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In his first duties as commissioner of the Police, Colonel Antonio López Figueroa has announced today that he will start working this week with the vaccination protocol of the officers and with the merger of several units of the Uniformed.
Both points headed the agenda of the meeting held by López Figueroa this morning at the Headquarters in Hato Rey with the commanders of the 13 police areas of Puerto Rico.
He noted that the vaccination protocol will be developed in coordination with the Secretary of Health, Carlos Mellado, and General José Reyes, Assistant General of the National Guard.
“The week they go into phase 1B vaccination. A protocol will be made so that in each police area it can be possible for officers to be vaccinated and, if possible, to be protected during the pandemic (of the COVID-19) “, said López Figueroa.
He assured that they will establish some mechanism by police area, so that problems do not arise for extensive rows of uniformed, which currently has 11,463 on the payroll, although he clarified that vaccination is voluntary.
Meanwhile, the new commissioner indicated that during the meeting he spoke about the creation of several units “to increase the clarification of cases.”
He noted that this process will involve a “restructuring of the investigative branch,” which will include the merger of some divisions “that are doing virtually the same, to streamline processes.”
As an example, he mentioned the Domestic Violence, Juvenile Affairs, and Sexual Offenses divisions, because the same agent is trained to investigate in these three areas.
Instead, he has said that at the moment he does not anticipate changes in the positions of area commanders. He noted that for the time being Lieutenant Colonel José Luciano will be the interim commander of the San Juan police area, following the departure of Colonel José Juan García, who was appointed commissioner of the Municipal Police of the capital city.
Meanwhile, he announced that he will try to reimburse the payment of accumulated sick hours to the Uniformed from the next budget. He has indicated that it is more cost-effective because absences on “vulnerable” dates that end up being covered by other officers working overtime that also have to be paid will be reduced.
By 2021, the commissioner is already expecting an academy of 225 police officers, while they will request a budget for a new class of 800 cadets, to try to offset the drop from past years. He said an average of 400 to 500 police officers retire annually.
As an incentive to attract new recruits, López Figueroa said that they will seek to lower the minimum age to enter the Police Academy to 18 years and that at the end of the cadets have an associate degree.
The recruitment of new police officers has been a constant signal of federal court, as part of the Police Reform.
López Figueroa assured that in his administration they will be “facilitators between the Reformation and the police”.
Under his administration will mark the 10th anniversary of the Reform, which was signed in 2013, so he anticipated that “we will try to move forward enough so that it can materialize” compliance with the provisions of the agreement that transposed the U.S. government lawsuit for civil rights violations.