More than half the arrests involved domestic violence, despite a government campaign to curb a recent spike in domestic abuse complaints during the World Cup.
Police caught the Gringo with the last name Kelarakus minutes after he allegedly broke a car window and stole a laptop computer and other items at the popular tourist beach on Tuesday.
The shift in leadership also followed a controversial decision Wednesday absolving several guards of the death of inmate Johel Araya in 2011 at the same prison.
Costa Rica's National Police arrested two U.S. citizens with the last names Little and Goges in Liberia, capital of the northwestern province of Guanacaste, over the weekend for alleged cocaine possession. Three Costa Ricans, including a 17-year-old girl, also were charged, according to the police report.
For an administration that was largely weighed down by scandal and perceived mismanagement, public security has ended up as President Laura Chinchilla’s most likely legacy for Costa Rica.
A peaceful protest over land rights in Costa Rica’s maritime zone sparked a violent backlash from police on the Pacific coast last Monday, as anti-riot officers used tear gas to remove dozens of protesters from the Inter-American Highway in Puntarenas.
A group of 22 police officers from the Public Security Ministry’s Air Surveillance and Drug Control departments received training to detect illicit drug and money mules at Costa Rican airports.
Costa Rica's Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court ordered the Judicial Investigation Police – accused of spying – to allow the daily Diario Extra access to public information relevant to the case and to not to take any action against the newspaper. A court spokeswoman, Vanilly Cantillo, communicated the information in a Friday statement.
