Police Chief Manuel de Jesus Perez Sanchez said yesterday that the newly instituted Penal Code should be adjusted and that more severe sentencing guidelines should be imposed. “Recently, we have seen 112 cases where people with multiple-arrest and convictions records and extraordinary criminal dossiers have been brought before the tribunals and released,” said the general. As an example, the police chief told of the cases presented to the tribunals in September, in which the same person was sent before judges on the second, tenth and twentieth of September, and set free each time. He also told of the person who in February of this year was arrested for auto theft, and last Tuesday was again arrested as he came from Haiti with two stolen vehicles. The DR’s highest-ranking cop in the land said that auto theft is not being handled appropriately and because of this the Penal Code needed to be “adjusted.” He argued for a quick approval of the reforms needed in order to “provide a stronger response” to crime. “It is not possible to consider auto theft as a misdemeanor crime,” complained the general. Perhaps even more importantly, the general pointed out that police agents feel very frustrated when they apprehend a car thief, bring him to trial and, in the general’s words, “the policeman goes out one door and the criminal goes out the other.”