{{short description|FBI investigation into law enforcement corruption in Puerto Rico}} '''Operation Guard Shack''' was a two-year Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into corruption within the law enforcement of Puerto Rico.<ref name=FBI>{{cite web | url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2010/october/operation-guard-shack/operation-guard-shack | publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation | title=Operation Guard Shack | date=October 6, 2010 | accessdate=November 27, 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118011648/https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2010/october/operation-guard-shack/operation-guard-shack|archive-date= January 18, 2023}}</ref> The operation came to a conclusion on 6 October 2010, with a series of pre-dawn raids that led to over 130 arrests of members of the Puerto Rico Police Department and the Puerto Rico Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as well as other individuals.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/06/puerto.rico.arrests/index.html | publisher=CNN | title=FBI: Puerto Rico cops protected cocaine dealers | date=October 7, 2010 | accessdate=November 27, 2014 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526015305/http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/06/puerto.rico.arrests/index.html | archivedate=May 26, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/89-puerto-rico-cops-arrested-in-corruption-probe/ | publisher=CBS News | title=89 Puerto Rico Cops Arrested in Corruption Probe | date=October 6, 2010 | access-date=November 27, 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140805230822/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/89-puerto-rico-cops-arrested-in-corruption-probe/ | archive-date=August 5, 2014}}</ref>
The operation began at 3 a.m., when 65 tactical teams, including SWAT and the Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), fanned out across the island in a series of sneak attack arrests. On hand were a range of FBI personnel—crisis negotiators, evidence response team members, canines and their handlers, and 80 medical personnel from first responders and nurses to a trauma surgeon and a veterinarian.
The central thread of the corruption was law enforcement officers providing protection and other services to drug traffickers. Over 1,000 agents of the FBI conducted the raids. Many of them were flown in secretly. The agency characterized the action as, "likely the largest police corruption case in the FBI’s history."<ref name=FBI />
Indictments announced on 6 October included:<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/October/10-ag-1124.html | publisher=U.S. Department of Justice | title=Eighty-Nine Law Enforcement Officers and 44 Others Indicted for Drug Trafficking Crimes in Puerto Rico | date=October 6, 2010 | accessdate=November 27, 2014 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141127135241/http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/eighty-nine-law-enforcement-officers-and-44-others-indicted-drug-trafficking-crimes-puerto | archivedate=November 27, 2014}}</ref> # 61 officers from the Puerto Rico Police Department # 16 officers from various municipal police departments # 12 officers from the Puerto Rico Department of Corrections # 44 others associated with agencies including the US Army, Puerto Rico National Guard, and the Social Security Administration
The accused officers faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
== See also == * Operation Lost Honor
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guard Shack, Operation}} * Category:2010 in Puerto Rico Category:Federal Bureau of Investigation operations Category:Police misconduct in Puerto Rico Category:Political corruption investigations in the United States
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