While the northern border adjacent to Peru and Bolivia is not inherently a problem, the lack of protection is. This is not due to old fears of a military invasion by either of the two countries, but because of the challenging nature of securing this border. Effective protection of the border requires military and police forces, monitoring technology, surveillance satellites, drones and aircraft for day and night patrols. The same applies to maritime spaces, as inadequate protection could lead to increased criminal and migratory flows along the Pacific Coast in northern Chile. Unfortunately, the country’s neighbours are of little help, and are likely even pleased that Venezuelan migrants and criminals in their territories are heading to Chile or Argentina. No one wants to deal with the migration problem, especially those who already have more political crises than they can handle.
In light of the growing levels of organised crime, the government’s plan seems futile. Politicians are accustomed to reacting, and in this case, their response has been to propose legislation, most of which will not have an impact for a few years. In both 2023 and 2024, legislative packages were assembled to improve public security, including measures such as creating a Ministry of Public Security, which would take over responsibilities from the Ministry of the Interior; deploying the armed forces for more permanent internal security duties; improving the inefficient (or virtually non-existent) national intelligence system; reforming the prison system; adapting the judicial system to current realities; and several other minor initiatives.
Bills left pending from 2023 were put on the fast track for 2024, though this process has been anything but fast. Since May, only one bill – concerning repeat offenders – has been approved. Unfortunately, the opposition has not been very helpful, which is problematic, as several of these initiatives could be beneficial. The only relatively effective action the government has taken is to relieve the police of some administrative duties. Along with accelerating the graduation of new officers, this could put around 1,500 more officers on the streets. However, their effectiveness remains to be seen, as they will require retraining, and the new recruits will lack operational experience. This has been a cruel year for Chilean policing, with a number of officers killed in the line of duty.
Lack of a Strategy
All of this may sound bleak, but even worse is the absence of a comprehensive and actionable security strategy. Meetings are held, discussions take place, press announcements are made, but the result is just more legislative proposals and grandiloquent statements that quickly fade when another bloody weekend occurs.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66e84397326e4da190c40335ffc18c36&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rusi.org%2Fexplore-our-research%2Fpublications%2Fcommentary%2Fcriminality-taking-over-chile-and-politicians-cant-seem-fix-it&c=1912044744291754928&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-15 22:14:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.