Overview

PRPB shall develop processes and mechanisms that promote professional, ethical, and respectful policing services to effectively address Puerto Rico’s public safety challenges; consistently and uniformly apply constitutional police practices; build public confidence; and strengthen its institutional structures. PRPB shall promote continuous performance improvement among all PRPB personnel that regularly identifies problems or challenges, assesses causal or contributing factors, and takes reasonable measures to achieve performance expectations in areas related to the Consent Decree.

General Use of Force complies with applicable law and comports with generally accepted policing practices. The comprehensive use of force policy shall categorize all reportable uses of force into multiple levels, grouped by degree of seriousness, and shall include all force techniques, technologies develop a comprehensive and agency- PRPB shall wide use of force policy that, and weapons, both lethal and less-lethal, that are available to PRPB officers, including officers assigned to specialized tactical units. The comprehensive use of force policy shall clearly define and describe each force level option and the circumstances under which each force level is appropriate. The highest level of force described by the policy shall include all serious uses of force, as defined in the Consent Decree.

PRPB shall ensure that all investigatory stops, searches, and arrests are conducted in accordance with the rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. PRPB shall ensure that investigatory stops, searches, and arrests are conducted as part of effective crime prevention strategies that are consistent with community priorities for enforcement.

PRPB shall ensure that police services are delivered equitably, respectfully, and free of unlawful bias, in a manner that promotes broad community engagement and supports effective crime prevention. In conducting its activities, PRPB shall ensure that members of the public receive equal protection of the law, without bias based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or political ideology or affiliation, and in accordance with the rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

PRPB shall develop a comprehensive recruitment and hiring program that successfully attracts and hires qualified individuals. PRPB shall develop a recruitment policy and program that establishes clear guidance and objectives for recruiting police officers and clearly and transparently allocates responsibilities for recruitment efforts.

Policies and procedures shall reflect and express PRPB’s core values and priorities and provide clear guidance to ensure that officers and civilian employees lawfully, effectively, and ethically serve the community. PRPB shall develop comprehensive and agency- wide policies and procedures to ensure consistency with, and full implementation of, each requirement of the Consent Decree. These policies and procedures shall define terms clearly, comply with applicable law, and comport with generally accepted policing practice. PRPB shall apply policies uniformly and hold officers accountable for complying with policies and advancing PRPB’s core values and priorities.

PRPB shall ensure that every PRPB officer and employee receives effective and comprehensive training that ensures they understand their responsibilities, the scope of their authority, and PRPB policy, and are able to fulfill these responsibilities and police effectively. Qualified trainers and instructors shall deliver instruction through generally accepted methods and techniques that are approved by University College of Criminal Justice and are designed to achieve clear and articulated learning objectives. Trainers and instructors shall utilize generally accepted evaluation methods approved by University College of Criminal Justice to assess proficiency and competency.

PRPB shall ensure that an adequate number of qualified first-line supervisors are deployed in the field to allow supervisors to provide close and effective supervision to each officer under the supervisor’s direct command, to provide officers with the direction and guidance necessary to improve and develop as police officers, and to identify, correct, and prevent misconduct. PRPB shall develop policies for supervision that set out clear requirements for supervisors and are consistent with generally accepted policing practices.

PRPB shall ensure that all allegations of officer misconduct are received and are fully and fairly investigated; that all investigative findings are supported by a preponderance of the evidence; and that all officers who commit misconduct are held accountable pursuant to a disciplinary system that is fair and consistent. PRPB shall develop policies and practices for the intake, investigation, and adjudication of misconduct complaints against PRPB officers. These policies and practices shall comply with applicable law and comport with generally accepted policing practices. and shall include the requirements set out below.Q out or all to follow

PRPB shall create robust community relationships and engage constructively with the community to ensure collaborative problem-solving, ethical and bias-free policing, and more effective crime prevention. PRPB shall integrate community and problem oriented policing principles into its management, policies and procedures, recruitment, training, personnel evaluations, tactics, deployment of resources, and systems of accountability. PRPB shall engage the public in the reform process through the dissemination of public information on a regular basis.

PRPB shall establish information systems and utilize technology to support the implementation of the Consent Decree in an efficient and effective manner.