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Column 092208 Brewer

Monday, September 22, 2008

The Latin American Police as opposed to Military Dilemma

By Jerry Brewer

One of the most formidable tasks within democratic nations in

the Western Hemisphere is self-protection from physical,
psychological and moral abuse and coercion by police and the
military. The police role must include the duty to utilize its
powers to uphold the rule of law, and respect the civil and social
rights of the people. Too, the mandate to respect the dignity of
citizens as well as placing a high value on human life must be a
top priority.

Both the military and police must not exist to support dictatorial
regimes, or other powerful criminal or select interest groups
typical of nondemocratic alliances. The ultimate goal of the
security forces must be to provide the security and stability
required to achieve and strengthen political, social and
economic development within the homeland. And the
strengthening of regional security cooperation is most certainly
a positive direction.

Many Latin Americans look towards security efforts by their

governments with trepidation, considering past abuses and
armed force prompted tyranny, as well as the perception that
any armed force was dangerous to liberty in general. This in
stark contrast to the purpose for the creation of law enforcement
agencies in a country, in order to provide safety and security for
the people.

While attempting to understand what options are available, or

what decisions need to be made in terms of police or military
security during this climate of fear throughout Latin America, it is
critically important to examine and target the root causes of their
country's security problems. A comprehensive threat
assessment and vulnerability analysis must be intricately
conducted by its government. The overlap between what is
essentially military and what is police should become quite
clear.

It is difficult to understand the political culture in countries where

police responsibilities have been traditionally assigned to
military organizations. In general, most military forces of free
nations have as their primary purpose the defense of
sovereignty, independence, the integrity of the homeland, and
proper constitutional order.

The police mission is to protect, serve, and to preserve

conditions necessary to protect rights and freedoms and keep
the public peace.

The basic role of both police and military is indeed distinct. A

mismatch in missions and basic purpose in creation requires the
distancing of the military from general and routine policing
duties. The distancing will not be an easy task if the image and
professional performance of the police shows no improvement.
This would clearly defeat any gains of a sociopolitical
advantage.

If there was marked and significant improvement in the police

mission and capabilities, would this necessarily diffuse and
balance government power? A definite concern would be if it
would strengthen a different repressive tool of the central
government.

Latin American politics, in many cases, can be traced to the

tyranny of military controlled governments. Many national
constitutions reflect provisions that establish national police
forces. These forces thus become a breed of civil-military
distinction. The national police, for the most part, is a civilian
force and not military, although it is sometimes difficult to tell the
difference by simple observation. The word paramilitary comes
to mind.

Panama is at a major crossroads of decision and change on the

issue of remilitarization, after many years of its armed forces
being disbanded. President Martin Torrijos has pushed this
agenda with a wise decision, and tempered with deep common
sense due to the national threat of guerrilla insurgents,
narcoterrorists, and associated organized criminals that have
become abundant within Panama's homeland.

A police force is simply not capable of the incredible demands in

defending a population of over 3.3 million, a land mass of
78,200 square kilometers, and the coastline. Although the
National Intelligence Security Service (SENIS) is being created,
its essential mission is to collect, assess, analyze, and
predict/report threat as well as monitor events that affect
Panama overall.

The enforcement arm in defense of Panama must be an

adequately well-trained, strictly disciplined military that would be
prepared to proactively and strategically engage the threat or
enemy head-on, without any unwarranted jurisdictional
boundaries or regional bureaucratic controls. The enemies:
sophisticated, above-average trained paramilitary insurgents
with superior firepower and war-like armaments and ordnance.
Too, many of the terrorist groups possess expertise and
strategic warfare strategies that are far superior to what police
routinely see or, in fact, will ever experience.

A similar comparison is U.S. law enforcement (police) protecting

the U.S. border with Mexico. They are simply outgunned and
outmanned.

The threat in Latin America is real, and leftist leaders are rapidly
expanding their military capabilities and weapons.

——————————
Jerry Brewer is Vice President of Criminal Justice International
Associates, a global risk mitigation firm headquartered in Miami,
Florida. jbrewer@cjiausa.org