October 27, 2015 - BCP Theater, Boquete Panama - Tuesday morning saw a much anticipated presentation by the new Minister of Security for Panama, Rodolfo Aguilera, in addition to Mayor of Boquete Emigdio Walker Vasquez and popular chief of police, Juan Arauz.
This follows a meeting on Monday in David, where President Juan Carlos Varela Rodriguez participated on a panel to discuss revising the plans and programs for security in this region of the country. https://www.presidencia.gob.pa/Noticias/Varela-Rodriguez-revisa-planes-y-programas-de-seguridad-en-Chiriqui
Rodolfo Aguilera presented a huge amount of very detailed information, of which I will summarize only a small fraction. The meeting was videotaped and I would recommend it to anyone interested.
First, let me say that looking at the people on stage, the Mayor, police chief, Rodolfo and his American/Panamanian assistant, I got the very strong feeling that we are seeing a new breed of well educated, modern technocrats moving into positions of authority in Panama.
Rodolfo presented for more than an hour, supported by volumes of detailed powerpoint slides, discussing types of crimes, trends by type, by province, even compared to other countries in Central America and the world. His comments pulled no punches and his answers to questions were forthright and direct. Here are some of the highlights from my notes:
On the Panamanian criminal justice system
Panama spends about $1 billion on criminal justice every year. And yet, it takes one year to investigate a crime, three years to bring it to trial and then 95% of the cases are dropped or found not guilty. Of those convicted and sent to prison, 65% return to a life of crime after release. The entire prosecutorial system needs an overhaul.
Since Varela has taken office, new crime initiatives have reduced the gang murder and violence rates by 50% in one year, primarily in Panama and Colon provinces. After peaking in 2007, crime held fairly steady, and is now decreasing across the board, with the exception of domestic violence, for which new GPS bracelets are being introduced to keep offenders away from their victims.
On Gangs
With the broken prosecutorial system, they realized that a new approach to crime reduction was needed - prevention. This comes in the form of co-opting the gangs, offering them alternatives. He said that gang members know that staying in the gangs means death by age 25 and most are actually eager to get out. This approach has been used successfully in New York City and other countries. Panama is modeling its program after those successes.
The program involves four steps, briefly:
- Subverting the gangs - offering members a way out
- Getting the gang members into vocational training (and dealing with mental health issues)
- Labor reinsertion - ten percent of public construction project labor is to be provided by the ex-gang members
- Monitoring to ensure compliance and provide guidance
So far more than 4,000 gang members have been recruited, mainly in Panama City and Colon. Both places have seen marked drops in murder and violence. Thousands more are entering the program in the coming year.
At the same time, in 2013, 5 gangs were prosecuted and put in prison, while so far in 2015, 33 gangs have been broken up. However, using the conversion process, they have broken up more than 150 gangs, so the process is both cheaper and more effective than just incarceration.
On the security budget
According to Rodolfo, Varela insists on cost justifying everything. When asked to justify increased spending on security, Rodolfo said, to paraphrase, "Well you just spent $3 billion on a transit system that was number three on the concerns of Panamanians. Crime is number one - how much are you spending on that?"
He also described a nationwide camera system that is being contracted for, 2,000 cameras across the country, built by a British firm [the British are the video security kings of the world], which will allow police to zero in on crimes in progress, track license numbers and trace the car's movement back through time, days or weeks before, face recognition and more. He said that the face recognition system in Tucomen airport had already caught more than a hundred criminals.
Panama is not getting enough out of its police forces. Most Latin American countries have between 1.5 and 2.5 police per 1,000 people. The international norm is 3. Panama has 6 policemen per 1000 people. Many are assigned to desk duty rather than what they were trained for. So the current administration is moving them out to the streets, but it is a long process involving 30,000 public service employees and almost a billion dollar budget.
On guns
Rodolfo said that the ban on gun imports would be lifted in January, 2016. However, he and Varela are not totally agreed on the licensing strategy. Rodolfo said that 80% of violent gun attacks in the US are by people with a prior history of violence. Therefore, he favors a shorter registration process but much more detailed background checks.
On Crimes by Minors
The short answer is that Panama's laws are based on a UN treaty for treatment of minors. Rodolfo got his Master's Degree in England and is quite sophisticated in his understanding of European thinking. In those countries with advanced social safety nets, minors who commit crimes are shunted to social welfare agencies. In Panama, we have none of that and they are out on the street.
UN treaties supercede national law, so getting it changed will be difficult.
With this in view (and the sorry state of the prosecutorial system), the gang intervention strategy looks better and better. We have to look for strategies to prevent crime in the first place. Turn the young people away from the gangs and make our houses unattractive targets. Friends don't let friends live in unsafe houses.
These are only a few highlights from what was a most interesting and informative presentation. I would recommend that anyone who is interested watch the entire presentation.
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