In an interview during the weekly Multimedios del Caribe luncheon event, hosted by the Director of El Caribe newspaper, Osvaldo Santana, the Minister of Interior and Police Jose Ramon (Monchy) Fadul announced that the police on patrol would receive a 100% increase in their salaries from May. Minimum wages will go from RD$6,177 per month to RD$12,254. Other salary increases will be announced by President Danilo Medina over the next few days, said Fadul.
He also mentioned that police uniforms would be changed but didn’t give details. In addition there will be better equipment, especially transport, and they would issue the police with a manual on the use of force and other aspects of police work.
On the subject of weapons, he said that since 2006 the numbers of gun permits issued had been reduced considerably, and many weapons shops closed. However, he reiterated that most illegal weapons did not come from Haiti and that better controls needed to be put in place to stop the entry of illegal weapons into the country.
He went on to say that the new 911 emergency telephone system would be put into place in November at a cost of US$22 million. There would be penalties for prank callers. In 2012, out of two million calls received only 12,000 were genuine emergencies.
www.elcaribe.com.do/2013/04/10/policias-que-patrullan-recibiran-alza-salarial-100