Police Reform In Latin America

Profound distrust commonly characterizes not only the relationship between citizens and state institutions, but also social, as well as inter- and intra-state relations. This impacts the effectiveness and quality of the service provided by state institutions. The degree to which police and judicial reforms are able to generate trust on these fronts is therefore an important yardstick to judge their relevance under varying circumstances of 'post-authoritarian rule', but this question is largely ignored inthe current literature on policing and reform. From this perspective, Policing Insecurity: Police Reform, Security, and Human Rights in Latin America suggests an agenda of future reforms for the region, drawing and building upon policing reform experiences throughout the Latin America, looking at issues such as impunity, professionalization, community policing, as well as accountability and training of the police. By explicitly linking issues of state-social trust, democratic transition, human rights, and security, these case studies provide a basis for the wider discussion in the book about prerequisites for the success or failure of police reforms, thus adding to our empirical and theoretical knowledge in these areas and introducing an importantdimension to the literature on police reform, security, and human rights.

"An essential update on the increasingly vital efforts at police reform throughout Latin America. It provides a much-needed analytical and empirical foundation for grasping the full range of emerging challenges that the region faces in providing citizen security amid mounting political and socioeconomic instability." --Mark Ungar, Brooklyn College, CUNY Police forces in Latin America historically have been regarded as hopelessly corrupt, inefficient, and even abusive. More recently, however, there have been clear signs that police reforms have gained traction in the region--with some notable exceptions. The authors of this book explore the scope of the reforms that have been enacted in a diverse group of countries, their impact on police-society relations, and perhaps most important, how sustainable they are proving to be in the current climate of democratic decline. CONTENTS: The Challenges of Police Reform in Latin America. Policing and Public Security in Latin America. Chile: Too Good to Be True? Colombia: Success Amid Conflict and Stability. Costa Rica: Exceptionalism Under Strain. Nicaragua: A Return to Political Policing. Panama: Rebuilding Security After Invasion. Peru: The Challenges of Institutional Instability. Uruguay: Success in a Social Welfare State. What We Have Learned and Why It Matters.

Public Security and Police Reform in the Americas examines how security problems are addressed in the United States and Latin America, asserting that understanding the policies of other nations can lead to greater success in the arena of public security.

Police reform is a growth industry in the Americas. First, security threats have largely shifted from external state-sponsored aggression to stateless crime that affects citizens more directly and undermines confidence in government. Once deployed for external defense as well as for guarding internal order, armies are not equipped to deal with public safety in a setting where combating crime requires special knowledge to protect the rights of victims and perpetrators, preserve evidence, and apply the right intelligence and patrolling tools to keep crimes from happening. Second, not all Latin American law enforcement institutions can protect citizens in this manner, given that in some cases they are tied to political parties or that they exist as a poorer, fourth branch of the army. As Latin American countries have consolidated democratic practices in a post-Cold War setting, the need for effective policing, specialized law enforcement agencies, and legal frameworks to help them coordinate actions will become only more urgent. At the same time, the need for capable defense will continue, perhaps with smaller or more specialized militaries. And, because these forces always have personnel in training, they will continue to be called on periodically to support civilian authority, as most police, even in the United States, have limited surge capacity. To the extent that the security and stability of close hemispheric neighbors impinge on the security and well-being of U.S. citizens, the United States will be obliged to promote regional law enforcement reforms. If not, other countries such as China and Iran may be willing to do that, perhaps in ways the United States might not like, potentially putting American interests and lives at risk. Police reform is a hugely complicated undertaking, in which there are no easily transferable formulas for success. The authors discuss a strategic approach in which planning considers trends, the threat environment, available resources, institutional strengths and weaknesses, and leadership and applies common evaluation standards that will permit U.S. assistance to be successful and less wasteful.

2011 Winner of the Charles H. Levine Memorial Book Prize of the International Political Science Association Latin America’s crime rates are astonishing by any standard—the region’s homicide rate is the world’s highest. This crisis continually traps governments between the need for comprehensive reform and the public demand for immediate action, usually meaning iron-fisted police tactics harking back to the repressive pre-1980s dictatorships. In Policing Democracy, Mark Ungar situates Latin America at a crossroads between its longstanding form of reactive policing and a problem-oriented approach based on prevention and citizen participation. Drawing on extensive case studies from Argentina, Bolivia, and Honduras, he reviews the full spectrum of areas needing reform: criminal law, policing, investigation, trial practices, and incarceration. Finally, Policing Democracy probes democratic politics, power relations, and regional disparities of security and reform to establish a framework for understanding the crisis and moving beyond it.

Golding, which was published in 2003.

Offers timely discussion by attorneys, government officials, policy analysts, and academics from the United States and Latin America of the responses of the state, civil society, and the international community to threats of violence and crime.