Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Following a political transition, Peru launched a police reform in 2001. This study focuses on internal and external impediments to the reform. The highly transparent and democratic process won public support and the backing of rank-and-file officers, but failed to overcome opposition from police leadership. The strength of senior police opposition is directly related to financial interests threatened by anticorruption initiatives. In the external environment, government weakness and lack of presidential support present critical breaking points. Additional external weaknesses include the politically independent profile of the Interior Ministry reform team, the lack of a politically negotiated reform plan, and the absence of international backing. Presidential support failed at a critical moment when police challenged the Interior Minister. Noting the limitations of different evaluative criteria in policing reforms, the article argues that important advances have been achieved in policing in Peru even as short-term impacts are limited.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Basombrio

(2004). Seguridad Ciudadana y Actuación del Estado: Análisis de tendencias de opinion pública. Lima, Peru: Instituto de Defensa Legal.

Bayley

(2001). Democratizing the police abroad: What to do and how to do it. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice.

Bayley

(1993 October). What's in a uniform? A comparative view of police–military relations in Latin America. Paper presented at the Conference on Police and Civil–Military Relations in Latin America Washington DC sponsored by the Latin America and Caribbean Center Florida International University US.

Bruce

Neild

(2004). The police that we want: A handbook for oversight of the police in South Africa. Johannesburg, South Africa: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) Open Society Justice Initiative and Open Society Foundation for South Africa (OSF-SA).

Buvinic

Morrison

(2000). Living in a more violent world. Foreign Policy Spring 58–72.

Chevigny

(1995). Edge of the knife: Police violence in the Americas. New York: The New Press.

Comisión Especial de Reestructuración de la Policía Nacional del Perú . (2002). Informe de la Comisión Especial de Reestructuración de la Policía Nacional del Perú. Retrieved February 22 2002 from http://www.pnp.gob.pe/especiales/docs/informe_reestructuracion.pdf

Costa

Basombrio

(2004). Liderazgo Civil en el Ministerio del Interior: Testimonio de una experiencia de reforma policial y gestión democrática de la seguridad en el Perú. Lima, Perú: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP).

Costa

(1999). La policía nacional civil de El Salvador (1990–1997). San Salvador, El Salvador: UCA Editores.

10.

Costa

(1995). The United Nations and reform of the police in El Salvador. International Peacekeeping 2(3), 365–390.

11.

Fruhling

(n.d.). La policía en Chile: Los nuevos desafíos de una coyuntura compleja. Unpublished manuscript.

12.

Fruhling

(Ed.). (2004). Calles mas seguras: Estudios de policía comunitaria en América Latina. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank.

13.

Gastrow

Shaw

(2001). In search of safety: Police transformation and public responses in South Africa. Daedelus 130(1), 259–275.

14.

Mawby

R.I.

(Ed.). (1999). Policing across the world: Issues for the 21st century. London: University College London Press.

15.

McClintock

(1992). Instruments of statecraft: US Guerrilla Warfare Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism 1940–1990. New York: Pantheon Books.

16.

McClintock

(1985) The American connection: State terror and popular resistance in El Salvador (2nd ed.). London: Zed Books.

17.

Neild

(2002). Sustaining police reform in Central America. Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).

18.

Neild

(1999 December). From national security to citizen security: Civil society and the evolution of public security debates. Occasional paper commissioned by the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (since 2000 Rights and Democracy) Montreal Canada.

19.

Palmieri

(2000). Themes and debates in public security: Criminal investigations. Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).

20.

Rosin

Youngers

(2005). Drugs and democracy in Latin America: The impact of US Policy. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.

21.

Stanley

(1999). Building new police forces in Guatemala and El Salvador: Learning and counter-learning . International Peacekeeping 6(4), 113–134.

22.

The World Bank Ayres

R.L.

(1997 March). Crime and violence as development issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. Washington, DC: Author.

23.

World Health Organization (WHO) . (2002). World report on violence and health. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.

24.

Ziegler

Neild

(2002). From peace to governance: The international community and police reform. Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).

Police Reform in Peru

Abstract

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References