“The police are the specific organization responsible for fighting crime, but they must be reformed to carry out this task effectively,” he explained in public statements analyzing the partial state of emergency that the government has adopted in the face of crime had imposed an abundance of crime. .
He pointed out that the National Police has qualified and honest personnel, but that the same cannot be said of all its members, an obvious indication of the problem of corruption within its ranks.
“The police, like the state, need a new institutional and organizational design, higher qualifications of their personnel and more financial resources,” he said.
López expressed in this statement his dissatisfaction with the limited scope and effects of the state of emergency with the possibility of using military forces, which was imposed in two large districts of Lima and seven in the northern province of Sullana.
He pointed out that the proposed measure shows the limits of government and that the organization of citizen security is a disaster because “the most unsafe districts have fewer police officers and the less unsafe districts have more police officers.”
He also warned that fighting crime requires the action of the intelligence apparatus, more than the use of armed forces and vehicles, taking into account that the role of the police should not be to oppress people but to protect them.
“Citizens’ insecurity is not just a police problem, it is a complex problem that must be addressed with multisectoral policies,” the sociologist added, pointing out that it is a consequence of other problems in society.
“Crime increases when unemployment increases, income decreases, informality and poverty increase, military control at the borders weakens, education deteriorates, state corruption increases, etc.,” López explained.
Because of these characteristics, López explained, the serious problem requires a cross-sectoral policy and affects the entire country, is very serious in coastal cities and it is difficult to combat insecurity when the state is unevenly distributed throughout the territory.
rgh/mrs