2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-ONE - Municipalities (§§ 1-4 — 6756) › Subtitle 3 - General Provisions (§§ 621-639 — 1100a) › Chapter 97 - Municipal Police Corps (§§ 1061-1061p — 1079) › § 1064 - Commissioner; authorities, attributions, and duties

The highest authority in the direction of the Municipal Police shall be vested in the mayor, but the immediate direction and supervision of the Corps shall be under the charge of a Commissioner, who shall be appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the municipal assembly. In order to comply with the provisions of this chapter, the mayor may delegate onto the Commissioner all or some of the functions hereby reserved for the former. As to the provisions of § 1077 of this title, the Commissioner shall respond to the Police Superintendent. The Commissioner:
(a) Shall hold office at the mayor’s will and shall receive the remuneration fixed by the latter through an ordinance. The Commissioner shall be a person holding a bachelor’s degree conferred by a college or university certified or accredited by the Puerto Rico Council on Higher Education, and who has completed an officer’s training course at a police or a military academy, or in default thereof, has served as an officer of a police or military corps for a term of not less than two (2) years.
(b) Shall be the executive head of the Municipal Police and shall be accountable to the mayor’s office. When the Commissioner’s Office becomes vacant due to his/her death, resignation, removal, or total and permanent disability, or when the Commissioner is on sick, vacation or any other kind of leave, or when the Commissioner is unable to fulfill his/her duties for any other reason, an officer designated by the mayor shall substitute for him/her as Acting Commissioner in all functions, obligations and responsibilities inherent to the office of Commissioner and shall continue to serve as such until the Commissioner returns or the mayor fills the vacancy and the new incumbent takes office.
The organization of each Municipal Police Corps shall be determined by this chapter and by the regulations to be approved as provided hereinafter.
(c) Subject to the provisions of this chapter, shall appoint officials whose ranks are those of Captain, Inspector and Commander with the previous confirmation of the mayor. Eligibility requirements for such ranks shall be those established in § 1067(f) of this title. Eligibility requirements for all other ranks shall be established in the Corps Regulations, in order for the capability of each candidate to be assessed objectively. The following aspects shall be taken into account: conduct, leadership, initiative, attitude, education, years of service, and physical condition of the candidates. When a vacancy arises along the aforementioned ranks, the Commissioner shall make his/her recommendation to the mayor giving rigorous consideration to the factors listed above. Said recommendation shall include at least a concise report on each candidate, including all the information needed as to each of the factors to be considered. The promotion shall take effect as of the date the mayor signs the same.
(d) Shall determine the placement and functions of all members of the Municipal Police pursuant to the Uniform Rank System provided for further and as required by the needs of service.
(e) The Commissioner, with the previous approval of the mayor, may promote Corps members to immediately higher ranks up to the rank of Captain in the following cases and subject to what is provided further:
(1) Provided they have completed four (4) years or more of service in the Corps, but are to be retired due to a physical or mental impediment resulting from extraordinarily meritorious or exceptional service; or when they are to be retired for years of service; or posthumously, when they die in the line of duty. These promotions shall take effect one hundred twenty (120) days before the date of retirement. In the case of officers who have died in the line of duty, the posthumous promotion decreed by the Commissioner shall take effect immediately.
(2) In the cases of promotions due to retirement, the positions held by Corps members thus promoted shall become positions in the new category by conversion. Once the converted positions become vacant, they shall revert automatically to the rank classification they were before conversion.
History —May 12, 1977, No. 19, p. 33, § 4; May 22, 1996, No. 45, § 4; Sept. 30, 2004, No. 533, § 2, eff. 60 days after Sept. 30, 2004.