By The Star Staff
Gov. Jenniffer González Colón announced Monday that this week she will file legislation to remove the Puerto Rico Police from the Department of Public Safety (DSP by its initials in Spanish).
“It is ready, the document has already been reviewed, I have already seen the draft, they are evaluating some details, but the document is ready to be submitted this week,” the governor said at a press conference.
“This bill is a campaign promise,” González Colón added. “This bill to remove the police from the Department of Public Safety is to give it agility in the purchase of materials, purchase of services, appointments, personnel procedures, evaluation -- it does not have to be asking for authorization from anyone, because it would be its own boss.”
“And that is why I recruited agent Joseph González [for police commissioner], because he directed the FBI in Puerto Rico, he knows, he has the experience, he has the ‘expertise’ and the vision that I want for a safer Puerto Rico,” the governor continued. “That is why I want to give him all the tools so that he, as the agent in charge, does not have to be dependent on requesting authorizations from another agency or doing paperwork through another agency.”
The governor asserted that the change will help speed up processes.
“I am going to give … a better example,” she said. “A police officer who has to wait for a bulletproof vest. A police officer who has to wait for a patrol car to be repaired, a motorcycle to be repaired. Agents who have to wait for services that they have to contract to or carry out with another agency. Or personnel procedures, No, all this has to run directly within the agency. Nobody knows that better than that agency itself. And although the intention [to create the umbrella DSP] was good in 2017-2018, the reality is that this agency requires having agility and internal mobility. And that is why I promised this during the campaign.”
González Colón said she is not going to remove other agencies from the DSP, so the Bureau of Emergency Management and Disaster Administration, Firefighters Bureau, 9-1-1 Emergency System, Medical Emergencies and Special Investigations Bureau would remain under that department, which is led by Gen. Arturo Garffer Croley.
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