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REPORTS: CENTRAL AMERICA |
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More
Private Guards Than Police
José
Eduardo Mora
SAN JOSE, (IPS) - Private security
firms in Central America have
multiplied to the point that their
agents now outnumber the region's
police, the Arias Foundation for Peace
and Human Progress said in a report
released here Tuesday.
There has been a marked deterioration
in the security of the Central
American population, says the
Foundation's study, and this has led
more and more citizens to turn to
private companies, which are taking up
the policing role that is really the
duty of the state.
Data gathered by the Foundation show
there are 93,324 private security
agents in the six countries of the
isthmus (minus Belize), while the
public forces -- not including the
military -- have a total of 64,224
members.
This relationship of more private
agents than public agents holds true
in each of the region's countries.
The Costa Rica-based Foundation states
that it is ”unacceptable” that the
states delegate their responsibility
for citizen safety to private
entities, most of which are run by
former police or former members of the
armed forces.
Luis Alberto Cordero, executive
director of the Arias Foundation, says
it is a serious situation because
there are numerous cases in which
police or military agents -- members
of public forces -- run their own
companies, creating a dangerous
conflict of interests.
The new report states that the country
with most private security firms is
Costa Rica, where 466 such companies
employ 9,469 private guards, just
edging out the police force of 9,300
agents.
The Costa Rican Congress is currently
debating a bill that would
significantly increase the number of
security agents that each company can
have on its payroll, noted Cordero.
If the legislation passes, ”it would
create conditions for the country to
silently achieve militarisation,”
even though Costa Rica has no army,
noted the executive of the foundation
that was created by former Costa Rican
president Oscar Arias (1986-1990),
winner of the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize.
Cordero says he is worried about the
bill, which he considers a threat to
citizen safety, and insists that the
state must not renounce its security
duties.
The Costa Rican Ministry of Security
reports that the legally registered
private security firms today number
587, in other words, 121 more than the
Arias Foundation tallied for this
country.
The number of private agents has been
on the rise since 1994, the year that
this type of security service began to
be offered in a systematic way.
”The situation in Costa Rica has
become so delicate that now even state
entities, such as banks and autonomous
agencies, are turning to private
services,” said Cordero.
Ana Yancy Espinoza, Costa Rican
political scientist and arms expert,
says that one of the touchiest issues
is the lack of regulation and
oversight of the operations of private
security businesses in Central
America.
It should come as no surprise that the
number of private agents in Guatemala
is the highest in the region, with
25,000, she said. But that country has
just 134 private security companies.
After Guatemala comes El Salvador,
with 20,643 private agents distributed
among 295 companies; Honduras, with
15,000 guards employed by 143
companies; Nicaragua, with 7,212
guards at 52 companies; and Panama,
with 16,000 agents working for 108
companies.
Private security firms handle a large
inventory weapons and munitions, which
is another of Espinoza's concerns,
particularly because existing
legislation does not establish clear
limits for the volume of arms allowed
these companies.
Also seen as a potential danger is the
private agents' lack of schooling,
according to comments made in the
presentation of the Arias Foundation
report. Most have not completed
primary education, which stands in
contrast to the public police forces,
for example, of Costa Rica, where the
average agent has at least a few years
of secondary school education.
”The problem is that the private
agents take their weapons home with
them, and on numerous occasions they
have used their guns to resolve family
disputes, which only adds to the trend
of violence,” said Espinoza.
Contributing to insecurity in Central
America is the fact that some two
million weapons are illegally
trafficked throughout the region
annually.
Without strict controls or clear
legislation, and in an environment of
growing uncertainty, the private
security companies are enjoying a
lucrative business, while the Central
American states shirk the duty that is
really their responsibility, says the
Arias Foundation.
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