What effect did Hurricane Maria have on police, loss prevention and organized retail crime efforts in Puerto Rico? The answer is everything. After the devastation of Hurricane Marie, which left nearly 3,000 dead and thousands displaced from their homes, Puerto Rico is beginning to rebuild.

La Uniformada is Puerto Rico’s state police agency and until recently was 17,000 members strong, the second largest police department under the American flag, second only to the New York City Police Department. Due to the storm, budget management and possible corruption, the La Uniformada is approximately 10,000 officers responsible for the 3,000,000 citizens on the island. The last police academy graduation was held in 2015. The government can’t recruit new cadets and has no date, nor money for a new police academy class to be held. Many police stations have been closed, relocating officers to other nearby stations. Due to the shortage of officers, prosecution and even just filing a police report is harder because the police often can’t even make it to the stores to initiate the arrest process.

Loss prevention efforts after Hurricane Maria showed an increase in shoplifting along with organized groups that are taking advantage of the low police presence in the malls. Police stations are in most cases working with only two officers and one patrol vehicle. Power was out for a very long time and this alone was a huge factor for shoplifters to take advantage. After talking to some peers, some companies have increased security guards in their buildings, others have increased LP presence. After Hurricane Maria, shoplifters also started to show a more aggressive behavior in order to avoid being taken by LP associates and even police officers making it harder for shoplifters to be prosecuted and removed from the streets.

The Loss prevention Organization of the Caribbean is also in a rebuilding phase, but as strong as ever with the Leadership of Jose Rivas and Axel Diaz. Jose Rivas has moved into a Regional Operations position and will be leaving his position as President of LPOC. Axel Diaz, the current VP of LPOC is making a career move to Illinois in January. An upcoming LPOC meeting will soon be held and new leadership will continue the take on the challenges of Organized Retail Crime in the Caribbean.

Jose Rivas President, LPOC

Axel Diaz Vice President, LPOC

Sometimes things are posted on LinkedIn and few people ever see them. Jose Rivas’ message to the LPOC membership following Hurricane Maria was probably one of those posts you missed:

Greetings,

It’s a pleasure to announce our next LPOC meeting this month of May. Later on we will send you specific date and time. These months after Hurricane Maria have been a learning process and challenge for all of us in the Loss Prevention/Asset Protection area and Security field in general in Puerto Rico. We all suffered of direct or indirect material losses. We have learned to live, make businesses and protect our assets for a long period of time without the basics like water and electricity. Those first months after the hurricane we struggled to get basics such as water, food, gas, communication and so on to our homes. At the same time we were fulfilling our duty to protect our homes, family, workplace and employees. Those were tough days, in the personal and professional aspects, yet we are here up and ready for what’s next. I want to recognize each and every one of you for the sacrifices you all had to make to fulfill your duty at home and work. I wish with all my heart to see all of you at our next meeting and be able to share best practices and experiences that can help us all in our work and personal lives and that way be able to keep working together to raise our beautiful island of Puerto Rico.

Warm wishes to everyone.

Click here to read more about ORC leaders Jose Rivas and Axel Diaz