The Justice Department is coming down hard on the Puerto Rico Police Department — the nation’s second largest — accusing it of “profound” and “longstanding” civil rights violations and illegal practices, reports the New York Times.
The Puerto Rico Police Department is “using force, including deadly force, when no force or lesser force was called for,” says a 116-page Justice Department report to be made public on Thursday, according to the Times.
The report cited regular profiling and singling out of those of Dominican descent, and it noted a failure to “adequately police sex assault and domestic violence” cases, such as spousal abuse and abuse by fellow law enforcement officials, reports the Times.
Puerto Rico has seen increases in violent crimes, an occurance that has begun to spill into middle class neighborhoods recently, according to the Times, with 786 homicides this year–up by 117 from the same time last year.
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Read Statement on Report by Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez