Peru: Local Citizen Security Councils
(Consejos Distritales de Seguridad Ciudadana—CDSC)
The Peruvian National Police (PNP) are deeply scarred by long-term counter-terrorism activities throughout years of civil unrest, as well as by prolonged and pervasive government corruption. The conflict traumatized and militarized the police, and distanced them from local communities. Under President Fujimori’s watch from 1990 to 2000, corrupt practices penetrated all aspects of government, including law enforcement, and left police coffers empty. Together with this troubled history, the continued need for fiscal austerity across all government sectors has imposed constraints on the institutional reform of the PNP. Progress has been patchy.
A turning-point came in February 2003 with the creation by the Peruvian parliament of a new National Citizen Security System (SINASEC), coordinated by a National Citizen Security Council (Consejo Nacional de Seguridad Ciudadana—CONASEC). SINASEC aims to promote local, participative crime prevention initiatives and make police more responsive to communities, through a combination of top-down and bottom-up structures for police accountability to civilian authorities. The new system relies on “local citizen security councils” (consejos distritales de seguridad ciudadana—CDSC), where local police commanders work directly with local authorities and community representatives on crime and law and order. In addition to local councils, SINASEC also creates provincial and regional committees.
The CDSCs, bottom-up mechanisms to hold police accountable for their conduct and service quality, offer an important opening for community participation in local security issues. They are mandated to design a “local citizen security plan” on the basis of a diagnosis of local safety and security issues. The security plan is to be implemented by mobilizing local cooperation and resources. The CDSCs are also charged with evaluating the plan’s impact and monitoring the performance of public employees implementing the plan, including police.
Open Society Justice Initiative
http://www.justiceinitiative.org/activities/ncjr/police/peru_cdsc/