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Community Policing Programs Cut Crime in Guatemala
FrontLines - July 2009
By Eric Beinhart and Gloria Jean Garland
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Youth from Ciudad del Sol, a stronghold of the gang MSMS-13, learn auto mechanic skills through a community policing program in Guatemala.
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When kidnapping and other violent crime increased in Antigua, Guatemala’s tourism capital, the government threatened
to curb visitors before the beginning of Holy Week in April. USAID—which had been working to reduce crime in other cities—helped police curb violence
and preserve peace in the UNESCO World Heritage site.
USAID has been working for several years to decrease crime, corruption, and gang activity.
In 2006, the Agency started a community policing program in Villa Nueva, adjacent to Guatemala City. The program improves policing skills of uniformed police officers and command staff as well as school and community groups. It also improves communication between law enforcement officers
and the communities they serve, and it trains police to deal with victims and witnesses.
Uniformed officers gained confidence to carry out operating
plans developed with police command staff. And the officers improved coordination with prosecutors, which has been critical in developing successful cases against alleged criminals.
“The technical capacity of the program has helped us to develop serious cases in a very short amount of time,” said Cpl. Alida Alonso of the 15th Precinct National Civil Police (PNC).
“The program has helped us all to learn while doing.”
In Villa Nueva, several schools in 2005 and 2006 closed because teachers and students had been the victims of murder, extortion, and other violent crimes.
USAID, coordinating closely with the PNC and the U.S. Embassy’s Narcotics Affairs Section, created a School Safety Initiative that deployed uniformed
police patrols around schools during peak hours, allowing officers to get to know students on a personal basis.
As a result, in 2007 and 2008 no schools closed.
“The value for us has been the integration of youth in positive activities that keep them focused on a brighter future, one in which they actively develop their own talents and abilities,” said Sonia Guir Najarro, principal
of the Ciudad del Sol public school. “If we are to form the citizens of tomorrow, we must give these kids a chance.”
The School Safety Initiative has been set up in two other high-crime areas.
This year the policing program
awarded 200 scholarships for young people to attend the National Training Center and for study in local private schools, including basic electrician training. The program is also working with the municipality of Villa Nueva this year to train staff of the newly founded Youth Secretariat in youth leadership development.
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