Challenges

According to InSight Crime,1 Guatemala had a homicide rate of 21.5?deaths per 100,000?inhabitants in 2019, ranking ninth among countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

As a result of the 36-year civil war and, more recently, the rise of ‘maras’ gangs, distrust of police authority was widespread. Local authorities did not work with or support the police, which impacted the security of entire communities. Crime and homicides were rampant, but people were afraid to report incidents because of accounts of police corruption. The police had a negative perception in the community, and there was a poor relationship between mayors and police chiefs. All these elements contributed to worsening security in Guatemala.

Toward a Solution

To address these challenges, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) began a technical cooperation project in Guatemala, in which Brazilian police officers shared good practices with their Guatemalan counterparts. Brazil was known for its high crime rates in the 1990s. However, the government of São Paulo succeeded in drastically reducing the crime rate by implementing the Japanese koban community policing system and building trust with the community. JICA supported those efforts with a technical cooperation project on community policing, which uses the koban system. The project helped to reduce the murder rate in the state of São Paulo by 70?percent over a period of 10?years.

From 1964 to 1985, Brazil was governed by a military dictatorship that ruled by fear rather than trust. After the fall of that regime, the Government tried to restore trust by introducing community policing. It studied various community policing systems from a number of countries. The state of São Paulo decided to adopt the Japanese community policing model, in which Japanese police officers visit the community on foot or by bicycle and communicate with the people in person, building closer relationships with them.

JICA Brazil introduced the Japanese koban system to the São Paulo Military Police [Polícia Militar do Estado de São Paulo] (PMESP) in 2000. Under this system, police officers are encouraged to visit the community on foot, talk to residents in person and plan and attend community activities with the people. Through these activities, PMESP has succeeded in building confidence between the authorities and the community, causing the relationship to evolve from one based on confrontation to one based on harmony. PMESP now receives much more information from the communities, which helps to prevent crime. This project does not require any special technology or a significant financial investment.

JICA signed the Japan Brazil Partnership Program in 2000 to promote triangular cooperation, making the best use of Brazilian resources. It supports the Government of Brazil in formulating, monitoring and evaluating international cooperation projects. This platform has allowed the Government to extend its good practices to neighbouring countries that are suffering from similar issues.

Upon the request of the Government of Guatemala, the ‘Project for Strengthening Police Human Resources through the Promotion of Community Police Philosophy’ was implemented in 2016, with support from the Brazilian Cooperation Agency, the Ministry of Justice and PMESP officers. The project aimed to reduce crime rates while restoring trust among the community for the National Civil Police. The PMESP officers now served as the experts on community policing, having adapted the Japanese system to the Brazilian context, and shared their knowledge and experiences with the Guatemalan police officers.

Over the course of the project, the Brazilian experts conducted 8?workshops in Brazil and 10?in Guatemala, during which approximately 1,300?Guatemalan officers learned about community policing. In Brazil, the Guatemalan officers accompanied their Brazilian counterparts on patrol to engage with local communities. Both senior and uniformed officers, some of whom had never travelled outside of the country, were invited to attend the workshops in Brazil to see the impact of community policing on public security. Guatemalan officers have used the Brazilian project as a model and are actively involved in community activities, such as school traffic safety programmes and street clean-up initiatives. As a result of the project, officers of all ranks and members of the community learned that public security could be maintained by mutual trust. Police officers enjoyed a sense of pride for their work as they reduced crime rates and made communities safer. The project succeeded in reducing the homicide rate from 76?deaths per 100,000?inhabitants in 2017 to 37?deaths in 2019 in San Pedro Ayampuc, and from 49?deaths to 12?deaths in Chinautla, Guatemala.