Dominican Republic Has 53,877 Unserved Arrest Warrants
CRIME · DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Key Facts
- —The country The Dominican Republic, a Caribbean nation of about 11 million people that shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
- —What happened On Thursday 1 October 2026 the National Police said 53,877 arrest warrants were pending execution across the country.
- —The numbers Domestic violence leads with 17,635 warrants, then robbery with 11,587, according to police figures reported by Listín Diario on 1 October.
- —What it means for you Police say anyone with a pending warrant can surrender to the police. They report 107 people did so in September 2026.
- —Still open How one man built up 41 records while still at large, and how many separate people the 53,877 warrants cover.
The Dominican Republic has 53,877 arrest warrants that police have not yet served, the National Police said on Thursday 1 October. The figure counts warrants, not people, because one person can carry several.
The most striking case on the list is a man with 41 records. The police spokesperson, Colonel Diego Pesqueira, presented the data at a press briefing at police headquarters in Santo Domingo.
What the police list shows
Domestic violence accounts for the largest share, with 17,635 pending warrants. Robbery follows with 11,587, then physical assault with 5,951 and sexual assault with 4,018.
Cybercrime, including online fraud, accounts for 2,761 warrants and homicide for 2,681. Listín Diario reported that some of the warrants date back to 2023.
Police also counted 2,548 people wanted in homicide cases. Of these, 1,181 are fully identified with photographs and identity documents, Acento reported.
The other 1,367 are known only by names they gave, aliases or partial data. Pesqueira said some had been processed in the past without any documents.
One man, 41 records
Police said 73 people carry multiple warrants, and a further 485 have more than five records each. The man at the top of the list has 41.
Others on the list have 34, 28, 27 and 26 records, according to Listín Diario and La Lupa del Sur. Diario Libre named a different second case, with 32 orders.
Reporters asked how someone with 41 records could remain free. Pesqueira said such cases should be reviewed, but the police cannot question decisions by other parts of the justice system.
He described the force as an auxiliary of the Public Ministry, the state prosecution service. Courts, not police, decide the legal consequences in each case, he said.
Surrender appeal and a tense September
President Luis Abinader repeated on Thursday that wanted people should hand themselves in. “That group of antisocial people, who are a minority, must surrender,” he told reporters in Santo Domingo Este.
Police reported that 107 people with warrants surrendered voluntarily during September. Some are now under pretrial measures, while others await court decisions.
In September police killed at least 50 men in what officials called exchanges of fire, Diario Libre reported. Rights groups have questioned those deaths, as covered in Dominican Republic Police Killings Top 180 This Year.
The opposition has attacked the police reform, as reported in Dominican Police Reform Is Failing as Police Killings Rise, Opposition Says. Pesqueira said some people died in pursuits that began before any warrant existed, in cases caught in the act.
What Is Not Yet Known
Police did not say how many separate people the 53,877 warrants cover. They also gave no breakdown by province or by year of issue.
It is not clear why the man with 41 records was never detained, or what he is accused of. Acento reported 37 escapes from custody since 2025, with 12 people still at large, a figure not independently confirmed.
Sources: Dominican National Police press briefing, 1 October 2026, as reported by Listín Diario, Diario Libre, Acento and La Lupa del Sur.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief