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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Pierluisi Seeks Information From Federal Law Enforcement Agencies About Their Efforts to Recruit and Retain Personnel in Puerto Rico

WASHINGTON, DC- Concerned with the level of federal resources that are being devoted to help Puerto Rico combat drug-related violence, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi has requested information from several agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding the steps they have taken to fill vacancies and to strengthen recruitment and retention in Puerto Rico.

The request was made in the three letters directed to the heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Upon questioning by the Resident Commissioner, the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, along with other senior officials at DOJ and DHS, have acknowledged that federal resources dedicated to Puerto Rico are not sufficient to confront violent crime.

According to statistics provided last year, 57% of ATF’s authorized positions in Puerto Rico were vacant, 22% of ICE’s authorized positions were unfilled, and 15% of DEA’s positions were vacant.

“First, I respectfully request that you provide me with up-to-date information on the number of vacancies at your Puerto Rico office so that I can determine what progress, if any, has been made. Second, I ask that you advise me on the specific steps you have already taken, or intend to take, to improve the recruitment and retention of personnel in Puerto Rico,” wrote Pierluisi in the letters to the directors of the three agencies.

Specifically, the Resident Commissioner has sought the following from each agency, in addition to the most recent statistics on the number of authorized positions each agency has in Puerto Rico and the number of those positions that are vacant: a list and description of the incentives that each agency has used in recent years or is currently using to recruit and retain agents to serve in Puerto Rico; statistics or other information that demonstrate the impact, if any, these incentives have had on recruitment and retention in Puerto Rico; and a list and description of any other incentives that each agency is considering for use in recruiting and retaining agents to serve in Puerto Rico.

“The challenge federal law enforcement agencies face with respect to recruiting and retaining agents in Puerto Rico is not new. In 2000, the Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s San Juan Field Division, Michael S. Vigil, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives . . . that ‘[f]ew personnel from the Continental United States are willing to accept a transfer to Puerto Rico, and those who do so often want to leave soon after arrival,’” Pierluisi observed in his letters.

For the Resident Commissioner, the need to increase the number of federal law enforcement in Puerto Rico is clear. In July, the House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved legislation introduced by Pierluisi that would direct the DOJ to establish a program to recruit, assign and retain personnel to serve in jurisdictions that have experienced high rates of violent crime, like Puerto Rico, so those jurisdictions can better combat criminal activity.

According to Pierluisi, however, “these agencies do not need to—and should not—wait for this legislation to be enacted into law before they take steps to improve recruitment and retention in Puerto Rico.”

In his letter, the Resident Commissioner pointed out that the House Appropriations Committee, at his urging, recently directed the DEA and other federal law enforcement agencies to prioritize resources for law enforcement activities in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico.