The National Human Rights Committee (CNDH) claims that the police have killed 230 people in what they term as “extra-judicial killings”, and what the police describe as “exchanges of fire”. Chief of Police, Major General Jaime Marte Martinez denies the charge. CNDH president Virgilio Almanzar told journalists that “the police has agents who only know to kill” after laying a memorial wreath on the national monument “Altar de la Patria” in a ceremony to mark the 55th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The CNDH president also spoke about the wider abuse of human rights caused by the current economic crisis, saying that people had a right to eat and work, as well as to health and education. Almanzar urged immediate police reform, so that “the people get the police force they deserve”. Almanzar acknowledged there were some rays of hope, citing the educational activities of the police and army’s “human unit” (Unidad Humana). On the negative side, he spoke of the alleged “torture center” in the Santo Domingo district of Los Mina, where police are said to use a brutal technique known as “the dummy” (el muneco) to extract confessions out of detainees. It consists of tying the person’s arms behind their back, putting an onion in their mouth and a bag over their head before beating them. He named at least three police colonels who are said to engage in such practices and claimed to have video-recordings of torture. Marte Martinez counteracted by saying that the police force does all it can to uphold human dignity and human rights.