Re-militarizing the Police: Turning the Clock Back in Honduras
Last edited Wed Oct 9, 2013, 04:22 PM - Edit history (1)
Re-militarizing the Police: Turning the Clock Back in Honduras
Written by Rosemary Joyce and Russell Sheptak
Monday, 07 October 2013 09:53
As of late last week, the first contingent of the new Policía Militar del Orden Público (Military Police for Public Order) was approved for active duty in Honduras. Ironically, despite the emphasis on how this new military presence in the streets of Honduran cities should change the security situation, a command decision was taken not to announce when these troops will actually be on patrol in their war against...what?
That remains the question. When you change policing of civilian spaces into a military mission, you change how policing is conceptualized, from crime prevention or criminal investigation and prosecution, to carrying out some kind of campaign. Policing, it might be said, is tactical, responding to developments. On the other hand, military action ideally is strategic, formulated with a goal in mind. So what are the strategic goals that justify reversing one of the actual achievements of elected government in Honduras after the end of military rule in the early 1980s?
In other words: who's the enemy here?
The rhetorical claim is that this new force, drawn from the ranks of the army, will "recover and maintain public order in those neighborhoods that are dominated by delinquents," as La Prensa wrote on October 3. The draft law called for the new force to "carry out the takeover of zones, neighborhoods, residential developments, and human settlements or public spaces where gangs or organized crime exercise their illegal activities."
The new military police are better armed than the civilian police they will replace in this mission. F or example, they will be armed with Israeli Galil ACE 21 assault rifles carrying 35-round magazines, capable of firing 700 rounds per minute. That may help them against criminals reported to have not only automatic weapons, but such exotic items as grenade launchers. But the prospect of these boots on the ground treating neighborhoods in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula as battlefields should be troubling, even to those who applaud this latest move in the name of increasing security, including the US State Department, which Liberal party congress member Jose Azcona said in July had encouraged the formation of such a force during the previous presidential administration.
More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/4495-re-militarizing-the-police-turning-the-clock-back-in-honduras