Supreme Court Reprimands OIJ For Indiscriminate Road Blocks
The Sala III de la Corte Suprema reprimanded the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) for setting up raids without a specific objective with the intent of "seeing what they can catch".

The court resolution 2006-00118 confirms the magistrates decision to support the appeal of a man who surprised to be arrested with cocaine in his position at a road block at Pijije, Bagaces, in Guanacaste.

"The Judicial Police have legally prohibited in effecting preventive activities, like setting up a road block to see what results", said the written decision of the court.

The appeal has frustrated the actions of the Liberia fiscal that was able to obtain a conviction against a man identified by his last name Suazo.

The director of the OIJ, Jorge Rojas, said that the court decision will not affect his departments work against crime. "It is not that we cannot effect raids or roadblocks. The Sala has told us that our actions cannot be indiscriminant" said Rojas.

The director added that what the court decision means is that the police have to be after someone before setting a road block.

Before the court decision, it was common for the OIJ to set up "preventive" road blocks along the InterAmerican highway, stopping traffic, looking for drugs and persons with immigration violations. It was during one of these roadblocks that Suazo was arrested.

The magistrates added that the OIJ's function is to discover or investigate crimes before they can find someone guilty.

In an interview with the daily Spanish language newspaper, La Nación, director Rojas said that he will respect the court decision and that past actions were not to persecute, but rather to fight crime. In some instances, the director said, that road blocks were used to detect the movement of drugs, especially in the Zona Sur (the southern zone).