The police restrict access to vehicles in tourist areas and draw up a patrol plan

After weeks of reports of tourist incidents and crowds, particularly in Old San Juan and the County, authorities announced today, Monday, that they will restrict access to vehicles in tourist areas and have launched a patrol plan with more agents to try and prevent violations of it. executive order. against COVID-19.

Leaving a meeting with sections of the Department of Health and the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, Secretary of Public Safety, Alexis Torres, explained the plan to have more Puerto Rico Police personnel present in the tourist area. areas. add to the efforts inspectors from the Office of Health Investigations have been making for months.

Relive the press conference:

For his part, the commissioner of the state police, Antonio López Figueroa, indicated this “We are going to increase resources to increase mobility in Condado, Old San Juan and Isla Verde.” In particular, he explained that they will assign “The motorized unit to Condado and Old San Juan because it is the most accessible vehicle for those places.”

In addition, at certain strategic points, they will assign more Highway Patrol officers to monitor traffic flow during the company’s closing time, which is at 11 p.m., and a curfew, which is at noon. At 5:00 am.

“Traffic control is from 11:00 am. Traffic is monitored. Only residents, people staying, employees and taxis and (drivers of transport companies such as) Uber have access”, said López Figueroa.

“The same strategy of the San Sebastian Street Parties will be used,” he said.

He added that people “who are going for a walk” cannot pass by because “shops close at night at 11 am and everyone has to be home at noon. We will be very energetic. We’re going to intervene and we’re going to file (charges), ”he added.

From fines to imprisonment, these are the penalties for those who circumvent the executive order against COVID-19

The police chief assured that he has the cooperation of the Attorney General, Domingo Emanuelli, and his chief prosecutor, Melissa Vázquez Sandoval, to deal with complaints promptly in court so that the accused tourists cannot evade jurisdiction by leaving Puerto Rico if the summons is for many days after the intervention.

Likewise, the Commissioner in Uniform called on the owners of businesses and inns to file complaints about the violations taking place in their establishments.

As an example, he cited that after the fight that took place Saturday night at the Sheraton hotel in the Miramar Convention Center, management did not want to proceed with the complaint for filing charges.

The Colonel too asked citizens who record videos posted on social media about incidents caused by tourists to immediately call the 9-1-1 emergency system to report the situation.

“When the video is uploaded to social networks an hour later, when you get to the site, everything will have happened and the people who caused the situation will have disappeared,” said López Figueroa, who has defended the police’s behavior so far. emphasizing that from Thursday to yesterday they issued 428 transit tickets and 111 for not wearing masks.

What about the “scooters”?

The officer reported that he is already in contact with the owners of the Skootel company, which is renting electric scooters to start coordination on how to use those vehicles.

He expected that they have already reached an agreement so that they can no longer be rented out after 9 pm and 10 pm and that they will all be deactivated.

“And we are in talks with Senator (Gregory) Matías to introduce legislation limiting its use to cycling areas. This is a motor vehicle and according to Law 22 (on traffic) it is not allowed to drive on public roads, ”said López Figueroa.

The DSP secretary posted the call for the rally on his Twitter account yesterday after seeing first-hand the number of people staying in the County late at night when it was already in effect: the curfew on Saturday night.

Torres accompanied the Director of the Department of Health’s Office of Investigations, Jesús Hernández, who intervened at several companies last night.

San Juan Municipal Police tried to support Salud, complicated by the amount of car traffic in the Condado area, where even a drunken man collided with Colonel José Juan García’s official vehicle.

They eventually placed patrols at two of the main entrances to check the flow of vehicles, which they also had to do at the entrance to Old San Juan.

Torres also noted that health department inspectors are having difficulty getting tourists to comply with the executive order.

Still, between Friday evening and the early hours of yesterday, the inspectors conducted 25 interventions at companies in the metropolitan area, culminating in the closure of 15 branches and fines for another 10.

In addition, they intervened on tourists who did not adhere to the travel declaration form established in Puerto Rico, the agency reported this Sunday.

This morning it was reported that the Justice declaration against three tourists who supposedly swore they would stay in quarantine for the COVID-19 on arrival in Puerto Rico, but they were located during an operation in the La Perla neighborhood, San Juan, by police officers and inspectors from Health