The Chief Flips the Bird

Well, the island collectively dropped its jaw when the news came out. Se fue muy molesto read the headline in The New Day, our local newspaper; “He Left Hot and Bothered,” would be the equivalent in English.

And the “he” is a pretty important he, since Héctor Pesquera is the head of the police department, which in turn is the second largest force in the United States (New York City is number 1).

Well, the question on everybody’s lips is, “why?” Granted, the job couldn’t have been much fun, since morale is low, public confidence in the police is virtually nil, the politicians are busy fighting each other—sometimes to the point of fisticuffs—and, to top it all off, the United States Department of Justice is suing the police department for violations of civil rights.

And was that the problem? Because yesterday, federal judge Gustavo Gelpí appointed Juan Mattos to be the federal monitor to assure that an 18-year reform of the Police Department was going according to plan.  

Pesquera denied that the appointment of Mattos has anything to do with his decision. However, Pesquera also refused to say why he was retiring and returning to his home in Florida.

And Mattos was presented to the public two days ago at the governor’s mansion, at which everybody and his brother showed up, except….right, you know who….

"Pesquera se cansó de las determinaciones apresuradas y el ridículo ayer, donde el Gobierno anunció un alegado monitor sin estar el Jefe de la Policía y sin dar detalles sobre la contratación, es el mejor ejemplo", dijo González.

Roughly, “Perquera got tired of political pressure, and the best example was the ridiculousness yesterday, when the government announced an alleged monitor without the chief being there and without giving details about how he was contracted,” said González.

“He works very hard—Saturday and Sunday, included—and he has the respect of the force,” said my friend Tony, who is the kind of guy who knows the inside story. What he didn’t do, apparently, was play the political game terribly well. And that’s crucial, because the reform won’t come cheap—it’s guesstimated that it will cost 300 million bucks over the course of a decade. Which means that any police chief is going to have to go to the capitol and press the flesh.

Pesquera made over a quarter of a million bucks annually, but guess what?

…wasn’t worth it.