment.