Community police in Colombia: An idle process

Bogotá's community policing programme is often cited as a successful or at least illustrative example of the modernisation of police forces in Latin America. However, we lack a rigorous evaluation of its scope and outcomes. Although the Bogotá community police project was one of the first progr...

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Autores:
Tipo de recurso:
Fecha de publicación:
2012
Institución:
Universidad del Rosario
Repositorio:
Repositorio EdocUR - U. Rosario
Idioma:
eng
OAI Identifier:
oai:repository.urosario.edu.co:10336/22842
Acceso en línea:
https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2011.597855
https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/22842
Palabra clave:
Colombia
Community policing
Rights
License
Abierto (Texto Completo)
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spelling 804124296002020-05-25T23:58:20Z2020-05-25T23:58:20Z2012Bogotá's community policing programme is often cited as a successful or at least illustrative example of the modernisation of police forces in Latin America. However, we lack a rigorous evaluation of its scope and outcomes. Although the Bogotá community police project was one of the first programmes implemented on the continent and employs one of the largest number of officers, it never seems to have been completely integrated into the inner workings of the police department, and this has reduced its chances of success. Although there are community police platoons in the vast majority of Colombia's Departments/Provinces some of its founding purposes have been sidetracked due to the armed conflict in the country and the higher-ups within the institution have not given it sufficient importance beyond lip service. This analysis maintains that the limitations of this community model can be found in its attempt to retain a certain level of independence in the face of other institutional actors and the community at large. The possibility of losing prerogatives and authority has limited any and all attempts at transforming the institution. Given that a community oriented police force requires greater community oversight and supervision of the police and that beat officers must have greater on-the-job autonomy and discretion, this project does not fit well into an extremely hierarchical institution that has huge gaps between its higher officials and beat officers and that seeks to control the decision-making process regarding safety policies. This article, for all of these reasons, offers a discussion of Colombia's community police programme within the context of the role it plays and the place it occupies within the broader police organisation in light of that institution's history, culture and ethos. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.application/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2011.59785510439463https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/22842eng56No. 143Policing and SocietyVol. 22Policing and Society, ISSN:10439463, Vol.22, No.1 (2012); pp. 43-56https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84855437789&doi=10.1080%2f10439463.2011.597855&partnerID=40&md5=c6d29af4a9359b81adbd26fd4bb25addAbierto (Texto Completo)http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2instname:Universidad del Rosarioreponame:Repositorio Institucional EdocURColombiaCommunity policingCommunity police in Colombia: An idle processarticleArtículohttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Ruíz Vásquez, Juan Carlos10336/22842oai:repository.urosario.edu.co:10336/228422022-05-02 07:37:20.79845https://repository.urosario.edu.coRepositorio institucional EdocURedocur@urosario.edu.co
dc.title.spa.fl_str_mv Community police in Colombia: An idle process
title Community police in Colombia: An idle process
spellingShingle Community police in Colombia: An idle process
Colombia
Community policing
title_short Community police in Colombia: An idle process
title_full Community police in Colombia: An idle process
title_fullStr Community police in Colombia: An idle process
title_full_unstemmed Community police in Colombia: An idle process
title_sort Community police in Colombia: An idle process
dc.subject.keyword.spa.fl_str_mv Colombia
Community policing
topic Colombia
Community policing
description Bogotá's community policing programme is often cited as a successful or at least illustrative example of the modernisation of police forces in Latin America. However, we lack a rigorous evaluation of its scope and outcomes. Although the Bogotá community police project was one of the first programmes implemented on the continent and employs one of the largest number of officers, it never seems to have been completely integrated into the inner workings of the police department, and this has reduced its chances of success. Although there are community police platoons in the vast majority of Colombia's Departments/Provinces some of its founding purposes have been sidetracked due to the armed conflict in the country and the higher-ups within the institution have not given it sufficient importance beyond lip service. This analysis maintains that the limitations of this community model can be found in its attempt to retain a certain level of independence in the face of other institutional actors and the community at large. The possibility of losing prerogatives and authority has limited any and all attempts at transforming the institution. Given that a community oriented police force requires greater community oversight and supervision of the police and that beat officers must have greater on-the-job autonomy and discretion, this project does not fit well into an extremely hierarchical institution that has huge gaps between its higher officials and beat officers and that seeks to control the decision-making process regarding safety policies. This article, for all of these reasons, offers a discussion of Colombia's community police programme within the context of the role it plays and the place it occupies within the broader police organisation in light of that institution's history, culture and ethos. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
publishDate 2012
dc.date.created.spa.fl_str_mv 2012
dc.date.accessioned.none.fl_str_mv 2020-05-25T23:58:20Z
dc.date.available.none.fl_str_mv 2020-05-25T23:58:20Z
dc.type.eng.fl_str_mv article
dc.type.coarversion.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.coar.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
dc.type.spa.spa.fl_str_mv Artículo
dc.identifier.doi.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2011.597855
dc.identifier.issn.none.fl_str_mv 10439463
dc.identifier.uri.none.fl_str_mv https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/22842
url https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2011.597855
https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/22842
identifier_str_mv 10439463
dc.language.iso.spa.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.citationEndPage.none.fl_str_mv 56
dc.relation.citationIssue.none.fl_str_mv No. 1
dc.relation.citationStartPage.none.fl_str_mv 43
dc.relation.citationTitle.none.fl_str_mv Policing and Society
dc.relation.citationVolume.none.fl_str_mv Vol. 22
dc.relation.ispartof.spa.fl_str_mv Policing and Society, ISSN:10439463, Vol.22, No.1 (2012); pp. 43-56
dc.relation.uri.spa.fl_str_mv https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84855437789&doi=10.1080%2f10439463.2011.597855&partnerID=40&md5=c6d29af4a9359b81adbd26fd4bb25add
dc.rights.coar.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
dc.rights.acceso.spa.fl_str_mv Abierto (Texto Completo)
rights_invalid_str_mv Abierto (Texto Completo)
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
dc.format.mimetype.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
institution Universidad del Rosario
dc.source.instname.spa.fl_str_mv instname:Universidad del Rosario
dc.source.reponame.spa.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositorio Institucional EdocUR
repository.name.fl_str_mv Repositorio institucional EdocUR
repository.mail.fl_str_mv edocur@urosario.edu.co
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