The Listin Diario’s political analyst Orlando Gil shares today the experiences of a Dominican journalist, Nelson Encarnacion, now living in New York, who wrote to him to tell him of two encounters related to the police scandal now making news. He first tells of a woman who had reported the theft of her BMW to the police, when one day she saw it parked in front of the Cantabrico restaurant. She had her keys with her and used it to retake possession of her car. To her surprise, however, she noticed that a police officer was in her pursuit, claiming his own ownership of the vehicle. She chose to drive straight to police headquarters. Once there, she sought out the director of the theft department and, with papers in hand, demonstrated her title to the vehicle. The police chief was forced to return the vehicle to its rightful owner.
Encarnacion also wrote to tell of his own escapades with the police when his car was stolen and subsequently used by delinquents in a crime. When the perpetrators were arrested and the vehicle confiscated, instead of being returned to him, the vehicle was transferred to a police major who worked in Los Alcarrizos. One of Encarnacion’s friends who worked in the theft department alerted him that his car had been recovered, and with police press officer Simon Diaz he brought the case to the attention of General Jose Anibal Sanz Jiminian, then chief of police. He relates that General Sanz (the newly appointed chief of the National Drug Council) gave the guilty officer 24 hours to return the vehicle. Encarnacion says that this cost him a verbal clash with Colonel Bencosme Candelier, who then headed the theft department, and who alleged that the vehicle was part of the spoils of crime, even though it was not listed in the case file. Encarnacion then demanded that if the vehicle was not returned, he should be included in the dossier sent to the district attorney. Finally, Bencosme Candelier agreed to return the car to him, although it had been repainted red by the “new owner,” a major in the National Police. Encarnacion writes that the drama did not end there because the police officer demanded to be reimbursed for the money invested to fix the car up. Encarnacion said he ignored this request and heard no more about it.
The correspondent concludes that not all those affected have the courage of the lady who “stole” back her BMW, nor the connections in the police that he had to confront both a colonel and a police major.