US embassy cable - 05SANTODOMINGO355

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SANTO DOMINGO 000355 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/PPC (PUCETTI), WHA/CAR (MCISAAC), G/TIP 
(ETERNO, OWEN), 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM, KWMN, PHUM, DR 
SUBJECT: PROJECT PROPOSAL - ANTI-TIP POLICE DEPARTMENT 
 
REF: STATE 247994 
 
1. SUMMARY.  The Dominican Republic was placed on the Tier 2 
Watchlist in the Department's 2004 TIP report.  Among the 
principal shortcomings cited was that the government "lacks 
effective law enforcement" to combat TIP.  The Embassy has 
consistently sought to increase the government's capacity to 
investigate and prosecute traffickers.  However, despite 
improved leadership in the law enforcement agencies and the 
formation of anti-TIP units in the Attorney General's office, 
National Police, and Migration Directorate, efforts to 
improve the TIP-fighting capability of Dominican law 
enforcement have been hampered by a lack of interagency 
communication and cooperation.  The Embassy's proposal is to 
bring together personnel from the several agencies 
responsible for investigating and prosecuting traffickers 
into a unified department under the direction of the Chief of 
Police and to integrate prosecutors from the Attorney 
General's office.  This department will unite dedicated, 
vetted personnel and provide them with the resources to 
conduct thorough and productive investigations with the goal 
of arresting, prosecuting, and convicting traffickers in 
persons.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  Per Reftel, Embassy submits the following proposal for an 
anti-trafficking grant to help the Dominican authorities 
create an interagency department to combat trafficking in 
persons. 
 
A.    Title of Project 
Creating an Anti-Trafficking in Persons Department 
 
B.    Name of Recipient Organization/Government Agency 
National Police of the Dominican Republic (in cooperation 
with the Attorney General) 
 
C.    Duration of Project 
One year, with continued training and follow-up as necessary 
 
D.    Description 
      1.    Objectives 
This project will consolidate the anti-TIP units and 
resources of Dominican law enforcement agencies into a 
comprehensive anti-TIP department within the National Police. 
 The Embassy will help identify and vet personnel from the 
Attorney General's office, Migration Directorate, National 
Police, Armed Forces and elsewhere to form a specialized 
anti-TIP entity that will be a separate department under the 
direction of the Chief of Police.  (A "department" in this 
context would be equivalent to a U.S. police "division," such 
as a homicide division or robbery division.) 
 
Through this grant, the Embassy will provide the anti-TIP 
department with the necessary resources, equipment, training, 
and technical advice to conduct criminal investigations and 
police operations with the goal of arresting, prosecuting, 
and convicting traffickers in persons.  The objective is to 
help the Dominican Republic improve its TIP record and 
eventually receive a Tier I ranking in the annual Trafficking 
in Persons Report. 
 
The principal Embassy sections that will be involved in the 
project include DHS/ICE, DAO (including the Coast Guard 
attach), FBI, NAS, and the Economic/Political Section.  This 
proposal complements existing USAID projects to fight TIP, 
including training for judges and prosecutors; however, USAID 
will not be involved in the implementation of this project. 
 
      2.    Activities 
The program will provide Dominicans with the resources 
necessary to conduct an efficient and effective anti-TIP 
campaign along with the training needed to use the resources 
and to sustain the effort.  Equipment necessary to achieve 
the project's objectives will include computers, office 
supplies, video cameras and other surveillance equipment, and 
vehicles.  Members of the department will be vetted to insure 
its integrity.  A prosecutor from the Attorney General's 
office will be integrated into the department to increase the 
number and effectiveness of TIP prosecutions. 
 
      3.    Sustainability 
The budget (see below) consists of funds for one-time 
purchases of equipment, building maintenance, and training. 
The equipment will be chosen in part based on durability, and 
end-use monitoring will ensure that it is being used for its 
intended purpose and being maintained properly.  The training 
will focus on creating a knowledge base sufficient to allow 
for internal training and skill development.  Once set up 
properly, a coordinated anti-TIP department stands an 
excellent chance of becoming permanent and self-sustaining. 
 
E.    Justification 
TIP is acknowledged as a significant problem in the Dominican 
Republic, which was named a Tier II Watchlist country in the 
2004 TIP Report.  According to the report, the Dominican 
Government "lacks effective law enforcement" to combat TIP. 
The Department's 2004 interim report, published in January, 
found that despite concerted efforts to improve, "there has 
been limited progress in prosecuting suspected alien 
smugglers and traffickers." 
 
Estimates vary, but it is generally agreed that 20,000 - 
40,000 children are engaged in child prostitution and tens of 
thousands of women and children have been trafficked from the 
Dominican Republic to other countries.  In addition, 
thousands of Dominicans and third-country nationals are 
trafficked or attempt to migrate from the Dominican Republic 
to the United States by crossing the narrow passage between 
the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico in small fishing 
boats.  This creates a direct threat to U.S. borders. 
 
Following the election of a new government in May 2004, 
Dominican authorities have expressed a sincere desire to do 
more to combat trafficking in persons.  The government has 
made several strong appointments that reflect a commitment to 
combat organized crime, including Attorney General Francisco 
Dominguez Brito and National Police Chief Manuel de Jesus 
Perez Sanchez, the former head of the police Institute for 
Human Rights.  However, the Dominican Republic is 
only beginning to recover from a serious financial crisis, 
and the government lacks the resources to conduct a 
comprehensive, national anti-TIP effort.  In addition, 
because the TIP problem in the Dominican Republic is 
widespread and varied, it is often difficult to identify TIP 
cases in the first instance and to determine which of several 
law enforcement agencies is responsible for investigating the 
cases that are identified. 
 
Based on experience in working with Dominican authorities, 
the Embassy strongly believes that the best way to 
investigate TIP-related crime is to bring together trusted 
and vetted personnel from several different agencies with 
TIP-related law enforcement responsibilities into one 
coordinated anti-TIP department.  The department will be 
under the leadership of the National Police Chief, in 
coordination with the Attorney General.  The proposal is 
modeled on the successful National Directorate for the 
Control of Drugs (DNCD), which has made significant progress 
in the fight against controlled substances. 
 
Given the nature of the current law enforcement environment, 
with separate anti-TIP units in the Attorney General's 
office, the National Police, and the Migration Directorate, 
the Embassy believes that the prosecution portion of the 
anti-TIP effort needs to be concentrated in a single 
department that has sufficient manpower and resources to 
conduct efficient and effective TIP investigations and 
prosecutions.  For example, the National Police anti-TIP unit 
is currently a unit of the larger Falsifications Department. 
As such, it is consistently understaffed and lacks a coherent 
mission.  A full department, headed by at least a colonel who 
reports directly to the Chief of Police, will eliminate 
unnecessary distractions and reduce bureaucratic inefficiency. 
 
The proposed anti-TIP department will be comprise personnel 
from the Attorney General's Office, Migration Directorate, 
National Police, Tourist Police, armed forces, and other 
agencies and departments as necessary.  As with certain units 
in the DNCD, members of the coordinated anti-TIP department 
will be required to pass a polygraph.  In addition to 
administrative staff, the office will include an intelligence 
team and an investigative team of approximately 10 officials 
from the law enforcement agencies.  The department will also 
have at least one full-time prosecutor from the Attorney 
General's office, who will closely monitor and actively 
participate in the prosecution of TIP cases nationwide. 
 
It is essential to locate the department away from the main 
centers of law enforcement, in order to segregate it from 
political pressures and unwanted intrusions, and to insure 
the integrity of the department and allow it to conduct its 
operations discreetly.  An ideal location would be a 
detention center located within Santo Domingo that is 
currently used to hold immigration detainees.  This facility 
could be converted to house the proposed department with a 
minimum of renovation and construction. 
 
The Embassy will work in conjunction with trusted authorities 
to form the department, and the government will provide the 
manpower and the physical space.  The various U.S. Government 
agencies in Santo Domingo have excellent working relations 
with counterparts and are confident that U.S. concerns will 
be heeded.  The grant will provide the coordinated anti-TIP 
department with investigative, research, and other resources 
necessary to conduct TIP investigations that will result in 
arrests, prosecutions, and convictions.  Over the medium and 
long term, increased law enforcement activity will reduce 
trafficking in the Dominican Republic and make U.S. borders 
more secure. 
 
F.    Performance Indicators 
The goal of the project is to enable a dedicated anti-TIP 
organization to identify, investigate, prosecute, and convict 
traffickers in persons.  Progress will be measured by the 
following indicators: 
 
      1.    The successful establishment and organization of 
a coordinated, interagency anti-TIP department within the 
National Police; 
      2.    An increase in the number of TIP investigations 
and the successful collection of usable evidence, including 
video surveillance; 
      3.    More preventive detentions for accused 
traffickers, successful convictions using legally obtained 
evidence, and stricter penalties for convicted traffickers; 
      4.    Permanent improvement in the Dominican Republic's 
TIP ranking in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. 
 
G.    Evaluation Plan 
The coordinated anti-TIP department will submit a quarterly 
report to the Embassy, detailing the number, nature, and 
progress of all TIP investigations and prosecutions.  Members 
of the department will meet with the Embassy on an as-needed 
basis, but at least semi-annually, to discuss progress.  The 
results will be evaluated in the annual TIP report and 
additional reporting as necessary. 
 
The Embassy will provide end-use monitoring of donated 
equipment.  The monitoring will be on a semi-annual basis for 
the first year, and annually every year thereafter. 
 
H.    Budget Breakout 
(x USD 1,000) 
 
Item                                      Cost 
 
Renovation of office space                20 
 
Telephones, furniture, utilities          5 
 
Vehicles (3 SUVs)                         100 
 
Computers, faxes, copiers, etc...         10 
 
Surveillance equipment                    55 
 
Vetting                                   15 
 
Training (surveillance, use of equipment) 20 
 
TOTAL                                     225 
 
 
I.    Type and Amount of Host Government Contribution, or 
Other Cost-sharing Agreement 
The Dominican Republic will provide the personnel and 
salaries for the creation of the coordinated anti-TIP 
department, as well as a secure physical space.  It will also 
provide any incidental expenses and pay for the upkeep of the 
donated equipment. 
 
J.    Proposed Funding Mechanism 
Letter of Agreement between the Embassy and the Government of 
the Dominican Republic 
 
K.    Embassy Point of Contact 
Embassy POC is Political Officer Jay Raman. He can be reached 
by email, 
ramanjr@state.gov, or by phone (office (809) 731-4203, cell 
(809) 696-2901). 
 
L.    Other Donors 
None 
HERTELL