I read this article in the May 5th edition of
AM Costa Rica:
Quote:
New tourism police could
be ready in six months
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A new tourist police force might be a reality in just six months, the incoming security chief said Thursday.
This is a special police unit that will contain multilingual officers stationed at key tourism locations.
The incoming security minister, Fernando Berrocal Soto, said Thursday that he has had discussions on the topic with key tourism groups and that he would be holding a meeting with the new tourism minister after both are officially in their new jobs Monday.
The makeup of the tourism police still is in the air. And no officer has been named to head it. Members of this special force will be more than just tour guides to the visitors who come here each year. They are designed to be an active element against crimes affecting tourists.
Berrocal and Rogelio Ramos MartÃnez, the outgoing security chief, met with reporters at the Ministerio de Gobernación, PolicÃa y Seguridad Pública. Ramos recounted the successes of his six years in office.
Berrocal introduced three vice ministers and a new director general of the Fuerza Pública. They are: Ana Eugenia Durán Salvatierra, 42, vice minister of Gobernación, and Gerardo Javier Lázcares Jiménez, 56, and Rafael Angel Gutiérrez Gómez, vice ministers of Seguridad Pública.
Vice Minister Durán has worked in the legal department of the Dirección General de Migración y ExtranjerÃa, which is now part of her responsibility. She has extensive experience in immigrants human rights, illegal trafficking of immigrants and illegal employment.
Lázcares has more than 31 years experience in the Judicial Investigating Organization and has served as subdirector there. He also has headed key sections, such as homicide and drugs.
Gutiérrez has 40 years in public and private security and was a vice minister in the administration of José MarÃa Figueres Olsen. He also served as director general of the Fuerza Pública.
The new director of the Fuerza Pública is a man who never served in that organization. He is Oswaldo Alpizar Nuñez, 47, who has 27 years in the security field including time as operator of his own private security firm. He said he has severed his relations with the firm to take the ministry job. He has worked in the Judicial Investigating Organization, in public security and the PolicÃa de Tránsito, according to material provided by the ministry.
Berrocal also said he was setting up two separate units, one to guard the southern border and one to guard the northern border. He said that some entrances to Costa Rica, like the area around Sixaola in the south, are almost unguarded.
He has said that protecting the border will be one of his priorities.
Berrocal said that public perception of crime was much higher than the incidence of crime, but he said that criminality was on the upswing. He briefly mentioned the concept of zero tolerance, which was instituted successfully in New York by then-Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Berrocal has spoken at great length elsewhere about zero tolerance in which police crack down on small crimes to create a tradition of obeying the law which then carries over to major crimes.
He also said that he would set up an inspector general position in the Fuerza Pública to field complaints about corruption.
On the surface, the creation of a Tourist Police force seems like a step in the right direction. Since tourism is Costa Rica's #1 industry, it makes sense for the new government to protect its tourism customer base. However, after reading the article closely, it says that plans for the police unit are still up in the air, yet the Arias government hopes to have it on-line in six months. With all the bureaucracy in government, I wonder if this goal is realistic. I hope the new CR government has the will...and the resources...to follow through with its promise of a police force with a stated mission to "assist and protect the tourist."
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