Former senator and economist, Dr. Thomson Fontaine, has told police authorities that they are not at war with the Dominican people and that officers should stop oppressing the people they are paid to protect. Fontaine said the loyalty of the police should be to the constitution and that they are in uniform to serve and protect the people, not oppress them unjustly.
According to the former senator, the police should be condemned for several extra-judicial activities they done to the people, because this creates distancing between the police and the people instead of bringing them together in a community life. The economist also calls for proper retraining of police officers to recondition their minds to the tenets of community policing and public service rather than of oppression.
Justice Irving Andre also shared Fontaine’s sentiments, adding that the Dominican police is not an occupying force and shoud stop constituting themselves as if they were such. While Fontaine maintained that it is unprofessional for the police to give allegiance to the current government administration, Andre posited that the police should report to the public and the people they swore to serve.
Both Fontaine and Andre said police officers should learn the rudiments of community policing and apply the same in the discharge of their functions if they ever hope to enjoy public goodwill. Meanwhile, a cross-section of Dominicans has often wondered on how a police officer is brought to book if they err in their duties or whether they are a law unto themselves.
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