Reward for information on a fugitive

Everyone has seen the “wanted” poster with a figure underneath. This 1974 Act is what authorises that figure, and it is worth reading closely because it does not cover what people assume. It does not pay for any tip in any case: it pays in two specific situations. One, information leading to the capture of someone who escaped a penal institution or was declared a fugitive, with the requisition issued by the Secretary of Justice. Two, information leading to the conviction of a defendant for murder or voluntary manslaughter. The ceiling is one hundred thousand dollars, and there is a list of people who cannot collect it.

The main condition is negative and worth looking at first. Article 3 excludes four groups: “The compensation this statute provides shall not be payable to any member of the Police, guard or officer of the penal institutions, nor to any Internal Revenue agent of the Department of the Treasury, nor to any official of the Courts of Justice of Puerto Rico.” Outside those, the Act does not require being a resident, of age, or anything similar. What it does require is that your information fit one of the two situations in Article 1, and in the first there is a requirement that does not depend on you: that the Secretary of Justice has issued the corresponding requisition for the fugitive.

• That the information lead to the capture of an accused or convicted individual who escaped a penal institution or was declared a fugitive, and that the Secretary of Justice has issued the corresponding requisition; or else that it lead to the conviction of a defendant for voluntary manslaughter or murder.Verified against the official source
• Not be a member of the Police, a guard or officer of the penal institutions, an Internal Revenue agent of the Department of the Treasury, or an official of the Courts of Justice of Puerto Rico.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: The two situations, and why they are not the same

   Article 1 puts them in one long sentence, so it helps to separate them. The first pays for information that “leads to the capture of an individual accused or convicted of having violated the country’s penal laws and who is an escapee from our penal institutions or has been declared a fugitive from justice and for whom the corresponding requisition has been issued by the Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico.” The second pays “the person who offers information leading to the conviction of a defendant for the offence of voluntary manslaughter or murder.” The practical difference is large: the first is earned on capture; the second only on conviction, which can take years.

2. 2

   Step 2: The requirement that does not depend on you

   In the escape-or-fugitive situation, the Act adds a condition that happens at another agency: that “the corresponding requisition for the fugitive has been issued by the Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico.” If that requisition has not been issued, the Article 1 situation is not complete however good your information is. The Act does not say how to check whether it exists, nor set anyone a deadline to issue it, and we do not supply that.

3. 3

   Step 3: What the ceiling is, and how it applies

   The hundred thousand dollars is a ceiling, not a price list. Article 1 authorises paying “up to the sum of one hundred thousand (100,000) dollars,” and Article 2 explains how it is measured: the Superintendent “may not dispose of an amount greater than one hundred thousand (100,000) dollars to satisfy as a reward the person or persons whose information supplied to the police leads to the arrest or capture on a single occasion of the same person.” That is, the ceiling is per occasion and per person captured, and it is shared among however many informants qualify. The Act sets no minimum, sets no rate by offence and guarantees no payment: the verb in Article 1 is “is authorised,” not “is ordered.”

4. 4

   Step 4: Who cannot collect

   Article 3 is short and exhaustive: “The compensation this statute provides shall not be payable to any member of the Police, guard or officer of the penal institutions, nor to any Internal Revenue agent of the Department of the Treasury, nor to any official of the Courts of Justice of Puerto Rico.” Four named categories. The Act does not mention relatives of those persons or former employees, and we do not extend the exclusion beyond what the text says.

5. 5

   Step 5: Where the money comes from

   It is not a separate fund and that matters. Article 1 says it is paid “from the funds allocated to the functional budget of the Police of Puerto Rico,” and Article 4 repeats it and adds the process: “the reward payments provided in Article 1 of the Act shall be made in accordance with the fiscal procedures established for the disbursement of public funds by the Department of the Treasury.” That is, although the decision is the Superintendent’s, disbursement follows Treasury’s ordinary fiscal route.

6. 6

   Step 6: The concrete rules are in a regulation

   This is what to know before expecting answers from the Act. Article 5: “The Superintendent shall establish by Regulation the rules governing the granting of the rewards provided herein. Among other things, the Regulation shall provide the rules for distributing the reward when more than one person is entitled to it.” That is where how to claim, with what document, before whom, in what time it is decided and how it is split among several informants would sit. We did not read that regulation and that is why this guide describes no procedure. A compilation note: Article 5 refers to the Ley de Reglamentos de Puerto Rico, Act No. 112 of 30 June 1957, and OGP notes it was repealed by Act 170-1988 and later repealed and replaced by Act 38-2017.

7. 7

   Step 7: What the Act does not offer you

   Worth saying bluntly because it affects a serious decision. This Act creates no confidentiality for the informant, offers no protection, sets no term for the Superintendent to decide, creates no appeal if the reward is denied and guarantees no payment. It is a spending authorisation with a ceiling and some exclusions, not an enforceable right with a procedure. If your concern is personal safety in giving information, this Act does not address it and we do not pretend it does.

The information is supplied to the Police of Puerto Rico and the granting of the reward is decided by the Superintendent under the regulation Article 5 orders adopted. Disbursement follows the Department of the Treasury’s fiscal procedures for public funds. The Act publishes no form, office, address, telephone or tip line, and we do not invent them.

• Believing it pays for information on any crime: the Act covers the capture of escapees or fugitives and conviction for voluntary manslaughter or murder.
• Thinking the $100,000 is the reward: it is the maximum ceiling per occasion and per person captured, shared among qualifying informants.
• Assuming payment is mandatory: Article 1 authorises the Superintendent to pay, it does not order him to.
• Forgetting the requisition: in the fugitive situation the Secretary of Justice must have issued it.
• Expecting to collect at arrest in a murder case: that situation pays for information leading to the conviction.
• Not checking the Article 3 exclusions: police, penal-institution guards and officers, Internal Revenue agents and court officials cannot collect.
• Counting on confidentiality or protection: this Act provides neither.
• Looking in the Act for the form or the deadline: they live in the Superintendent’s regulation, which we did not read.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Policía de Puerto Rico

  Policía de PR

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov