Police Transformation in Latin America by 2030
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REPORT BY THE PETER D. BELL RULE OF LAW PROGRAM AND THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK POLICE TRANSFORMATION IN LATIN AMERICA BY 2030 Kevin Casas, Paola González, and Liliana Mesías NOVEMBER 2018 This final report forms a part of the results of a joint project undertaken since 2017 by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Inter-American Dialogue's Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program. The views and recommendations contained herein are solely the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the consensus views of the board, staff, and members of the Inter-American Dialogue or any of its partners, donors, and/or supporting institutions. The Inter-American Dialogue is a non-partisan organization deeply committed to intellectual independence, transparency, and accountability. While donors are encouraged toparticipate in Dialogue activities, they do not influence our work in any way. Financial supporters have no control over the writing, methodology, analysis or findings of the Dialogue’s research efforts. First edition. Printed in Washington, DC. Photo: © Inter-American Development Bank. Layout: Tamar Ziff / Inter-American Dialogue. REPORT BY THE PETER D. BELL RULE OF LAW PROGRAM AND THE INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK POLICE TRANSFORMATION IN LATIN AMERICA BY 2030 Kevin Casas, Paola González and Liliana Mesías Kevin Casas is a senior fellow with the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C., and professor at LEAD University, Costa Rica Paola González is a research expert in the area of armed conflict and citizen security, and professor at Universidad Javeriana in Colombia Liliana Mesías is a research expert in violence, security and criminal policy in Colombia and Mexico for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) The authors wish to thank Salomé Montero for her timely research assistance. NOVEMBER 2018 | NOVEMBER 2018 Table of Contents 1. Introduction...................................................................................................................................................6 2. Latin American police today ............................................................................................................................7 2.1 What are the Latin American police of today like? ............................................................................8 2.2 What do police in Latin America do?............................................................................................. 10 2.3 Citizen perception of police performance .................................................................................... 12 3. Trends and dilemmas ......................................................................................................................... 14 3.1 Organized crime and the militarization of interior security .................................................................15 3.2 Centralization vs descentralization .........................................................................................17 3.3 Community policing in Latin America ..................................................................................18 3.4 Processes of police incorporation, training and labor conditions .......................................19 3.5 The adoption of technology and information systems ...............................................................20 3.6 Police transparency and legitimacy for citizens ........................................................................21 4. Police reform in Latin America: Obstacles and opportunities ..................................................................................22 5. Where to now? ..............................................................................................................................................27 References.........................................................................................................................................................30 Police Transformation in Latin America by 2030 5 1 Introduction he pages ahead aim to outline the key characteristics mindset that social legitimacy is important for the police we believe will define the police in Latin America over to be able to carry out the tasks of crime prevention and Tthe next decade. To this end, we will first describe the control. current state of police institutions in the region and identify some of the key challenges they will face in the coming This reports presents the idea that what may happen years. Overcoming these challenges will be essential not over the coming years with police institutions in Latin only in order to more effectively control and prevent crime America—and their level of success at approaching but also to better adhere to the principles that must guide the ideal of becoming a police force that is effective police work in a democracy. Moreover, we will take stock of and imbued with democratic values—will depend on the lessons learned from the multiple experiences of police how they contend with six main challenges: organized reforms in Latin America over the last generation. crime and the militarization of internal security; the dilemma of centralizing or decentralizing police tasks; The advent of democracy, combined with the constant the professionalization of police forces; the adoption of pressure of high crime rates in the region, have led to an technology and information systems; the introduction adjustment process in police institutions marked in many of transparency and accountability practices; and finally, cases by a long history of authoritarianism. As we will the consolidation of community-oriented policing. The analyze later in this report, the results of this adjustment discussion over these challenges will play out in a context process have been quite limited in most cases. Despite defined nearly everywhere by high crime levels, political attempts at reform, most Latin American police conserve incentives contrary to long-term reforms, deeply rooted the rigid bureaucracy, lack of transparency and propensity authoritarian traditions, major organizational weaknesses for abuse of authority of times past. All of this occurs in a in police institutions and very low levels of public trust in new context defined by increasing demands from citizens them. and unprecedented threats—notably from organized crime—that lay bare the weaknesses of the police It is impossible to predict the outcome of the interaction institution and sometimes reinforce its worst traits. The among all these vectors in each country. What is very result is a police institution that nearly always falls short likely is that the complexity of the pending challenges in the fight against crime and that, with few exceptions, and the adverse surroundings in which they are addressed holds very little credibility in the eyes of citizens, which in will make any police transformations in the region rather turn hinders its efforts against crime. Somewhat unfairly, limited and fragmented. Democratic progress on some political authorities and citizens alike almost always blame fronts will happen alongside significant setbacks in others, the police for persistent problems of insecurity, which while all are subject to the immobilizing effect of powerful cannot be solved by even the police force alone. institutional inertia. Not all is negative. As unsatisfactory as the results of most This paper is comprised of five sections. Following this police reform efforts have been in the region, important introduction, we provide a brief description of Latin changes have been achieved. The most visible of these is American police forces in terms of size, political position, the demilitarization of the police’s role, which today with functions and level of social support. That section, which few exceptions forms part of the civil sphere of public offers a cursory overview of the situation, is followed by policy and is thus, at least in theory, guided by democratic an exploration of the six main challenges outlined in the principles. Preserving this fundamental change is, indeed, previous paragraph. This exploration attempts to identify one of the most important challenges going forward at a the dilemmas and some of the fundamental tasks posed time when the widespread presence of organized crime is by each on the path to more democratic police forces. generating strong pressure to legitimize a renewed military The fourth section will focus on the experiences of police role for the police in the internal security of countries. To reform implemented in Latin America in the recent past, in the demilitarization of the police, we can also add the broad an effort to distill some of the variables that have affected interest in experimenting with new forms of police-society the results; these factors will continue gravitating around relations, grouped under the umbrella—albeit an elastic any reform efforts undertaken in the coming years. Finally, one—of “community policing” practices. This has been an based on everything in the previous sections, the fifth will important transformation in the region’s police forces, and pinpoint the key trends that will interact to presumably while it has hardly ever managed to bring structural change define the state of the police forces in the region by 2030. to police institutions, it has nonetheless cemented the 6 Police Transformation in Latin America by 2030 | NOVEMBER 2018 These pages were written in full awareness that of the analysis are compensated for by the intentions