Interviews with police officers and internal police records in El Salvador expose widespread misconduct, including arbitrary arrests and abuse of power, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Friday.

HRW Americas Director Juanita Goebertus said:

President Nayib Bukele publicizes his security policies as a positive model for the world, but the police officers we spoke with tell a completely different story … Their accounts provide a rare insight into how the Salvadoran police have fabricated evidence to fulfill [arrest] quotas, extorted innocent people, bypassed due process, and defied court orders.

HRW emphasized that meaningful oversight and accountability mechanisms are essential to prevent further rights violations. Without them, the state of emergency tools risk becoming enduring instruments of power that undermine citizens’ rights and legal protections.

Since March 27, 2022, the Central American country has been under a state of emergency in President Nayib Bukele’s “war on gangs,” which has abrogated some due process and rights. Salvadoran police have since detained over 86,000 individuals—including more than 3,000 minors—according to an HRW investigation.

Interviews with 11 officers and internal documents reveal patterns of abuse: arrest quotas enforced by commanders, fabricated or flimsy evidence, extortion, and deliberate circumvention of judicial oversight. Multiple officers reported quotas of “three to four arrests per shift” or even “five arrests a day,” with punitive consequences—including withheld breaks, threats of reassignment, or disciplinary action—for non-compliance.

One officer stated, “We knew who the gang members were. But when they fled to the mountains … they just told us to bring in five people a day. ‘Go out and detain five people: I don’t care why you arrest them.'”

According to HRW, the quotas have driven arbitrary detentions of individuals with tattoos, unsubstantiated anonymous accusations, and fabricated police files.

“They would just call and say someone was a ‘collaborator,’ and we would go arrest them,” an officer stated. Another confirmed a strategy to rearrest people “just as they passed the prison gates” after judicial orders for release.

The environment of impunity has also enabled bribery and even demands for sexual favors—police allegedly threatening to detain relatives unless payment was made.

While officers acknowledge a decrease in gang violence, they warn that unchecked abuses could escalate and erode the rule of law.