Retired Army General Rafael R. Ramirez Ferreira writes in Acento about his disappointment with the Police reform and road improvements. He mentions that those in power resort to reforms to disguise other purposes for their actions.
He writes:
“We have the famous police reform, very similar to the expansion of the Duarte highway, which, more than anything, is cosmetic with returns that will take decades to see any effectiveness, as if the existing ones weren’t doing their job. But the real business lies in the removal of earth, not to mention the use of the material obtained from the mine found where the new toll station is being built.
“That’s what the police reform has become: cosmetics here and there, collecting everything that comes in without any objective criteria, without even carrying out a purge as the situation requires to avoid those neighborhood thugs who are being given a license to operate, but now from within.
“The most important thing is the personnel, their real training, and above all, removing all that well-known scum from the force, who only infect the newcomers and are protected by an overprotective professional cover, which has led to a proliferation of ranks, trivializing them and making the organization impossible to regulate.
“To talk about reform without first retiring people, from generals to privates, is simply a futile exercise. The fact is that most general officers, superiors, subordinates, and classes simply have the rank, as their mentality remains that of a private.
“This is because it is well known that the instructor can sweat with his subordinates, but he does not sit with them on the couch, although in training it is possible to have breakfast with them, but not in his house. Something similar to what politicians do, who in campaigns can eat with the common people, but not in their homes.
“Police reform, but everything continues the same with the command positions and the indiscriminate promotions, where it is well known that if there is no money, there is nothing; that the hundreds or thousands of police officers assigned to external services, whether to officials, individuals, or other types of organizations, would be enough to establish a patrol service that covers the entire country; that within those who are out of control, there is another indecent group of civilians with police ranks whose salaries end up somewhere and they only use their ID and rank on the low, and God knows for what kind of activities.
“The police reform must begin with the annulment of all those “bureaus” and other similar things, created only to have positions and salaries for the absurdity of general officers and superiors; stop the proliferation of positions and detachments everywhere that only serves to disperse the force and increase indiscipline; and, if they want to obtain a truly specialized personnel for patrolling the streets, they should undertake to create a school for patrol sergeants and that each promotion consists only of the salary, being able to earn up to as much as a general, but always a patrol sergeant. The simple is often the most effective. Yes sir!”
Retired Major General Ramirez Ferreira was born in Santo Domingo. Among his past roles is that of director general of the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD), general director of training, director of the intelligence J2 of the Army. He was also rector of Instituto Especializado de Estudios Superiores of the military. He held the presidency of the Permanent Commission for Reform of the Armed Forces; was president of the retirement board for the Armed Forces; deputy minister of the Armed Forces; Inspector General of the Armed Forces, among other positions.
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Acento
Acento
El Nacional
Senate
27 November 2024