Police round-ups are making headlines again. Usually, they intensive following the occurrence of headline-making crimes. Minister of Interior and Police Rafael Suberví Bonilla, in an unusual move, sent the Chief of the Police a memorandum (with copy to President Hipólito Mejía) advising the latter to stop the massive arrests. In the round-ups, the Police enter a neighborhood, park at a corner, and pick up everyone with a suspicious profile. The Police will arrest suspect delinquents and also pick up many who are innocent causing major inconveniences. Dominican law states that everyone must be charged or released in 48 hours. Many of those detained by the Police are kept longer. Usually someone must come and negotiate their release. The arrests take place in slum areas, and some families do not have the RD$200 that the Police many times require to release an arrested person. The Police will usually let out within the 48 hours anyone who can prove they have a regular job. A work ID is usually good enough to get someone out of the provisional imprisonment. But, the round-ups have intensified after news reports have shown that crimes are being committed by delinquents that had just recently been arrested and later released. President Mejía, responding to the memo by the Minister of Interior and Police said that the round-ups should continue but moderation and without excesses. He called for selectivity and avoiding of abuses in the arrests. The National Police announced better days are ahead for citizens. Reportedly, the Police will have in operation a computer central which will allow agents to request information on the suspects and thus be more selective in arrests.
