American Civil Liberties Union

In September 2011, the Justice Department found the Puerto Rico Police Department to have a “profound” and “longstanding” pattern of civil rights violations including excessive force, violent suppression of First Amendment rights, and unconstitutional searches and arrests. The investigation was initiated in part due to the ACLU’s complaints about police abuse and brutality. Learn more >>

Under the Constitution, Puerto Ricans are entitled to the same fundamental rights and protections as all U.S. citizens. But, over the last few years, police brutality and limitations on freedom of assembly and expression in Puerto Rico have escalated at an alarming rate.

First documented by the ACLU in 2004, instances of police brutality have increased both in their frequency and intensity since 2008. Since Governor Luis Fortuño came into power two years ago, peacefully protesting University of Puerto Rico students have been subjected to violent attacks and arrest, while female students have been inappropriately touched by police officers during their arrests. Legislative sessions have been closed to the public, and protesters at the legislature have been pepper sprayed, beaten and shot at with rubber bullets by police. Low-income, black and Dominican communities have suffered ongoing police brutality - including the use of lethal force - for years and rarely see abusive officers punished.

Preliminary Findings of ACLU Research Report on Human Rights Violations in Puerto Rico >>

The ACLU is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to conclude a pending investigation of the Puerto Rico Police Department that was initiated in 2008. Better police training, supervision, and monitoring of officers' use of force is needed to ensure that all residents of Puerto Rico -- especially the most vulnerable -- are safe from unlawful police violence and remain free to exercise their First Amendment rights.