Public Security

27/01/10 - Italy

Italy’s Mafia is adapting well to the economic crisis, boosting output but cutting labour costs and benefiting from the credit crunch in the banking sector, according to a report released by a leading business association. While Italy’s gross domestic product shrank by 5 per cent last year, organised crime managed to increase turnover by an estimated 3.7 per cent to €135bn ($190bn, £118bn).

10/11/09 - Brazil

The militias formed by paramilitary groups are increasingly present in Rio favelas, and they already overcome the number of drug dealers, according to a research done by Nupevi (The Violence Research Nucleous), at UERJ (State University of Rio de janeiro), announced last Tuesday. The research shows the number of favelas dominated by militia groups has tripled in the city.

22/10/09 - USA

Looking after small children is never easy. Many dribble; some bite. But for Joyce Chavis, the problem until a few years ago was that she could not let toddlers in her care step outside her house. The street was packed with prostitutes. Drug-dealers loitered aggressively with pit bulls at their heels. In the local playground the bushes concealed only some of the things that crack-addicted young women were doing to earn their next fix. Until 2004 the West End neighbourhood in High Point, North Carolina, was an open-air drug market. Gun shots punctuated the night. Honest folk were scared to walk to the shops. Jim Summey, a local preacher, recalls a Sunday when his flock could not park because the street was jammed with johns seeking sex and drugs. When he remonstrated with the dealers, they smashed up his car and shot out 58 windows in his church. Yet West End is now as peaceful as evensong. It is still poor, but thugs with dogs no longer menace passers-by. The prostitutes have gone, or gone indoors. The corners are quiet. What happened?

16/10/09 - International

The annual gathering of law enforcement officials from around the world took place in Singapore and was urged by David Ogden, the US deputy attorney general, to strengthen legislation against money laundering to check the acceleration of international organised crime. The FBI estimates that global organised crimes generates profits of around $1 trillion a year (£615 billion) – equivalent to the entire gross domestic product of Australia.

05/10/09 - Brazil

A Reporter at Large about drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro. Iara is a manager of the favela of Parque Royal, in Rio de Janeiro, for a gangster named Fernandinho. She handled “community relations” on behalf of their gang, the Terceiro Commando Puro, or Pure Third Command. Parque Royal consists of a mess of slapped-up houses of corrugated tin and unpainted brick, dreadlocked tangles of pilfered electrical wiring, and graffiti-covered walls and alleyways where little general stores and rudimentary bars jostled for space with storefront evangelical churches. Mentions Fernandinho's deputy, Gilberto Coelho de Oliveira. Gil, who was Fernandinho's best friend from childhood, was said to be the more violent of the two. Parque Royal is situated on Ilha do Governador, the largest of the islands that dot the great inland bay of Guanabara. In a pattern that repeats itself all over Rio, Ilha's residents live under the de-facto authority of a gangster and his private army.

01/10/09 - China

As the People’s Republic celebrates its 60th birthday, the gangsterism the communists boasted of vanquishing has staged a comeback. Shortly before the 60th anniversary of communist China’s founding on October 1st, police in the south-western city of Chongqing opened an unusual exhibition. On display, to invited guests only, were 65 luxury cars formerly owned by the bosses of the city’s crime gangs as well as an assortment of jewellery, guns and drugs. Chongqing, the wartime capital of China, had been a hub of organised crime in pre-communist days. Now the gangs are back, with roots in the party that almost wiped them out six decades ago. In Beijing the huge military parade on October 1st, China’s first in ten years, was intended to show off a modern, powerful face. The country’s leaders had reason to flaunt their stuff this year. Not only has China made enormous economic and technological strides since 1999, but it has also weathered the global financial crisis with remarkable resilience. Officials had worried that widespread lay-offs in export businesses could lead to social unrest. But, apart from bloody rioting in the far-western region of Xinjiang in July, fuelled mainly by ethnic rivalry, the past few months have seen no obvious increase in the number or scale of protests. As is evident in Chongqing, however, China has another face. Although central authority appears strong, at the local level public anger is boiling. Double-digit economic growth for much of this decade has highlighted how corrupt and dysfunctional local government has become. The campaign against organised crime launched by Chongqing in June demonstrated just how prone China remains, after all those years of Communist rule, to the age-old scourge of collusion between bureaucrats and gangland bosses. For many Chinese, life is vastly more affluent now than it was when the Communists came to power. Decent health care and education are far easier to get. But confidence in local government is threadbare.

08/09/09 - Brazil

Increasing the Brazilian Federal Police capacity for tracking, surveillance and combating organised crime leaders – beginning with those who look for shelter in the Brazilian territory – is part of a new government policy. Besides its alliance with the Interpol, Brazil takes over the presidency of Ameripol, the Police Community of Latin America and the Caribbean.

14/07/09 - UK

There are about 30,000 criminals in organised crime gangs, costing the UK up to £40 billion every year, an official report warned yesterday. The joint Home Office-Cabinet Office review warned that the scale and sophistication of the threat from organised crime meant it could not be tackled through the traditional criminal justice system. It also identified holes in police capacity to tackle criminal gangs in some areas of England and Wales. The Home Office has set a deadline for the end of the year for every region to have a unit, lead force or taskforce, and the report contains a warning that ministers will enforce changes if they are not made voluntarily. New measures to tackle the problem will include the "Al Capone" approach of targeting criminals for tax evasion. Changes to the law will also mean gang bosses with extravagant lifestyles will have to explain how they came by their wealth, instead of prosecutors having to link their wealth to criminal acts.

13/07/09 - Brazil

Studies prove the role of demography and firearms control in reducing murders between 1999 and 2008. One of the most important causes of the 70% drop of the homicide rate in São Paulo State between 1999 and 2008 was the relative reduction of the 15 to 24 year old population – which is the part of the population both responsible for and victim of most of the murders – and the estimated reduction of 60% in the firearms held by the population between 2001 and 2007.

13/07/09 - UK

Between 25,000 and 30,000 criminals are involved in the "long tail" of a serious organised crime business in Britain that is worth more than £30bn a year, according to a government study. The home secretary, Alan Johnson, has endorsed a renewed "Al Capone-style" drive to use tax powers to target organised criminals, providing stronger powers to seize assets and shut down front organisations such as saunas and massage parlours. The study warns of an explosion in new criminal activities as a result of the recession, including sharp increases in "phishing" – taking over bank accounts – the flourishing trade in counterfeit goods and a boom in other types of financial fraud. The joint report, by the Cabinet Office's strategy unit and the Home Office, does not directly criticise the performance of the beleaguered three-year-old Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) but it says much tighter oversight is needed by ministers to keep a grip on the problem. The Home Office said a "strategic centre" for organised crime would be created in the department to clearly define roles in tackling drug trafficking, organised immigration crime and organised fraud. Further action will be taken next summer if needed.

26/06/09 - Brazil

Drug use prevention efforts will be reinforced next Friday (June 26th), at 14 o’clock, as the programme “Integrated Action to Prevent Drug Use and Violence” will be launched in Porto Alegre. The initiative from SENAD (National Secretariat on Drug Policies), a sector of the Presidency’s Cabinet on Institutional Security, is supported by National Programme on Public Policy with Citizenship (Pronasci), from the Ministry of Justice. President Lula will be attending the event.

29/05/09 - Brazil

Governments from Latin America and the Caribbean discussed in San José, Costa Rica, the regional need to implement more efficient public policies against violence and criminality, specialy through their borders.

13/05/09 - Brazil

Researches indicate social and economic inequity as the main factor that generates violence. In spite of their high cost, the mechanisms implemented in Brazil to control criminality during the last few decades have not produced effective results.

13/05/09 - Brazil

The State Secretary for Public Security, José Mariano Beltrame, confirmed on Wednesday morning the creation of new UPPs (Pacifying Police Units) in the Babilônia and Chapéu da Mangueira communities, in Leme (South Zone of Rio de Janeiro) and in other five communities in the next five months. Beltrame has said this is not intended for hunting criminals.

11/05/09 - Brazil

The "Shock of Order" policy already carried out, from January to April, 140 demolitions, imposed fines on 214,000 vehicle owners, and towed 7,000 vehicles. Extending the Municipal Guard's working time up until 9 PM has already resulted positively: street robbery dropped an average of 12% in Copacabana, Centre and Tijuca.

03/05/09 - Italy

The Italian mob has probably never had it so good. Italy's various crime syndicates – lumped together colloquially as Mafia Inc – are gobbling up petrol stations, muscling in on supermarket franchises, making loans to cash-starved businesses, taking over trattorias and acquiring buildings in swanky neighbourhoods in Rome and Milan, investigators say. These mobsters have lots of what is in short supply these days – liquidity – as well as centuries-honed expertise in preying on the vulnerable. It means the mob is free to sink cash into two areas at the heart of the global meltdown: property and credit markets. The crime syndicates are flush with billions of euros from extortion, drug trafficking, and booming sales in fake designer clothing made in China expressly for the Italian mob. Italy has scored some spectacular successes in its decades-long fight against the Mafia, capturing top bosses, persuading turncoats to testify, and encouraging citizens to resist shakedowns. But the mob keeps growing. In Rome, in the high-rent neighbourhoods around the Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona and Trevi Fountain, mobsters are snapping up property, anti-Mafia prosecutor Giancarlo Capaldo said. "These places are well run because they want to make money," Mr Capaldo said. He declined to identify the establishments because the probe is ongoing, adding only "you'll find some of them in tourist guide books". Capaldo's office also confiscated car dealerships in Rome from suspected Camorristi or their allies. And, in his Naples office, customs and tax police General Giovanni Mainolfi said: "The Camorra makes the money here in the south, but it invests it in legal activities up north." In an operation codenamed "Easy Money", police this year seized a hotel in the exclusive Tuscan resort of Punta Ala, as well as a supermarket, two Ferraris, a petrol station in the wealthy Reggio Emilia region and other properties, totalling about $40m (£27m). All were believed to be owned by the Camorra,.

27/04/09 - UK

The prime minister's strategy unit is investigating the failure by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) - which was billed as Britain's FBI - and the police to stop the rise of criminal gangs that run a multibillion-pound series of enterprises controlling the flow of drugs, human trafficking and illegal gun importation. The intervention is a measure ofGordon Brown's concern and raises questions about the Home Office's failure to get to grips with the problem at a time when agencies admit it has spread from the inner cities to the shires, eroding the fabric of almost all of Britain's communities. The strategy unit review comes after a HM inspectorate of constabulary report, written six months ago but published only this month, identified 2,800 organised criminal gangs active in the UK, many more than previously acknowledged. Circulated to ministers and senior police officers, it warned the threat would increase and said an effective response must be made. Senior police officers, customs officials and Soca officials have been interrogated on the failings in the last few weeks as part of the Downing Street review in an attempt to pull together a policy that will begin to stem the rise of criminals who range from teenage street gangs dealing small amounts of drugs to major heroin dealers, gun runners and south-east Asian people traffickers based in the UK. Some police sources told the Guardian there was a gaping hole in the country's ability to tackle organised criminals because Soca was focused on gathering intelligence and, at the other end of the scale, most police forces have neither the resources nor the experience to tackle serious organised crime effectively.

25/04/09 - UK

The scale of organised crime is much higher than previously thought, with some 2,800 gangs active, said the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary report. The report, Getting Organised, called for a more co-ordinated response from police forces. Other activities engaged in by crime gangs include crimes such as trading in contraband goods such as alcohol and tobacco, as well as kidnapping and fraud. The report suggested some 67% of the criminal gangs made money from a variety of activities, while some 60% dealt in drugs. "Wherever there is money to be made, the tentacles of criminality will spread if not resisted," the report said. "The drug distribution network in particular is not confined to major urban centres but has spread to town centres large and small, and is linked directly to an increase in the use of serious violence. "Indeed, what characterises this level of criminality is not just its illegality but the ever-present willingness to use extreme violence to secure and protect profits." The report was written last September, but the information was only made public after a Freedom of Information request from The Times newspaper. It found the biggest concentration of criminal groups was in London and the north-west of England, with other groups spread throughout England and Wales. According to the report, London, Liverpool and Birmingham act as hubs for the distribution of illegal drugs.

24/04/09 - Brazil

On Friday the 24th, Vienna will host one of the main discussion forums on justice and crime prevention global policies - The Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Joined by 40 countries and 70 observers’ nations, the Commission of the United Nations (UN) meets for the 18th time in the Austrian capital, lookingg for new solutions to dislocate the transnational factions, especially those working dealing with money laundering, people trafficking and drugs.

18/04/09 - World

Chinese Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu has urged public security heads at county-level bureaus to get better at dealing with conflicts, said the ministry Wednesday on its website. In all catastrophes, there are always winners among the host of losers and victims. Bad times, like good ones, generate profits for someone. In the case of the present global economic meltdown, with our world at the brink and up to 50 million people potentially losing their jobs by the end of this year, one winner is likely to be criminal activity and crime syndicates. From Mexico to Africa, Russia to China, the pool of the desperate and the bribable is expanding exponentially, pointing to a sharp upturn in global crime. As illicit profits rise, so will violence in the turf wars among competing crime syndicates and in the desperate efforts by panicked governments to put a clamp on criminal activity.

18/04/09 - Brazil

Against a “crack epidemics”, a national task-force is being organised. From this Friday on, a group led by the City Secretariat for Social Assistance and assisted by city, state and federal teams, will present the new lines of action to tackle crack consumption, which has been increased by 300% a year, according to Secretary Fernando William

16/04/09 - World

The United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) opened its 18th session here on Thursday for discussion of the current international crime situation which was described as "a global crime wave" by Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Antonio Maria Costa. Costa said in his opening remarks that "crime has gone global," representing a rise of organized crime. He warned that "Organized crime poses a threat to the security of cities, states, and even entire regions," adding that the work of the commission is more relevant and more pertinent than ever. Costa said that drug cartels spread violence in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, while the collusion between insurgents and criminal groups threatens the stability of West Asia. There were also such criminal activities as the smuggling of weapons, plundering of resources, kidnapping as well as human trafficking in many parts of the world.

08/04/09 - China

Chinese Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu has urged public security heads at county-level bureaus to get better at dealing with conflicts, said the ministry Wednesday on its website. "This year will probably witness mounting pressure on safeguarding social security as conflicts compound and maintaining stability becomes more complicated amid the global financial downturn," said Meng. Meng, also State Councilor, made the remarks on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the third term of a massive training program for the country's 3,080 county public security heads in seven batches in the first half of 2009.

06/04/09 - Brazil

The Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro, gave a timeline to the achievement of “positive effects” on the combat of organized crime in Rio de Janeiro. “If we don’t give a demonstration that in two or three years we are having positive effects on the combat of crime and on the rescue of youth, we will be demonstrating failure for the whole country”, said the minister.

25/03/09 - Russia

As the global economic downturn hits Russia, the government has revived a Soviet-era tradition of neighborhood-watch-like groups that help police provide security in crowded cities, reports The New York Times. Known as the druzhiniki, these volunteers, mostly college students, have evolved since the fall of the Berlin Wall. For those who recall life in the Soviet Union, the druzhiniki are often a nostalgic reminder of the citizen patrols of students and grandmothers walking the streets in red armbands at the behest of the Communist Party to keep a lookout for hooligans and petty criminals. Though their numbers have dwindled since the Soviet collapse, the government is working to revive the druzhiniki in part to help law enforcement agencies combat what officials fear will be a spike in crime and public disorder amid the growing unemployment and rising prices of the economic crisis. A group of lawmakers in Russia’s Parliament is pushing legislation that could enhance the authority of existing volunteer patrols.

25/03/09 - Brazil

Law 5.415/09 was officially published On Tuesday. Approved last week by the Legislative Assembly, it prohibits prisoners from being organised by their criminal faction allegiance in every Penitentiary Institutions of the State of Rio de Janeiro.

24/03/09 - Brazil

Brazil will present, during next Mercosur meeting, a proposal to create Mercopol, an organisation to articulate the police institutions in the region.

22/03/09 - Lebanon

Kuwait’s Interior Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah on Sunday said that Arab security bodies have made huge developments in their discussions at the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on the fight against terrorism and organized crime. Sheikh Jaber made the statement during the first session of the 26th Arab Interior Minister conference, adding that organized crime and terrorism is to witness tougher constraints from Arab nations in the coming future. He praised efforts pursued so far by Arab countries to limit terrorism and organized crime, stating that these efforts should encourage the region to carry out further efforts on these crimes that are forever under constant development and change. Kuwait pledges its support to anything that boosts Arab joint action and ensures safety and stability on its lands, Sheikh Jaber stressed. He also said that Arab countries focused on the urgency to initiate an Arab agreement on the issue as well as on the subject of anti-drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons trafficking. He stressed his view that drug trafficking and money laundering are the main sponsorers of terrorism. The Arab interior ministers highlighted Sunday the importance of security cooperation among their countries in the face of the common challenges.

13/03/09 - Brazil

According to Police Chief, troops need to increase by 40% to cover entire area. Residents are still traumatized by the crimes of the weekend. The Meier neighborhood, which was considered one of the most prosperous area of the North of Rio de Janeiro, is facing a major crisis due to the increase of violence and other problems, such as the growth of slums, urban chaos, and the homeless.

10/03/09 - Brazil

The Coordination of the Communitarian Police in the State Secretariat of Justice and Public Security (Sejusp), in co-operation with Senasp (the National Secretariat on Public Security), is handing out informative material referring to the Communitarian Police to society and to public security professionals involved in the process. The material, which includes textbooks to the population and policemen, posters and stickers, contains guiding information to preventing crimes and about the population-police relation.

16/02/09 - China

Nearly two million police have spread out into homes and communities across China, given the task not of a crackdown on organised crime or a hunt for dissidents, but one that is possibly more ambitious: to appease the complaints of all residents. As one officer put it, they are attempting British-style “neighbourhood policing” on a scale never seen before in the country. The campaign – the biggest mounted by the Ministry of Public Security – is timed to ensure that there are no outstanding grievances before celebrations this year marking 60 years of Communist Party rule. Nothing is being left to chance before the October 1 anniversary. Above all, the authorities do not want street protests by the disgruntled or unemployed as the world economic crisis slows the Chinese boom.

11/02/09 - USA

During the Second Regular Meeting of 2009 of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG), which is taking place in Washington DC from the 9th-13th of February, representatives of the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) met to continue with the negotiations of the Draft Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain, for the 5th Summit of the Americas. During the SIRG’s inaugural session, the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, welcomed the National Coordinators to the Summits, in charge of negotiating the Draft’s text, and referred to the importance of considering the issue of public security as the central topic in the meeting’s discussions. Insulza stated that this issue has been a central concern of his administration for numerous years, and thus he felt pleased in the inclusion of such matter, for the first time, in a declaration of the Summit of the Americas. The Secretary General also remarked the importance of linking the subject of public security with democratic governing, reminding that the OAS, as a political institution, works to strengthen the region’s political stability. “That is our objective, make our countries more governable and democratic, where there will be prosperity, advancement towards the development and the solution of problems through the strengthening of democracy,” he concluded.

09/02/09 - India

“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.'' Aristotle's words couldn't ring more true at a time when joblessness and the general economic slowdown are generating apprehensions of a rise in crime rates. Police officials say there is a possibility of a rise in incidents of house-breaking, burglaries and street crimes such as chain-snatching etc, with most companies cutting down on the workforce and slashing salaries of existing staff. The long span of joblessness and mounting debts is bound to drive many an out-of-work person to desperation and lead him to the world of crime. Financial tensions could also strain family relationships and lead to domestic violence, police said. "It is a difficult phase where crime is bound to go up. Cases of extortion by organised crime gangs will be on the rise. A businessman who borrowed money for his construction project paying 22 to 25 per cent interest on the loan amount is caught in difficult times now and may default on repayment. The creditor will most likely not turn to the law-enforcing agencies to recover his amount and go the the underwolrd instead,'' said Naval Bajaj, former superintendent of police, Thane (rural). However, he said the recession and its impact on the crime scene would be restricted to cities. "It is a cyclic process where crime rise is directly proportionate to recession and rising unemployment. Street crimes such as chain snatching etc will go up as the jobless get desperate and resort to crime. Defaulters on credit card payment would go up and there would be an attempt to turn civil defaults into criminal defaults and thus get the police involved in it,'' Bajaj told TOI. Observers point out that Mumbai went through a similar difficult situation in the 1980s when the mills, factories and dock operations shut down in a phased manner. The industrial shutdown of the early 1980s created armies of jobless youths who swelled the ranks of criminal gangs in south-central and north-east Mumbai, resulting in a killing and extortion spree, said Rajan Raje, labour leader and president of the Sulzer Employees Union at Kalwa.

04/02/09 - UK

Criminals living lavish lifestyles have been counting the cost as police seized assets worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. The week-long campaign to hit criminals in the pocket has resulted in Calderdale police seizing cash, property and cars, worth £680,000 from one Halifax man alone. They also found £10,000 under the driver's seat of a car stopped in Halifax for a routine check. Another £20,000 was found by officers carrying out a drugs raid in Todmorden where cannabis, crack cocaine and heroin were also discovered. Specialist detectives and financial investigators have been working with the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Customs and the Criminal Justice Board to pinpoint criminals living on the the profits of their crimes. Detective Chief Insp Paul Fountain said there was nowhere for criminals to hide. "We are taking the profit out of crime and I am hitting the criminals where it hurts them the most – in their pockets."There is nowhere to hide for criminals who think they can live it up on the proceeds of crime."

04/02/09 - Brazil

As he was participating at a ceremony where the government delivered popular houses and a technician school this Tuesday, in Botafogo, followed by state governor Sérgio Cabral, the Mayor Eduardo Paes and several ministers, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared that the programmes developed in the slums , such as the community policing implemented by the State, should serve as an example for the other cities in the country.

03/21/09 - Spain

Spanish police arrested 13 people Tuesday on suspicion of links to organized crime and terrorism groups. A police statement said the detainees - 11 Pakistanis, a Nigerian and an Indian - are suspected of belonging to an international crime gang involved in passport forgery, drug trafficking and people-smuggling. Police said they were investigating whether the group may also have supplied forged documents to international terror groups. Spanish police often use that term to refer to Islamic extremist organizations, but a police official refused to say if that applied this time. Earlier, news reports citing police sources said 15 people had been arrested on suspicion of forging passports for use by al-Qaida members. Police in Madrid said they could not comment on that. Eleven of the arrests took place in Barcelona and two in the eastern city of Valencia. Police agents wore masks to conceal their identities. The statement said the group is suspected of having contacts in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Thailand. The group allegedly stole passports in Spain and forwarded them to Thailand, where they were altered before being sent back to crime gangs in Europe. In the operation, police seized numerous false and blank passports and material used for forging documents. Dozens of suspected radical Islamic militants have been arrested in Spain since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, and again after the commuter train bombings in 2004 in Madrid. On Jan. 20, six Pakistanis were arrested in Barcelona on suspicion of tax fraud and diverting funds to Islamic terror groups. They were released days later for lack of evidence.

02/02/09 - Dubai

Police recently arrested a gang accused of human trafficking. The department for combatting organised crime was able to detain the suspects who were accused of holding women and forcing them into committing indecent acts. Information was passed to the Dubai Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) about a gang who was said to be holding a number of women and forcing them into prostitution. The information was followed up by a police team from the department for verification, evidence was collected and a plan for capturing the gang members set up. After intensive investigations, the team arrested the gang leader (Sh. S) an Asian, who tried to elude the police by telling them that he was a customer. The police also arrested (K.K), an Asian who also tried to misguide the police by saying he worked in the kitchen in the flat the police raided. As a result of the police interrogations, the police got permission from the public prosecution office and the flat was broken into.The third suspect A. Sh, also an Asian, accused of being in charge of getting customers and receiving money was arrested along with four Asian women who said they were being held by the gang and being forced into prostitution. Colonel Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director of CID stated that Dubai Police do not overlook any information that comes its way, The police department takes the necessary procedures when the information is confirmed.

29/01/09 - Guatemala

Humanitarian, academic and religious entities proposed that the Guatemalan government create a Public Security Ministry to combat the high violence rates. Human Rights Attorney Sergio Morales said the new ministry would be in charge of the operational functions only and would leave administrative activities to the government ministry. Morales presented to the Executive a 12-point initiative that also includes reestablishment of the National Civil Police and a purge of the penitentiary system personnel. The program was also supported by San Carlos University Rector Estuardo Galvez, metropolitan Archbishop Rodolfo Quezada and Reverend Dario Perez, of the Evangelic Alliance. The proposal is being analyzed by the government, which is currently elaborating a National Security Agreement under consensus among the three State powers, social organizations, and political parties. The plan includes shot-term measures like improving the protection program for witnesses, judges and attorneys, and a new model for police reorganization. These measures would be implemented in the first 90 days after being signed. Other mid and short-term commitments entail approval of pending laws in the Republic's Congress, as that of weapon and ammunition control and registration of the private security companies.

29/01/09 - UK

The number of crimes committed by girls in Britain has soared by 22% in the last four years, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice. The number of racially aggravated crimes committed by girls more than doubled from 351 to 748, while violent attacks were up 48% and public order offences rose 37%. A report said the overall number of offences committed by girls aged 10 to 17 had risen from 47 358 in 2003/4 to 57 962 in 2007/8. Although boys committed far more crimes, 220 024 in 2007/8, the number of cases involving boys dealt with by Youth Offending Teams fell by 9% in the same four-year period. "The increase in racially aggravated offences may indicate... greater willingness to report these offences on the part of victims and improved recording of them rather than a change in underlying behaviour," the report said.

26/01/09 - Ireland

The Garda Commissioner has said the force would continue to target and face down organised criminals who are putting fear into the community. At the opening of a new Garda station in Ballymun this afternooon, Fachtna Murphy said he shared people's concern following four murders linked to organised crime. However he said in the past two weeks gardaí have seized 21 firearms including eight handguns and more than €4m worth of drugs. Also at the opening, the Minister for Justice said tackling organised crime was the Government's priority. Ballymun in Dublin is said to be one of the parts of the country badly affected by organised crime but also one of the areas where the gardaí have good relations with the community. Community policing - such as meeting and talking to young people on the ground - is what the Garda Commissioner says is at the forefront of policing violent and organised crime. Mr Murphy said he shares the concern people have about organised crime in the wake of the four recent murders but he says he is confident of bringing people before the courts in relation to them. He said that other lives have been saved through Garda interventions. He also said there were intelligence-led operations targeting particular individuals in organised crime.

26/01/09 - US

Nearly half of the 233 police agencies surveyed since the collapse of the nation's financial markets link increases in criminal offenses to the faltering economy, a new review by a law enforcement research group shows. In a comprehensive survey of possible links between crime and the economy, the Police Executive Research Forum found that 44% of agencies reported spikes in crime linked to the economy. Of those, 39% reported increases in robberies, 32% in burglaries and 40% in thefts. The report also found that 63% of the 233 agencies were bracing for funding cuts during the upcoming year. The survey, conducted over a five-week period starting in late December, asked for information on all of 2008 but emphasized the past six months to account for the economic crash. The combination of declining resources and increases in some offenses represents the "first wave" of bad news for communities and police officials, says Chuck Wexler, the research forum's executive director. "When departments saw increases in violent crime (in 2005 and 2006), they were able to flood the problem areas using overtime for additional patrols. Now, that overtime is drying up," he says. He adds that 62% of police departments said they were cutting overtime spending. Crime dropped in 2007 and during the first half of 2008, according to the FBI. The FBI's full report on 2008 won't be completed until later this year.

26/01/09 - Brazil

Crack, the most wasteful of the drugs, invaded Rio de Janeiro recently, but it is already used by 100 % homeless minors in the city, as it is shown at a research of UERJ (University of the State of Rio de Janeiro). Two weeks ago, O Dia exposed the existence of a center of crack trafficking in Catete, a vicinity of the South zone of the city, 100 meters far from a police station.

26/01/09 - Mexico

A Mexican hit man who calls himself "The Soupmaker" has revealed how he dumped 300 bodies in vats of acid over the past decade to dispose of their remains for a drug trafficking cartel. "They brought me the bodies, about 300 over the last nine to 10 years," Santiago Meza Lopez, 45, told reporters Friday a day after his capture by the army. Meza Lopez said he had been paid some $600 a week for his work by drug boss, Eduardo Garcia Simental. He was arrested Thursday in Tijuana on the border with California, and is among the FBI's most wanted men. "I ask for forgiveness from the families of the victims," Meza Lopez added. In 2008, more than 5,300 people died violent deaths connected to cartel activities, with Mexican authorities having deployed some 36,000 police and troops to fight the drug traffickers.

25/01/09 - Italy

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to increase tenfold the number of soldiers helping police patrol city streets - taking the total to 30,000 - in response to a series of violent rapes. Last year Mr Berlusconi deployed 3,000 soldiers in a crackdown on crime after he was re-elected on a commitment to get tough on law and order. Troops have now replaced regular policemen at various key locations throughout Italy but critics say the move has had little effect. Three shocking rape cases in Rome this month have inflamed the media. One attack on Friday blamed on five Eastern Europeans led to a police raid on an illegal Roma camp on yesterday. The events echoed the rape and murder of a woman in Rome in October 2007 which contributed to making crime one of the main campaign issues in last year's elections. Mr Berlusconi won partly by promising to crack down on crime and quickly enlisted the help of the military.

22/01/09 - Brazil

The Federal Government wants to invest in public security the nearly US$ 2 billion frozen by the Ministry of Justice in bank accounts abroad related to the Satiagraha Operation. The National Secretary of Justice, Romeu Tuma Júnior, said last Thursday that the government intends to use the money in the Pronasci’s (National Program for Public Security with Citizenship) measures, coordinated by the Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro.

22/01/09 - Netherlands

Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst announced that the new detectives would concentrate on combating money laundering. They come in addition to a previously announced 500 extra police on the beat and 500 extra forensic assistants. At the beginning of this year, the head of the National Police Services Agency, Ruud Bik, said there was such a shortage of personnel in the criminal investigation department that it put constraints on the investigation of organised crime. Minister Ter Horst said that detective's salaries were also likely to increase. At present the police force has difficulty attracting suitable candidates for the job. There will also be fast-track training courses for detectives entering the force from other professions.

19/01/09 - Brazil

The National Program of Public Security with Citizenship (Pronasci), also known as PAC (Growth Acceleration Program) of Security, will have a budget of R$ 1.2 billion on 2009.

17/01/09 - Mexico

US Army report states that America may be forced to intervene in Mexico to prevent the country from collapsing at the hands of organised crime and drug cartels. The report compiled by the army’s highest command has placed Mexico alongside Pakistan as possible failed states of the future. The report states: “Two large and important states bear consideration for rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico.” Mexico has a population of 110 million and shares a two thousand mile border with America. It also is next to the smuggling routes linking the US with the drug-growing areas of South America such as Columbia, which is still the world’s biggest source of cocaine. Mexico already provides America with more migrants than any other country and would be the obvious destination for massive refugees if the country descended into civil war. The report states: “Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone.” President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon has already deployed Mexico’s army in a new offensive against organised crime mainly focusing on four major drug cartels. Last year, this battle against these drug cartels and some local syndicates claimed 5,367 lives of members of the security forces or suspected criminals. In a controversial election in July 2006, Mr Calderon won Mexico’s presidency by a tiny margin of less than 1%. Despite this minor win, Mr Calderon has made his fight against organised crime the central goal of his leadership. In Mexico, there is wide spread corruption with many police officers and security officials accepting bribes from the drug rings. This corruption may reach into the highest levels of the government itself and obstruct Mr Calderon’s campaign, ultimately destroying the state itself.

15/01/09 - Panama

Representatives of public security and justice institutions from Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico and Panama started works in technical tables Thursday as part of the summit of Heads of State and Government on security. Panamanian Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Lewis said that there will be two working groups, one on justice and another on operation capacity. Lewis said that with the use of the agreements, and guidelines given by the Heads of State and Government, they want to speed specific actions against crime. “We are meeting here to take a steady and strong step to coordinate our efforts in the struggle against organized crime, international crime and drug trafficking,” he stated. The authorities confirmed the presence Friday of the leaders Felipe Calderón, of Mexico; Alvaro Uribe, of Colombia; and Alvaro Colom, of Guatemala and Panamanian President Martin Torrijos. Lewis said that the statesmen will look for mechanisms to protect national security and the viability of the states of the threat of delinquency in the region. When announcing the convoking to the meeting, Lewis pointed out they want to establish a coordination in police actions, exchange of strategic information and judicial systems to achieve positive results in the combat to drug trafficking.

14/01/09 - USA

The FBI has called for greater international co-ordination in anti-hacking laws at the first International Conference on Cyber Security. The conference was held last week at Fordham University in New York City, and was co-sponsored by the FBI. It aimed to bring together commercial companies, law enforcement agencies and private individuals with an interest in curbing online crime. "The FBI's goal in sponsoring this conference is to build and forge long-lasting relationships to combat terrorist and criminal use of the internet, " said Joseph Demarest, head of the FBI's New York office. "The conference is the beginning of greater co-operation on all cyber matters." An example of how such co-operation would work is a new 24/7 computer intrusion investigation team, which now has 55 member states contributing resources. The FBI gave an illustration of how the team responds to attacks. An initial intrusion into a bank in Mexico City was found to be routed through a computer in New York. This was controlled from a computer in South Korea, which was in turn traced to a machine in Thailand where local police made an arrest. Thanks to inter-network co-operation the team could trace the intrusion and make an arrest within hours, rather than the weeks and months that traditional online policing would have taken.

14/01/09 - Italy

Italian police on Wednesday arrested one of the country's most wanted mafia leaders as part of an investigation into the killing of six Ghanaian immigrants in September, the ANSA news agency reported. Giuseppe Setola, who was on Italy's list of most dangerous fugitives, had escaped arrest on Monday by fleeing through sewage pipes connected by a tunnel from his home near Naples. He was arrested Wednesday at Mignano Montelungo, in the Naples area, ANSA said. Setola, 38, is a leader of the powerful Casalesi clan of the Camorra, the Naples-area organised crime syndicate. The Casalesi clan controls drug trafficking and prostitution in the Caserta area of Naples. It has been blamed for dozens of deaths over the past three decades.

14/01/09 - India

The state government is planning to set up an organised crime intelligence unit, which will function on the lines of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and identify and monitor organised crime syndicates and crack down on them before the crime is committed. Though the state intelligence unit now monitors activities of some organised criminal gangs, much needs to be done when it comes to crime prevention. "The proposal is to set up an exclusive intelligence unit with special training to counter organised crime networks," a government source said. According to police, threats of terror attacks, cases of human trafficking and spread of counterfeit currency rackets have forced the government to come up with the plan. Unlike the conventional investigation of a crime, which begins at the site of crime and then follows the trail left by the criminal, the organised crime intelligence unit will start its investigation from the criminals and prevent their moves. After identifying criminal networks, decoys will infiltrate them.

13/01/09 - USA

President-elect Barack Obama discussed drug trafficking and immigration in his meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderón on Monday, the incoming commander-in-chief's first meeting with a foreign leader since winning the election. In talks that have become a tradition before every newly elected president's inauguration, Obama praised Calderon's efforts to improve security in Mexico and reduce drug-related violence, incoming White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement. Obama, who was joined by incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and National Security Adviser-designee Jim Jones, told Calderon that he would ask his secretary of Homeland Security to lead an effort to increase information-sharing in order to strengthen initiatives to "stop the flow of guns and cash" through the border. He also pledge to "take more effective action from the United States to stem the flow of arms from the United States to Mexico." The United States recently approved $1.6 billion to help Central American governments fight drug cartels, and $400 million of that will be devoted to Mexico. The aid is part of the the Merida Initiative, a joint three-year security initiative introduced late 2007 by outgoing President George W. Bush and Calderón.

13/01/09 - Nigeria

The Comptroller of the Nigeria Customs Service at the Seme/Badagry border, Mr. Ali Wakili, has suggested the creation of regional centre for combating trans-border crimes as being done in other parts of the world. Wakili, who said this at a conference on trans-national crime and security in West Africa sub-region at the Foreign Service Academy, Lagos, added that joint efforts on training and harmonizing the operation of security agencies should also be carried to avert trans-border crimes. Observing that the malaise of smuggling could not be totally eradicated because continuous transformation being introduced by perpetrators, he pointed out with proper funding and rejuvenation of all security agencies, reviewing of anti-smuggling law, reduction of poverty and unemployment rate among other indices, smuggling would be reduced to barest minimum. According to him, ”Sustained efforts in removing the dichotomy between the Anglophone and Francophone countries; effective implementation of the ECOWAS treaty guaranteeing easy passage of citizens, free movement of goods and services, trans-national crime would be brought to the barest minimum. ”Inconsistent and out-dated laws regulating the activities of smuggling especially the Nigeria Customs and Management Act makes smuggling to continue to be attractive, as the laws are too liberal to deter potential smugglers. Fines and terms of imprisonment are ludicrous for modern day economic.”

11/01/09 - Dubai

The millionaires' playground of Dubai has become a paradise for British fugitives on the run. Crime bosses are fleeing to the United Arab Emirates state because there is no extradition treaty with the UK. They are also using the property market there as an easy way to launder their millions. Traditionally criminals fled to Spain's Costa del Sol, but because of the success in extraditing gangsters such as road rage killer Kenny Noye it is no longer considered safe. Among those believed to be in Dubai are £53million Securitas robbery suspect Sean Lupton, 48. Armed robber Noel Cunningham, 47, who escaped from a prison van while on the way to court in 2003, is also believed to be in Dubai. A source at the Serious and Organised Crime Agency said: "Dubai has pretty much everything you could want as a criminal on the run. Apart from the obvious sun and luxury there is no comprehensive extradition treaty. "That makes it very difficult for us to get them to send any wanted criminals back to the UK for trial. Dubai has become the bolthole of choice for the criminal underworld."

08/01/09 - Spain

Spanish police say a convicted Colombian drug baron has been shot dead in a Madrid hospital. A police spokesman says Leonidas Vargas, who was convicted of drug trafficking, was murdered in a hospital bed where he was being treated for lung disease. Police and hospital officials say at least one person entered the 60-year-old's room at Doce de Octubre hospital and fired four shots. Police say Vargas was arrested in Madrid in July 2006 and convicted of possessing 500 kilograms of cocaine, a police spokesman told The Associated Press on customary condition of anonymity. Vargas had been sentenced to 19 years in prison and was transferred to the hospital for medical treatment on Jan. 2.

Masked gunmen in Mexico have fired several shots and thrown a grenade at a television station as it broadcast its main evening news bulletin.

No-one was injured in the attack on the Televisa network's station in the northern city of Monterrey. A message was left warning the station about its coverage of drugs violence. Since 2006, 15 journalists have been killed in Mexico and many local newspapers have stopped investigative reporting of the drugs cartels. This attack is believed to be the first on a Mexican TV station. The Televisa network was broadcasting its main evening news bulletin when a presenter announced that the station was under attack. Outside, two cars had pulled up. Several gunmen wearing ski masks sprayed the main entrance to the building with bullets. A grenade was also thrown which exploded in an empty workshop. A note was left nearby, reading "Stop just reporting on us, report on the narco's political leaders" - an apparent reference to the Mexican government. President Felipe Calderon has vowed to destroy the cartels which make billions of dollars trafficking cocaine and other drugs to the United States. The strategy has led to spiralling violence - with cartels fighting both each other, and government forces.

06/01/09 - UK

Every householder in England and Wales can now check crime levels in their neighbourhood through online crime maps compiled by police forces. The maps plot patterns of overall offending as well as particular crimes including burglary, robbery, car theft and violence. They will allow instant comparisons between areas, as well as showing month-by-month trends in crime. Home Office ministers hope that offering such a mass of detailed information to the public will help residents take action to tackle crime – such as avoiding hotspots at night or setting up neighbourhood watch schemes. But rank-and-file police leaders have warned that the maps could actually help local criminals and make crime hotspots worse, while adding to public fear about the impact of crime. And chartered surveyors say the maps could become required reading for house buyers and could knock thousands off the value of homes which fall within blocks of streets with higher crime rates, and leave some schools struggling to attract pupils as families stay away from their catchment areas.

05/01/09 - Brazil

The National Secretariat of Public Security will release in January the conclusions of a survey on the health conditions of the brazilian policemen and firemen. Six consultants contracted in partnership with the UNDP spent a month visiting around 19 states. The aim is to gather data on health and quality of life programs for the public security professionals. The conclusions will be used in the creation of the National Program of Quality of Life in the Public Security Institutions.

05/01/09 - Ireland

Murder rates in Dublin are now the sixth highest in Europe. Only five other European capitals have higher homicide levels in the latest United Nations league table. Dublin comes four places ahead of London, which ranks 10th in the list. And according to the figures, Ireland as a whole is 10th in Europe, with a worse record for violent deaths than England and Wales. In Ireland and Britain, only Glasgow comes ahead of Dublin -- in fifth place. Latvian capital Riga was number one on the list. The figures show Ireland has a significantly higher murder rate than most European countries, including those with a large organised crime problem, such as Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. By far the highest homicide levels are in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

14/12/08 - UK

I’ve never lost any sleep over when I’ve had to take someone’s life,’ says Ray, a 25-year veteran of Scotland Yard’s specialist firearms unit, CO19. ‘I don’t want to sound callous but that’s what you’re trained to do. So when it does happen, why would you be surprised? ‘I’m sure there are blokes who get involved in a shooting and find it does affect them. But most will go on to have good careers in the department, and that means that maybe they will be in other incidents where someone gets shot. ‘Psychologically, the first shooting is the barrier. Once you get past that...’ Ray tails off, leaving the sentence unfinished. ‘Ultimately it’s down to your training. The more realistic it is, the less likely you are to be affected.’

12/12/08 - Brazil

The Ministry of Justice signed today (12) an agreement with Rio de Janeiro’s State Public Ministry for the assembly of a Laboratory of Technology in the Combat of Money Laundering. It is the second agreement for the assembly of such type of system in the state, that will also have a laboratory controlled by the Civil Police.

News

11/12/08 - Greece

High school students attack police stations in Athens with rocks and Molotov cocktails this Thursday and hurt a pedestrian in the sixth consecutive day of violent confrontations in Greece after the death of a youth shot by a policeman on Saturday (6), in a capital subur

09/12/08

Corruption is partly to blame for the current global financial crisis and is also an obstacle to the achievement of development and human rights goals, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, calling for stepped up efforts to wipe out the scourge. Greed and corruption have to some degree propelled the economic turmoil, leading to a plummeting of confidence in the financial system and the loss of life savings of many people around the world, Mr. Ban said in a message marking International Anti-Corruption Day. "This is bad enough, yet another silent financial crisis afflicting the world's poorest people attracts far less attention," he said. Throughout the developing world, billions of dollars urgently needed for health care, education, clean water and infrastructure are drained through bribes and other offenses. "This makes it harder to provide basic services and achieve the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs]," the Secretary-General noted, referring to the eight anti-poverty targets with a 2015 deadline. "It denies people their fundamental human rights."

09/12/08 - Brazil

Stressed men, tired, underpaid. Unsatisfied with the present and hopeless of the future. Immobilized by hierarchy and hurt with the generalization of a corrupt and inefficient image in society. This is the portrait that military policemen of Rio make of themselves, according to a research conducted between 2005 and 2007 by the Latin-American Center of Studies on Violence and Health of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation

04/12/08 - Brazil

The president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promised this Thursday a “revolution” on the country’s public security in the next years, with Pronasci (National Program of Public Security with Citizenship). The change, according to Lula, will begin in Rio, where he launched today actions on Complexo do Alemão (north zone), that include the use of communitarian policing.

03/12/08 - Mexico

The United States gave its go ahead Wednesday to a 197-million-dollar, anti-crime and -drug trafficking program for Mexico, said US Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza. The Merida Initiative, which US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a national security priority, totals 1.6 billion dollars in aid over three years for Mexico, Central American and Caribbean nations to deal with organized crime in their regions. It will boost regional anti-crime efforts with additional helicopters, surveillance aircraft and weapons systems. "This letter of agreement we have signed frees up 197 million dollars of the 400 million the US Congress approved from its supplementary funds for fiscal 2008," Garza said after signing the document with undersecretary for North America Carlos Rico. The ambassador said more than 136 million dollars are being funneled through "military cooperation and economic support funds," adding that another 43 million dollars will be freed up "once internal reporting requirements are met."

02/12/08 - Brazil

The president launched the program Territory of Peace in one of the most violent neighborhoods of Recife

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated this Tuesday, during the launch ceremony of Territory of Peace, of the Ministry of Justice, that the presence of State is fundamental to combat the violence in the country. He explained, however, that the governor staying inside his office sending the police to invade poor neighborhoods isn’t the best way to combat violence.

28/11/08 - Brazil

Residents find a scenario of devastation in the day after the shooting. Neighborhood went out of electricity and schools didn’t open

glass, destroyed cars, walls riddled with bullets. On the day after an intense confrontation between policemen and drug traffickers of the Manguinhos Favela, residents and agents from the Department of Robber and Theft of cars (DRFA), who became hemmed in the Democraticos Avenue, could see the destructions left by the violent shooting and calculate the losses. In the backyard of the police department, four cars were hit by around 300 bullets – two cells were destroyed. Terrified, residents noticed that the cars parked in the street Gill Gaffre served as trenches in the war of Wednesday.

28/11/08 - Great-Britain

CCTV cameras which predict crimes before they have been committed in an echo of the film Minority Report have been introduced for the first time in Britain.

The cameras monitor people's movements and then alert the police or security staff to suspicious activity, such as a car thief loitering in one area or small groups coming together for drug deals. Officers or security guards can then confront a suspect before a crime is committed. So far half a dozen cameras have been fitted with the new technology by the local council in Portsmouth. They are trained on deserted areas like car parks and stairwells to pick up suspicious activity. Portsmouth council has access to up to 1,000 cameras. As many as 600 could be fitted with the new software. Jason Fazackarley, a councillor in Portsmouth, said: "It's the 21st century equivalent of a nightwatchman, but unlike a nightwatchman it never blinks, it never takes a break and it never gets bored. "It's an eye in the night. The darkness is no longer a place where criminals can hide." The cameras will revive memories of the 2002 Tom Cruise film Minority Report in which a police department apprehends people before they commit crimes based on predictions made by psychics. Nick Hewitson, managing director of Smart CCTV, which is behind the software, said it lets security staff stay "ahead of the curve". He said: "If there is a person hanging around, you can send someone down there to challenge them. Ultimately you can get there before anything happens." The software removes the pressure on security guards to monitor dozens of cameras at any one time. It transforms CCTV cameras from being recorders of crime to taking a proactive role in preventing crime.

26/11/08 - Uganda

Four Ugandans have been sentenced to death in south China's Guangdong Province, after being convicted of drug smuggling. They are part of five women and three men (all Africans) convicted of trafficking drugs and were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by a court in Guangzhou city on Tuesday, the Guangzhou Daily reported. Four of the nine convicts are in their 20s, the state Chinese news agency reported. In China, the reprieve (stay of execution) normally results in a death sentence commuted to life imprisonment, dependent on the prisoner's behaviour over the next two years. Chinese officials said the biggest bust was in December 2007 when a Ugandan woman, Jean Ndawula Kirunda, 39, was arrested trying to smuggle 1.98kg (4.35 pounds) of a heroin mixture into China. Kirunda, arrested at Guangzhou airport after disembarking a flight from Bangkok, is among the four Ugandans who were convicted on Tuesday. The others are Annet Namisango, 38, Habiba Musa, 29, and Charles Candia, 23. Habiba was arrested in May trying to smuggle 1.2kg of cut heroin after swallowing the packaged drug apparently with the intent to retrieve it later. The group also includes two Benin nationals and two others from Zimbabwe. The convictions came in six separate cases uncovered during the last two years. The youngest person convicted was 22-year-old Taapatsa Lauraine Itayirufaro from Zimbabwe.

26/11/08 - Jamaica

Jamaica's parliament has voted to keep the death penalty, which has not been used for 20 years, despite pressure to abolish it. High crime rates in Jamaica has led to calls for executions Recent governments in the Caribbean nation have been reluctant to issue death warrants and the last execution was in 1988. Human rights groups say the death penalty does not deter crime and called on the government to focus on attacking poverty and reforming the justice system instead. But there have been demands for executions in the past few months, even by members of the clergy, after a young girl was beheaded and an 11-year-old boy's dismembered body was found in a rubbish bag. The ruling Labour Party vowed to address the issue when it came to power 15 months ago. Jamaica's House of Representatives voted 34-15 in favour of keeping capital punishment, with 10 abstentions.

26/11/08 - Bulgaria

Bulgaria has lost €520m ($677m) of European Union funding for failing to crack down on fraud and corruption among officials appointed by the Socialist-led coalition government, the first time the European Commission has stripped a member state of funds in this way. The EC said on Tuesday it would not renew the accreditation of two government agencies responsible for disbursing EU funds which have been under investigation by Olaf, the EU's anti-fraud agency. As a result Bulgaria - the EU's poorest member-state - will lose €220m of pre-accession funding that still had to be allocated. The government will have to use funds from the budget to cover another €300m worth of contracts that were frozen by the Commission last July because of suspected fraud. "This is a blow to the government's credibility as well as a serious loss to the economy at a time when banks are cutting back on lending," said Ivo Kostov, a Sofia-based consultant. Bulgaria was last month rated the EU's most corrupt member state, falling below Romania in Transparency International's latest global index of corruption perceptions.

25/11/08 - Brazil

Strategic Plan of Defense will amplify the role of the Armed Forces on the security actions. With help from the police, army barracks will play a decisive role in the combat of drug and arms trafficking.

25/11/08 - Brazil

Despite the decrease in the violent death indexes in Brazil registered in 2003, the country continues to hold a leading position in the latin-american and world ranking of homicides.

25/11/08 - Brazil

Globalization allowed an intense circulation of people, goods and capital. But it also brought a favorable environment for the use of the financial system as a means to hide and disguise the source of products from illegal activities, which are reintegrated into the formal economy.

03/11/08 - Brazil

The Ministry of Justice awarded to Mato Grosso, through the National Penitentiary Department (Depen), resources with a value of R$14,850 million that will be used next year on the construction of the Youth and Adults Prison in Várzea Grande. The prison will be the state’s biggest in terms of physical space, and will have a capacity of 421 (378 collective and 43 individual cells).

03/11/08 - Macedonia

Minister of Interior Gordana Jankuloska opened Monday the new Idrizovo Training Center, established following the Police Academy transformation, which is now part of the MoI's Public Security Bureau. Minister Jankuloska told course participants that wearing a police uniform means pride, but also responsibility, courage and loyalty. Referring to the MoI's activities in the past 100 days of the new Government, Jankuloska stressed that Macedonia could serve as a model in the fight against organized crime.

"We have shown that fight against crime cannot be and must not be selective, but with equal intensity towards all", she stated. Vice Premier for European Affairs Ivica Bocevski, who attended the ceremony said that police reforms and fight against corruption is one of the most successful elements of Macedonia's Euro-integration story, adding that the third benchmark related to police reforms has been fully met. "I am convinced that the Republic of Macedonia possesses the political, administrative, institutional and civil capacity to begin EU accession talks as early as tomorrow", underlined Vice Premier Bocevski.

24/10/08 - Croatia

Croatia declared a war on organised crime last night after one of the country’s most prominent newspaper publishers was killed by a car bomb in the capital, Zagreb. Ivo Pukanic, 47, the publisher of the leading weekly Nacional, known for its investigations into corruption and organised crime, was killed after an explosive device was detonated beneath his new Lexus car outside the magazine’s offices. Niko Franic, 38, the marketing manager, was also killed in the blast.

23/10/08 - UK

As crime figures rocketed up 22 per cent from last year the Government has accused police of covering up violent crimes to keep statistics down. The revelation comes as the Home Office released its latest violent crime figures which showed a huge increase from the same quarter in 2007.The category includes serious assault, murder, attempted murder and manslaughter. Officials said 13 forces were asked to re-examine their figures after they discovered some serious assaults were being recorded in a lower category of offence. They admitted the undercounting could have been going on for more than ten years.

09/10/08 - Mexico

Justice officials from the Americas and the Caribbean agreed to reinforce border security, at a meeting highlighting the spread of Mexican drug cartels across the region. They agreed to strengthen "border security ... with a view to preventing and counteracting crime and violence," said a final statement from a two-day security conference of the 34-member Organization of American States. The meeting underlined growing ties between Mexican drug cartels and countries south of the border, including Colombia, Argentina and Costa Rica.

It also underlined that Latin America has the world's highest murder rate, with 27 killed for every 100,000 inhabitants. Suspected drug-related murders are reported almost daily in Mexico with almost 3,500 killed so far this year, despite a crackdown launched by President Felipe Calderon almost two years ago. Drug trafficking was a major concern, with all the world's cocaine -- around 950 tonnes per year -- produced in South America, said Antonio Acosta, secretary general of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Drug users in Europe and the United States consume almost all of it, and Central American and the Caribbean "are trapped in the crossfire of drugs and arms," Acosta added.

08/10/08 - Italy

Italy is struggling to contain the country's most powerful mafia despite deploying 500 elite paratroopers to the mob's heartland of Campania.

The deployment of soldiers was hailed by the government as evidence that it was no longer prepared to tolerate the Camorra's murderous rule The red berets, drawn from the equivalent of Britain's Parachute Regiment, are manning road blocks and patrolling the streets in a cluster of mafia-controlled towns on the outskirts of Naples. The region, in the shadow of Mt Vesuvius, has Europe's highest murder rate. The government ordered the troops on to the streets, along with 400 extra police, after the Camorra mafia gunned down six African immigrant workers in what police suspect was part of a turf war over drug dealing. The attack, on Sept 18, was one of the bloodiest in years, the latest chapter in a decades-long reign of terror conducted by the Camorra, the Neapolitan cousin of Sicily's Cosa Nostra mafia.

The organisation's iron grip on the blighted southern region of Campania is told in gripping detail by an award-winning film, Gomorrah, which opens in UK cinemas on Friday. The deployment of the heavily armed soldiers, among them veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, was hailed by the government of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi as evidence that it was no longer prepared to tolerate the Camorra's murderous rule. But less than 24 hours after the deployment began, the Camorra carried out another deadly hit, right under the noses of the paratroopers. Two men pulled up on a motorbike outside a social club in the town of Casal di Principe, a mafia fiefdom, and pumped 18 bullets into Stanislao Cantelli, 60, as he was playing cards. Police say Cantelli was an innocent man who had no prior convictions – his only crime was to be the uncle of two informers. The two pentiti, or supergrasses, are in hiding, under constant police protection. Killing their uncle was the next best way for the mafia to punish them for their betrayal.

08/10/08 - Latin America

Violent crime in Latin America claims more than 100,000 lives a year -- more than any single disease -- and the average homicide rate is 27 per 100,000 population, making this one of the most violent regions in the world.

This reflects a severe crisis that requires coordinated multi-sectoral actions, agreed high-level officials from 34 governments who met Tuesday and Wednesday in Mexico in the "first meeting of public security ministers of the Americas", organised by the Organisation of American States (OAS). In the final declaration signed by the ministers, they committed themselves to mounting a more coordinated effort against violence, harmonise laws, strengthen prevention policies and educational and awareness-raising programmes, modernise, purge and professionalise police forces, and engage in a broad sharing and exchange of experiences with civil society groups involved in prevention and other areas. "The ministers had a flash of genius -- they discovered that there is a public safety crisis. They also committed themselves to what has been obvious for years: that security policies must reflect a balance between immediate and long-term measures, especially involving education and prevention," political scientist Sergio Fernández, an expert on drug trafficking, told IPS.

According to Inter-American Development Bank estimates, violence costs Latin America as much as 15 percent of its combined annual gross domestic product (GDP). For its part, the World Bank reports that 75 percent of all kidnappings worldwide are committed in Latin America, a region that accounts for just eight percent of the world’s population. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) "World Report on Violence and Health" put the average global homicide rate in 2000 at 8.8 per 100,000 population a year.

Although the Latin American average is 27 murders per 100,000 people, the situation in several cities is alarming, with as many as 120 homicides per 100,000 people, says an OAS report distributed at the two-day meeting in Mexico. In Central America, the average climbs to 36 per 100,000, with 55 per 100,000 in El Salvador in 2006, 45 per 100,000 in Guatemala and nearly 43 per 100,000 in Honduras. In the Caribbean, the most violent country is Jamaica (49 per 100,000), while Venezuela (45 per 100,000) and civil war-torn Colombia (37 per 100,000) share that dubious distinction in South America.

The main victims of violent crime in the region are young people, with murder the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 29, and the homicide rate for this group standing at 83 per 100,000 population. The region not only suffers from extreme violence due to homicides, the great majority of which are the result of criminal activities, mainly drug trafficking, but from many other day-to-day common crimes like violent robberies, kidnappings, sexual abuse, criminal youth gangs or domestic violence, said OAS Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza.

10/09/08 - West Africa

Late last year, four French tourists were gunned down in Mauritania where they were picnicking by a roadside on Christmas Eve, prompting the cancellation of the 2008 Lisbon-Dakar Rally. Identified as an al-Qaida "sleeper cell" by local officials, the two shooters were later picked up in Guinea-Bissau, where it was revealed that one of the men had lived there for two years and spoke the local Creole language.

The two men, along with three suspected accomplices, all Mauritanian nationals, were later deported to their home country. But the inability of law enforcement to function on a very basic level gave the story a disturbing twist: Law enforcement officials in the region eventually managed to locate the Mauritanians, with the assistance from French police, but not until after they had fled, completely undetected, across Senegal. In the end, the militants were only caught in Guinea-Bissau after they were discovered trying to photograph French officials there while plotting an attack against them.

Equally troubling were statements by police interrogators that the assassins were belligerent and defiantly anti-Western -- and promised more such attacks to come. "West Africa has become a black hole where any kind of person can come and operate or hide, be they terrorists or criminals," said Mark Mazzitelli, the head of the West and Central Africa office of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), according to a January report by Reuters.

02/09/08 - UK

A thirst for "Robocop justice" has made Britain the most expensive country to police in the world and created an environment where Britons have become passive bystanders, according to a report on Tuesday. The independent think-tank Reform's report: "The Lawful Society" says as a percentage of GDP, Britain spends the most of any OECD nation on law and order -- 2.6 percent in 2005 -- with 26 billion pounds spent on criminal justice in 2006-2007. That is nearly 40 percent more than in 1997-98, but as spending has risen, Britons have become uneasy about preventing crime, with six out of 10 people unlikely for example to challenge teenagers vandalising a bus shelter. In Germany, six out of 10 would, the report says.

And while three-quarters of Britons believe the police and courts are responsible for dealing with anti-social behaviour, in France and Germany less than half of people think that should be the case. "We need to slay the myth the Home Secretary is responsible for every stabbing and car theft on the streets of Britain," said the report's author Elizabeth Truss, Reform's deputy director. "We have to take back responsibility from Robocop."

28/08/08 - UK

Stop-and-search tactics to curb knife crime could alienate young men and drive them into the arms of gangs, it was claimed today. Laura Richards, the former head of the Metropolitan Police's murder prevention unit, said the force's use of the method could make gangs stronger. The criminal behavioural psychologist said that the tactics were just a 'sticking plaster' on the problem of knife crime.

Scotland Yard launched an anti-knife crime operation using stop-and-search earlier this year after an alarming surge of stabbings of teenagers in the capital. But the Metropolitan Police said stop-and-search was only one part of its strategy and it sent a 'visible message' to young people that its aim was to keep them safe. Just this weekend 18-year-old Charles Jnr Hendricks, known as CJ, was knifed to death in Walthamstow, North-East London, on the spot where an Olympic handover celebration was due to be held. The youngster is the 24th teenager to be murdered in London this year.

28/08/08 - UK

Stop-and-search tactics to curb knife crime could alienate young men and drive them into the arms of gangs, it was claimed today. Laura Richards, the former head of the Metropolitan Police's murder prevention unit, said the force's use of the method could make gangs stronger. The criminal behavioural psychologist said that the tactics were just a 'sticking plaster' on the problem of knife crime.

Scotland Yard launched an anti-knife crime operation using stop-and-search earlier this year after an alarming surge of stabbings of teenagers in the capital. But the Metropolitan Police said stop-and-search was only one part of its strategy and it sent a 'visible message' to young people that its aim was to keep them safe. Just this weekend 18-year-old Charles Jnr Hendricks, known as CJ, was knifed to death in Walthamstow, North-East London, on the spot where an Olympic handover celebration was due to be held. The youngster is the 24th teenager to be murdered in London this year.

27/08/08 - Brazil

The central reason of the amplified process of violence and territorial fragmentation that the city of Rio de Janeiro lives together with many others brazilian urban centers relies on the transformation of the sovereign power, in thesis a State monopoly, into a good of “market”. In this process of “privatization”, the local power has become object of dispute and base for the explosion of the city into private territories. Naturally, as any other “market”, the agents that act in them seek to amplify the control of the “business”; legitimate and fortify their “brand”; defeat their rivals and occupy their territories. In this frame, the amplification of the social conflicts become inevitable.

19/08/08 - Brazil

A study shows that most of the residents in the metropolitan region do not trust the police. The evaluation is positive in the help to the victims; Civil Police rates are more positive.

The comunitary vigilance of the Military Police (PM) in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro is the worst given service by the PM, according to the residents evaluation of the area: 70.3% of the population considers it bad or very bad, while only 17.6% considers it good or very good the distribution of the soldiers in the neighbourhoods.

This is one of the results of a survey made by 30 universitary researchers, working for the Iuperj (University Institut of Research of Rio de Janeiro), that showed yet that 56.1% of the residents in the area do not trust in the Military Police, while 36% of the population partly trusts and 6.9% fully trusts.

19/08/08 - SA / Netherlands

The South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Netherlands police service have forged a partnership to create a platform to share ideas, skills and training. Speaking at the signing of an agreement between the two police services, Deputy National Commissioner Mala Singh said the partnership was a culmination of three years of negotiations. She said the partnership would see the two countries beefing-up crime prevention operations in the two countries.

“The focus of the partnership will be to establish mutual cooperation to improve policing in both countries by exchanging knowledge, skills and experience in relation to law enforcement, investigation of crime, crime prevention, public order and public safety,” said Commissioner Singh. Countries cannot afford to function in isolation, she said, adding that the globally connected community had made it easier for criminals to exploit a lack of understanding and participation in global initiatives. Commissioner Singh said the international sharing of information, skills, knowledge and experience were crucial to the development of a country and its people.

19/08/08 - Algeria

At least 43 young applicants killed and 38 wounded while waiting to enlist at police recruitment centre

At least 43 people were killed when a car laden with explosives rammed into a police academy in Algeria, the country's interior ministry said today.The ministry said that a further 38 people were wounded in the attack, which happened early today, in the Issers district of Boumerdes, 35 miles east of the capital, Algiers.

The attack occurred as young applicants were in line, waiting to register at the local police academy. A security official described the incident as "a bloodbath".No immediate claim for responsibility was reported, but Algeria has suffered regular attacks blamed on militants linked to al-Qaida.

In the past 18 months more than 200 people have been killed in Algeria in attacks claimed by or suspected to be the work of the group.

19/08/08 - Mexico

Suspected drug-trafficking groups are killing Mexico's future police commanders before they can even emerge from the much-touted academy that is supposed to transform them into world-class officers.

Suspected drug-trafficking groups are killing Mexico's future police commanders before they can even emerge from the much-touted academy that is supposed to transform them into world-class officers.

In the past two weeks, five officers-in-training have been gunned down while traveling to and from the Public Security Superior Academy in the central state of San Luis Potosi.

Analysts said the new tactic was a warning to both the cadets and the government, which is waging an unprecedented fight against drug cartels.

"These groups no longer have any fear that by attacking police there will be some type of retribution," said Mexico City police instructor Arturo Yanez, a former adviser to the federal attorney general's office. "Their only limit is their imagination."

The attacks sparked a partial strike this week by some academy students, who are demanding the right to carry guns and are calling for police roadblocks to intercept drug gunmen.

18/08/08 - China

As an “only child” generation reaches adulthood, problems such as rising crime rates are appearing

China is gradually getting rid of the vestiges of its Communist past. But, the demographic policy of the 1980s and 1990s planted a time bomb, and its effects are just starting to be felt.

Its best-known aspect is the one-child policy, first put in place in 1978 and still in practice, though in a more relaxed form. Today, a couple made up of two only-children is allowed to have two children. In rural regions, a couple whose first child is a girl is normally authorized to have a second. But in the 1980s and 1990s, the one-child policy was strictly applied, albeit not uniformly, across regions. Parents were penalized for births “outside quota”. They were fined and were financially responsible for the education and health care of “extra” children.

18/08/08 - Senegal

Cocaine smuggling is fanning political turbulence and undermining investment confidence in West Africa, where drugs experts say Latin American gangs threaten to transform small nations into "narco-states".

Unexpected seizures from Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania to Sierra Leone and Senegal illustrate a haphazard response to drugs syndicates that run rings around law enforcement agencies despite help from the United States and European countries.

The danger comes at a critical time for West Africa, where several states are rebuilding after civil wars and the region is of growing interest to the most adventurous frontier investors.

"It is a huge threat," said Emmanuelle Bernard, West Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank. "The money from the drug trade is competing with the institution-building, which is what these countries need to be doing now."

18/08/08 - United States

L.A.'s biggest gangs have gone international; our law enforcement must do the same.

The two fastest-growing and most powerful gangs in the world are homegrown products of Los Angeles. The Mara Salvatrucha gang, or MS-13, and the 18th Street gang, known in Central America as Mara 18, sprang up in Pico-Union and the densely populated neighborhoods around MacArthur Park. But unlike many local street gangs, these two were entrepreneurial: They recruited Central American immigrants across the city and then expanded farther -- throughout Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Conservative estimates put MS-13's ranks at 20,000 and 18th Street's at 30,000 worldwide.

Stopping street gangs is no longer a local matter -- a point driven home to me during a symposium in El Salvador. During the conference, two points of consensus emerged. First, MS-13 and 18th Street have become an international concern -- indeed, even Interpol is now involved in the fight. Second, past strategies to handle these gangs have failed.

In the 1990s, the U.S. strategy centered on deportation: Undocumented gang members convicted of crimes were sent back to their country of origin after their prison sentences. But this only exacerbated the problem, spreading both gangs like a virus until they grew into transnational "super-gangs" with countless cliques in southern Mexico and Central America in addition to their presence in California, Nebraska, New York, Texas, Virginia, Oregon and even Canada.

14/08/08 - Great Britain

A generation of boys is growing up with inadequate male role models and see crime as a short cut to wealth and power, a minister has warned.

David Lammy said boys were seduced by the "get rich or die trying" lifestyle - echoing the title of an album by US rapper 50 Cent. And the problem was not just confined to those from poor backgrounds.

Middle class children were often starved of parental guidance too, he writes in The New Statesman. "While there may be young men on estates missing fathers who left them, there are also children in Middle Britain whose parents become strangers in a culture of long working hours," said Mr Lammy.

The Tottenham MP - who was himself brought up by a single mother - called for more male role models in the community, of the kind he had when he was growing up. He also urged society not to "demonise" single mothers - blaming wider factors such as the disappearance of traditional male jobs and the rise of consumerism. "In society, the fetishisation of money and the growth of consumerism add new pressure. "In a "bling culture", criminality easily becomes a short cut to symbols of wealth and power that will otherwise take years of hard work to achieve.

11/08/08 - Mexico

Indignation over the lack of public security in Mexico, fuelled by the kidnapping and murder of the teenage son of a well-known businessman, apparently by police officers, prompted the announcement of an Aug. 30 march to protest the growing levels of crime and demand more effective law enforcement.

Civic groups, mainly linked to the business sector, are organising the event, which they hope will draw more than one million participants.

Meanwhile the authorities have offered, for the umpteenth time, legal reforms and new police units specialised in fighting kidnappings, dozens of which are committed every month.

According to studies and opinion polls, 98 percent of crimes in Mexico go unsolved and 86 percent of the population has little to no confidence in the police.

Public insecurity in Mexico, a longstanding problem that has given this country a dangerous reputation, has been getting worse in spite of the numerous legal reforms that have been implemented, such as the gradual adoption of oral trials open to the public, and the different government programmes presented in the last two decades.

07/08/08 - Mexico

Ismael Placencia, president of the “Confederation of Industrial Chambers” of Mexico asserted at a press conference that the high indices of insecurity that exist in that country inhibit investment. Insecurity costs the country 120 billion dollars a year, the equivalent of 15 percent of the Gross Domestic Product; the Inter-American Development Bank points out that this cost is higher than that of the yearly production of the agricultural, mining, construction and power and water generation sectors, which represent 12 percent of the annual GDP.

Placencia pointed out that insecurity is not only the responsibility of the authorities but also that of the citizenry in general. He added that the government must exercise the law to the fullest, especially in the case of police who are involved with organized crime.

Mexico’s Attorney General, Eduardo Medina, denies that the violence in Mexico is similar to that which flailed Colombia. In his judgment, Mexico lacks the circumstances which Colombia experienced, in which para-military groups on one side confronted FARC on the other side. He added that “ FARC lost its initial logic and now they are narcotraffic organized crime groups.” In the past decade, Colombia faced a “real risk of collapse of the democratic institutions” because of the cartels’ accumulated powers.

According to Medina, Mexico must learn from the Colombian lesson, particularly in the “reconstruction of the social fabric in communities dramatically affected by narcotraffic”, such as Bogota and Medellin

05/08/08 - Curitba, Brazil

Public Security in the 21st Century was the theme of the last speech of the Executive Conference of Public Security for the South America, of the International Association of Chief of Police (IACP), this Tuesday (5th), in Curitba. The former secretary of Interpol, Raymond Kendall, that was the general secretary of the organization for fifteen years, spoke about the importance of security is attached with public policies for poor communities.

“This is the challenge for the 21st century. The politicians expect the police to solve problems directly related to social questions, but the police is not ready for that. Many areas are out of the State control. It’s not just the case of Rio de Janeiro, but also some suburbs of Paris and London, for example”, said Kendall.

He considers it is necessary to establish a bridge between what is happening in the law enforcement and the government interest. “Nowadays, the fault of everything that goes wrong ends up being dropped on the policemen. If something doesn’t happen on the political field, the security won’t be improved. The police has to find ways to show this to them. It is the policeman who is in the streets every day and in many cases knows deeply the needs of the community. This knowledge should be used to be applied in social policies”, said.

“We have to know who dominates these locations. Is it the State or criminal groups? One of the biggest problems in these areas is the angry young men, with several problems. This anger is orientated against the state. These people are becoming marginalized, many doesn’t want to go to school or work. They don’t get the parents orientation and end up turning into our biggest challenge”, said.

Kendall mentioned the Pronasci (National Program of Public Security with Citizenship), of the federal government, as an attempt to operate social policies together with public security. “It is a very ambitious project. In truth, the only one I saw in the world with a high budget to work on security together with social policies and it seems to be going in the right direction”, highlighted.

The speech made by the former secretary of Interpol pleased all the participants. “Kendall’s speech has confirmed all of our expectancies. We received essential lessons for our life and for the policing activity”, said the assistant chief of police of the Capital’s Police division, Vilson Toledo.

“I agree with him in several aspects, especially when he spoke that the police is too solicited. Beyond that, we need laws that can be enforceable and that attend to the population needs. Many times we make arrests in the morning and by the end of the day the criminal is already freed because of the legislation in force”, highlighted the chief delegado of the 10th subdivision of Londrina, Sérgio Luiz Barroso.

05/08/08 - Israel

A police intelligence coordinator from Eilat was arrested by the Police Investigations Department on Monday after being suspected of communicating with criminals in the city.

An additional three civilians were arrested in connection with the investigation.

Colleagues of the officer told Israel Radio it was perfectly logical for the coordinator to be in touch with criminals, as such activity was part of the police officer's job description.

The suspect was interrogated by the PID in Jerusalem. Police will seek to extend the suspect's custody at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court.

04/08/08 - Brazil

With the theme “Police Acting in Border Regions”, the general director of The Federal Police, Luiz Fernando Corrêa, initiated his speech on the Executive Conference of Public Security for the South America – IACP, in Curitiba, speaking about the concept of border within the context of public security. “We have to reexamine our attitudes concerning the borders to accomplish the promises of approximation of our peoples”, said Corrêa.

For the General Director of The Federal Police, the control of the border should not be reduced to the physical presence and the state’s bureaucracy. Combating the actions of the organized crime demands intelligent acting in two fronts: security intelligence and capacity of the countries to control its borders. “We have technology and intelligence to make this combat against the organized crime, to control who gets in and who gets out. Our challenge today is to control the cybernetic crime, as in the virtual world there isn’t borders anymore”, commented.

10/07/08 - Brazil

There will be no Democratic State of Right without a solid republic and an equally strong structure of security. This statement comes from the minister of Justice, Tarso Genro, on Thursday morning, while participating in Brasilia to the opening of the IIIrd Meeting of Ploice Chiefs from the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).

“The policeman has to respond to the violence against him and against society. He must act inside within the legal framework and have at his disposal the necessary human and technologic apparatus”, emphasized the minister. “It is necessary to have respect for human rights, like the Federal Police is having”.

08/07/08 - Brazil

After a week's implementation, the denunciations made to the disk-militia reveal important information about the acts of the group. According to the Legislative Assembly of Rio, there are already militias acting in the Metropolitan region as well as in the interior of the state of Rio de Janeiro. 160 calls were registered in the first week of functioning, from June 30th until this Monday.

The president of the Militias PCI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry), depute Marcelo Freixo (PSOL), revealed that some denunciations were about the action of the militias in areas that so far were unknown by the police. According to these informations, these groups used to concentrate only in the capital.

“We were impressed with the information about these groups already acting in other municipalities. Maybe nowadays the militias are the most dangerous organized crime group in action in Rio de Janeiro”, declared.

07/07/08 - Brazil

A police chase that resulted in the cerebral death of a 3 year old child, in Rio de Janeiro, was considered “disastrous” this Monday by the State Public Security Secretary, José Mariano Beltrame.

Two soldiers of the Military Police would mistaken, during the chase of a supposed stolen car in Tijuca, north zone of the city, the car which in the inside was the boy, his 9 months old brother and his mother. The car was shot 15 times on Sunday night in the neighbourhood, surrounded by 19 favelas, according to the police.

“I understand the action of the policemen as disastrous”, said Beltrame, in a collective interview convoked to take care of this incident.

30/06/08 - Brazil

The plague of crime and corruption is the biggest bearish argument against the sustainable growth of Brazil's economy and bigger market gains. It is a corrosive and threatening crisis because as we all learned in high school, the foundation of any prosperous and civil society or market takes root in the rule of law.

28/06/08 - Brazil

A lost bullet from a policeman, hitting an innocent person, causes revolt. The army’s “natural” brutality in the combat against the drug trafficking can also be targeted with critics. But what one does never expect is members of the army getting civilians and delivering them to drug trafficking gangs as requested by the latest. The ministry of Justice, saying that the responsibility of the act is uniquely from the soldiers which acted that way – “conduct deviance” – and that there was no lack of commandment, can be only to appease the tempers. But, from the technical point of view, it is wrong. There was a lack not only of immediate commandment, but also from himself, and in the limit, from the President of the Republic.

What occurs in Brazil is a situation of lack of control from the President of the Republic before the republican institutions and his functions. The army needs to be in the favela? Well, if the government is clear that it is necessary, and that will maintain it there, can’t by any mean ask the soldiers to be calm, and not to hit back to provocations. It sounds like a bad taste joke in the troops. It reveals the lack of comprehension of what is happening in Rio de Janeiro. It is the complete alienation concerning the real conditions of the people living in the favela, the people involved in the drug-trafficking, and even worse, the lack of capacity to realize what is going on with the soldier that walks up the hill.

25/06/08 - Sao Paulo, Brazil

The final report of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry of the Prison’s System indicates that the “First Command of the Capital” (PCC), a crime organization, dominates the Centre of Provisional Detention of Pinheiros, in the south zone of São Paulo. In the report of the depute Domingos Dutra (PT-MA), the prison appears as the fifth worse of Brazil – it has 504 vacancies, but it shelters 1,026 inmates, according to the report. “The director of the prison confirmed that PCC not only dominates this prison, but a several more in São Paulo and said that he cannot see solutions or alternatives to diminish the power of PCC, due to the organization’s force and having grown very much”, affirms Dutra in the document.

24/06/08 - Rio, Brazil

Orange posters with the sentences “Police out of UFF”, “The university belongs to the people, no police!” and, “Down with repression!” spread out through the Institute of Human Sciences and Philosophy of the University, in Gragoatá, give the tone of how the proposal to create a graduation in Public Security is being received by some students. The Project has been approved by the Anthropology department and is at discussion in the institute, according to the report of Natália Soares, of the Tuesday edition of Megazine.

The fear of the students seems to be that the course will attract policemen to the campus, in a polemic that reminds the crashes between André Matias (André Ramiro) and his faculty colleagues, in the film “Elite Troop”. In the film, Matias hid from other students of his course, including his girlfriend, to be a Military Policeman. When his job is revealed, he gets in conflict with the rest of the class.

18/06/08 - Brazil

Integrants of the public prosecution service from the whole country meet in Brasilia this Wednesday until Friday, to discuss ways to combat the police violence. In the symposium Civil Society and the Oversight of Police Violence, the sociological and legal aspects of this issue will be discussed, besides the importance of the external organisms of control and the investigations made directly by the Public Prosecution.

Promoted by the Public Prosecution Service of The Federal District and Territories (MPDFT) and by the Superior School of the Public Prosecution Service of the Union (ESPMU), the meeting will count with the presence of researchers, jurists, and representatives of the civil society from Brazil and United States.

17/06/08 - Brazil

The depute Alexandre Silveira (PPS-MG) presented a requirement (RCP 10/08) proposing the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry (PCI) to investigate the causes of urban violence. The requirement received the support of 182 deputes – eleven more than the minimum required.Silveira affirms that, to face the violence, the Chamber must not only propose the revision of the penal legislation, but investigate the real motives of this problem. “From a diagnosis, we can punctually face the mistakes of the State in the treatment of violence”, he said.

11/06/08 - China

As China’s influence spreads around the world, so too are its criminal gangs, writes Paul French. When it comes to what rises to the surface you cannot pick and choose – the good stuff and the scum both ascend. China’s much talked about “rise” is clearly a major factor driving the world economy. A legion of books argue that China’s economic rise will affect everything from the price of food to the cost of a barrel of oil and the country’s “soft power” is affecting everything from diplomacy to how aid budgets are apportioned in Africa, not to mention that Mandarin popping is up on the curriculum at expensive private schools. But, as a number of authors argue, China’s rise is also problematic.

09/06/08 - Basseterre, St.Kitts

St. Kitts and Nevis has sponsored a resolution on crime and violence at the just concluded General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in Medellin, Colombia.

The resolution, which was co-sponsored by the CARICOM States and supported by all member states of the Western Hemispheric body, places the issue of Crime and Violence squarely on the agenda of the OAS, which has now resolved to take certain actions with regard to this escalating phenomenon that, is negatively impacting the quality of life in all member states.

05/06/08 - Kingston

UNICEF and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today called for increased effort by all stakeholders to stem the illegal flow and use of small arms in Jamaica, saying gun control - combined with long-term social interventions - are critical to curb the armed violence that has enveloped the country.

The UN agencies issued their appeal as the world observes the Global Week of Action against Gun Violence, and as Jamaica confronts what has been reported as one of the bloodiest periods of gang- and gun-related homicides in the nation’s history.

29/05/08 - The Balkans

The Balkan area is, surprisingly, one of the safest in Europe. The report Crime and its Impact on the Balkans by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) belies enduring stereotypes of the region as a hotbed of organized crime and violence. People are as safe, or safer, on the streets and in their homes as they are in most parts of the world.

Released today, the study concludes that the Balkans have become a low-crime region after the decade-long turmoil that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia. But italso warns that links between business, politics and organized crime continue to hamper the region's path to stability.

28/05/08 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

The governor of Rio de Janeiro state hit back at criticism by rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday, saying his policy of "confrontation" with drug gangs was protecting human rights.

Amnesty said in a report issued earlier in the day that Governor Sergio Cabral had adopted an "increasingly draconian and bellicose public stance on public security," with large-scale police operations that cost hundreds of lives.

08/09/08 - UN

United Nations peacekeeping forces need to take a more coordinated approach to prevent, disrupt and dismantle organized crime in the countries where they operate, a top UN policing official said today. Andrew Hughes, the UN Police Adviser, warned that such crime could be a “major spoiler” of UN efforts to restore peace and security to countries that are gradually emerging from conflict. “Dealing with organized crime is incredibly complex, but one of the advantages we have in post-conflict societies is that because state infrastructures have often broken down, organized crime is more visible,” he said. “However, because these countries often do not have fully functioning legal systems, dealing with organized crime is a particular challenge.”