Massacres in Quilicura and Lampa: Failures of the National Public Security System?

El Líbero, July 17, 2024

The complexity of the phenomena we face demands a systemic vision, which is reflected in a national public security system. Given its complexity, it should be operated by engineers rather than by lawyers, doctors, and political scientists.

The recent long weekend was not good for Chile, and the only thing the government can say is that we are better than our neighbors, which is technically correct, but it forgot to mention that we are much worse than a couple of years ago.

The shooting deaths of four teenagers in Quilicura and five people at a party in Lampa is not normal, it is not normal for this to happen in Chile, and we cannot accept it as such. The day we accept it as normal, Chile is finished.

If we have good police forces, definitely better than community policing, how is it possible that massacres and such violent murders occur? Did something fail, or are we simply overwhelmed by crime and organized crime? Did the police fail, or did the national public security system fail?

We trust our police; just look at the results of the latest Plaza Pública survey by Cadem, which measured institutional approval at the end of June 2024. The PDI ranks second, and Carabineros ranks fifth out of a total of 30 surveyed, positions that, despite some issues they have faced, are quite stable over time.

The constitutional role of the police is clearly indicated in Article 101 of the Constitution of the Republic, which states: “The Forces of Order and Public Security are composed solely of Carabineros and Investigations. They constitute the public force and exist to enforce the law, guarantee public order, and ensure internal public security, in the manner determined by their respective organic laws. They depend on the Ministry responsible for Public Security.”

Carabineros has a constitutional organic law from 1990 that has been updated several times. The essence of what they do is captured in their first article, which states: “Carabineros de Chile is a technical and military police institution that integrates the public force and exists to enforce the law; its purpose is to guarantee and maintain public order and internal public security throughout the territory of the Republic and to fulfill other functions assigned to it by the Constitution and the law. It will depend directly on the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security and will be administratively linked to it through the Undersecretariat of the Interior.”

On the other hand, the Police of Investigations is regulated by a decree law from 1979, with its latest update in 2023 recorded in Article 1 Bis, refining its purpose and focusing on other aspects of organized crime. What its updated organic decree law states regarding its purpose is: “The Police of Investigations of Chile, as part of the State Administration, is at the service of the community, and its actions will be oriented towards the specialized investigation of all crimes, especially those that are complex and related to organized crime, contributing to preventing the perpetration of criminal acts and acts that threaten the stability of State agencies. Additionally, it must control the entry and exit of people to the national territory, oversee the residency of foreigners therein, and develop other functions assigned to it by law.”

If what is on paper were fulfilled, we should be able to manage the ills that currently afflict us, especially if we have the support of the Armed Forces to safeguard the borders with Peru and Bolivia, or in the provinces of the Southern Macrozone where insurgent groups dispute control of the territory with the State of Chile.

Evidently, the police are not alone. There are other institutions that also play a role in combating crime and organized crime, such as Gendarmería, the ANI, the SII, the UAF, the Legal Medical Service, and Customs. All of them deserve a separate chapter and a specific column to evaluate what they do, especially Gendarmería due to the fact that prisons have shifted from being centers of confinement to command and control centers for organized crime.

The failure or collapse of the system, demonstrated this long weekend in Quilicura, Lampa, and other points in the country, leads us to question whether this failure is systemic as a whole, or specific to the police, the Public Ministry that conducts investigations, the courts that may not be effective, or to the political leadership and responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security, or possibly Congress if the failure originates from the non-approval of necessary laws to resolve our problems.

The main problem is that public security is not viewed as a system; it is looked at and addressed in parts, which could even be functioning correctly according to their design. It is not considered part of a larger system, which is National Security, something that is the direct and exclusive responsibility of the President, but in Chile is delegated to an already overburdened Minister Tohá and Undersecretary Monsalve, who have shown themselves to be incapable of adequately operating the public security system for which they are responsible. I am not accusing them of an attitude problem, simply of not being effective in their functions.

The truth is that I do not know which component of the system failed this weekend. I only know that the public security system failed, and therefore those responsible for its leadership and operation, the authorities of the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security, failed. 

It may be necessary to spend more resources on the system as a whole and on each of its components, which for me is a given, but as long as we do not incorporate process engineering and technology, we will continue to suffer cases like the massacre in Quilicura, the recently reported murder of five people in Lampa, the murder of three Carabineros in Cañete, and many others.

The complexity of the phenomena we are facing demands a systemic vision, which in this case is reflected in a national public security system, operated and coordinated by the respective ministry, which manages information and resources, makes decisions and determines actions, and corrects or improves the whole or its parts as it fails to deliver the expected results. 

Given its complexity, it should be operated by engineers rather than by lawyers, doctors, and political scientists, who clearly should advise on matters pertaining to their specialties, but above all, a systemic vision, understanding of processes, complex systems, information technologies, including artificial intelligence, is required—all things that the counterpart, organized crime already applies in its business model.

The time for amateurs is over, and the time for professionals has arrived. Our police and all those dedicated to combating crime and organized crime deserve a system that works and is operated by experts in the field.

Richard Kouyoumdjian
Vice President AthenaLab

Source: El Líbero