Public Security And Police Reform In The Americas

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.

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.

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.

Over the last few decades, human rights related public security and police reform has been implemented within Latin America. Most states initiated this as part of an effort to transform from an authoritarian form of government to democracy. Public security, instead of national security, became the main objective of law enforcement agencies in the region. Other objectives included the need to deal with rising crime and violence rates, growing citizens' feelings of insecurity, human rights violations, and, particularly, police involvement in them and the desire to professionalize law enforcement. Although there is some empirical research on public security and police reform in transitional societies, little is known about its impact on non-transitional societies such as Costa Rica. This study evaluates how human rights reform was implemented within the Costa Rican police. On the basis of qualitative and quantitative data, it discusses the effect of police human rights strategies. It explores the following questions: Is there a relationship between the implementation of formal human rights law and changes within the social systems in which law enforcement officials operate? Which socio-political and institutional factors relate to the implementation of human rights within the national police system and the urban police units? Are police officers of the Public Force in San Jos increasingly stimulated to comply with the norms, standards, and values that human rights portray? We Are Here to Serve You! opens a dialogue about the complexities of such human rights implementations.

Zusammenfassung: This book advances a much-needed "postcolonial" framework in analyzing the police. It seeks to deepen our understanding of the police's role in maintaining Western global domination throughout the American region despite the violent end of colonial rule. Building on Chevigny's (1995) classic study, this book seeks to draw renewed attention to the role of police in perpetrating state violence and serving as the tip of the spear of state power. It seeks to understand the construction of marginality and the multiple and intersecting structures of colonial domination, before shining a light directly on the crimes of the state, in an attempt to hold criminal state organizations to account. It draws on interdisciplinary perspectives and methodologies that center marginalized and colonized experiences and allows for the development of counter colonial knowledge. It speaks to academics and students in criminology, sociology, political science, and law, as well as to ethnic and area studies programs, such as Chicano/Latino and Latin American Studies, and to police administrators and policymakers. Daniel Gascón is Assistant Professor at University of Massachusetts Boston, USA. Sebastian Sclofsky is Assistant Professor at California State University, Stanislaus, USA. Analicia Mejia Mesinas is Assistant Professor at Azusa Pacific University, USA. Xavier Perez is Co-Founder of the Criminology Department at DePaul University, USA. Jhon Sanabria is Executive Director Institute of Public Safety at Universidad Ana G. Méndez (UAGM), Puerto Rico

Explains the persistence of violent, unaccountable policing in democratic contexts.