2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE NINE - Highways and Traffic (§§ 1-8 — 5725) › Chapter 25 - Vehicular Property (§§ 3201 — 3227) › § 3213 - Detainment, inspection and retention for investigation

Law enforcement officers are hereby empowered to detain, inspect, and retain any vehicle or part for investigation for a reasonably necessary period of time that shall not exceed thirty (30) calendar days, when one (1) or more of the circumstances mentioned below occur:
(1) The vehicle or part has been reported as unlawfully appropriated, stolen, missing, destroyed, or exported.
(2) When the vehicle does not display license plates, or the license plates on the vehicle have been altered or modified, or do not correspond to those issued for the vehicle by the Department of Transportation and Public Works or by other competent authority, or do not correspond to the inspection stamp on the vehicle.
(3) Any of the serial or vehicle identification numbers or of essential parts in plain view have been erased, mutilated, altered, substituted, overlaid, detached, adapted, or otherwise modified.
(4) The information contained in the license or any other document that is presented is different from or does not coincide in some substantial aspect with the physical description of the vehicle or part, which could indicate that it is a missing or stolen vehicle.
(5) The vehicle shows alterations in the ignition mechanism or system, or the ignition system is operating without the ignition key or has been bypassed.
(6) There are grounds to believe that a motor other than the original has been installed in the vehicle and the driver, holder, or owner does not produce documentation on the origin of said motor.
(7) When it is in plain view that the vehicle’s locks have been tampered with, and the driver, holder, or owner is unable to offer a satisfactory explanation for such tampering.
(8) When essential parts of the vehicle that are in plain view, including the seats, do not correspond to the specific vehicle and the owner or person in control of the vehicle is unable to satisfactorily explain the origin of said parts.
(9) When the vehicle shows perforations in the body in plain view, which appear to be made by bullets.
(10) When the vehicle is being towed, either by tow-truck or by another vehicle, and there are grounds to believe that it is a missing, stolen, or unlawfully appropriated vehicle, and the person towing it is unable to give the reasons for doing the work and the authorization to do it.
(11) The vehicle is not duly registered in the Department of Transportation and Public Works as established by this chapter, and there is knowledge of said fact.
(12) When the vehicle is traveling on the public thoroughfares with a registration sticker that does not correspond to the vehicle’s license.
(13) The vehicle or part has been abandoned as defined in this chapter.
Provided, That the thirty (30) -day term established in this chapter as the period of time that is reasonably necessary for law enforcement officers to conduct their investigation, may be extended for ten (10) calendar days for just cause.
Just cause shall be understood to be the occurrence of extraordinary natural events that interrupt the work of law enforcement officers, such as storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, or others that call for law enforcement officers to be engaged in assistance and rescue works.
History —Aug. 5, 1987, No. 8, p. 612, § 14; Mar. 20, 1999, No. 95, § 1.