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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Pierluisi’s Efforts to Obtain Additional Federal Resources to Combat Drug-Related Violence Bear Fruit

DEA has increased number of agents on the Island by 30% since 2009

WASHINGTON, DC- Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi has confirmed that, since 2009, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has both increased the number of authorized positions in Puerto Rico and reduced the number of vacancies it has on the Island, which are key components of the broader strategy that Pierluisi has urged the federal government to adopt in order to reduce drug-related violence in Puerto Rico.
This information was provided to the Resident Commissioner during a meeting yesterday with Michelle Leonhart, the Administrator of the DEA, who met with Pierluisi in his congressional office.

Specifically, Administrator Leonhart told the Resident Commissioner that, in the past three years, DEA has increased the number of authorized positions in Puerto Rico by nearly 15%. At the same time, DEA also reduced the number of vacancies from 22% to 15%. Within the next few weeks, the vacancy rate will be further reduced to 12%. In total, the number of DEA agents in Puerto Rico has increased by 30% in the last three years.

“Following this meeting, I can say that, as much as any law enforcement agency that I have met with, DEA understands the size and scope of the problem, and the need for additional resources to combat that problem,” said the Resident Commissioner.

During the meeting, the DEA Administrator confirmed Pierluisi’s view that Puerto Rico’s role in the international drug trade has increased because of broad geopolitical trends, including U.S. efforts in Mexico and along the Southwest Border. She responded positively to the Caribbean Border Initiative that the Resident Commissioner has proposed, which has obtained support from nearly 100 Members of Congress. For his part, Pierluisi was pleased to hear the Administrator explain that DEA has a number of initiatives in place designed to recruit and retain more agents in Puerto Rico and the broader Caribbean, because the agency understands the drug-related violence problems that are being experienced throughout the region.

The Resident Commissioner also met yesterday with Bernard Melekian, Director of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office, which is part of the Department of Justice, to discuss how the COPS office can support community policing in Puerto Rico, with a focus on training for local law enforcement, prevention, education, and reducing the demand for drugs.

The Resident Commissioner and Director Melekian also spoke at length about innovative techniques that have been adopted in other jurisdictions and that have proven successful in reducing violence, particularly youth violence related to the drug trade. In particular, they discussed the strategy formulated by David Kennedy, the director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control and a professor of criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Kennedy’s youth violence intervention strategy, known as Operation Ceasefire, has been successfully implemented in Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago, Baltimore and scores of other cities.

“In the many meetings I have held with federal officials from law enforcement agencies, including Attorney General Eric Holder, they have all acknowledged that the resources being devoted to Puerto Rico are not sufficient to address the problem of drug-related violence on the Island. I have urged the DEA, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and other agencies to fill their vacancies in Puerto Rico and to focus on recruitment and retention of agents on the Island, ” said Pierluisi.

“It is clear that the agencies have taken notice and made important progress in this respect. But far more must be done. I will continue to meet with senior federal officials to ensure that they are taking resolute action to reduce drug-related violence in Puerto Rico,” the Resident Commissioner added.

Yesterday’s meeting with Administrator Leonhart is the latest step in Pierluisi’s continued crusade to focus the federal government’s attention on drug-related violence in Puerto Rico. Over the last two months, the Resident Commissioner has met with the second-highest ranking official in the Department of Homeland Security, the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Director of ATF, the Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and DHS’s representative on the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status. These meetings follow up on Pierluisi’s questioning of Attorney General Holder and DHS Secretary Napolitano at House Judiciary Committee hearings in late 2011, and several meetings and phone calls Pierluisi has had with Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, the Department of Justice’s representative on the Task Force.