President Piñera announces new anti-gang, -weapon and -drug trafficking plan: “It will strengthen and streamline police action, reducing crime”
The initiative will include 400 carabineros (uniformed police officers), 20 radio patrol cars, a helicopter and a drone to reinforce police work at 50 critical locations in the Metropolitan Region.
The President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, announced the upcoming implementation of the anti-gang, -weapon and -drug trafficking plan this Thursday. The plan aims to better combat high-profile crimes in 50 critical locations in the Metropolitan Region.
The measure will include 400 carabineros (uniformed police officers), 20 radio patrol cars, a helicopter and a drone to reinforce police work in terms of crime prevention and rapid response.
“The plan will strengthen and streamline police action, reducing crime rates and increasing the likelihood that criminals will be arrested, brought to justice and receive the appropriate punishment if crimes occur,” the President asserted at the Escuela de Suboficiales de Carabineros (Carabineros Non-Commissioned Officers School). He was accompanied by Crime Prevention Undersecretary María José Gómez and Carabineros General Director Ricardo Yáñez.
The plan will focus on 15 municipalities in the Metropolitan Region with high rates of high-profile crime, such as violent robbery, armed robbery, violent vehicle theft – including various types of carjacking –, distraction theft, battery and homicide.
The work will be coordinated with the municipalities’ respective mayors to better meet the needs of their communities.
“We are confronting the dangerous combination of drugs, weapons and organized crime with determination and urgency, using all the means granted to us by the rule of law. We know that a society in fear is a society whose freedoms are severely restricted, whose rights are greatly affected and whose quality of life is deeply impacted,” explained the President.
President Piñera’s Government has promoted a robust legislative agenda and various initiatives to provide better tools in the fight against criminal gangs, drug trafficking and the use of firearms, three major factors that affect violent crime today.
Among the measures promoted by the Government are the bill to improve the prosecution of drug trafficking and organized crime, the Ley de Armas (Weapons Law) reform, the bill to create the Public Security Ministry, the bill on the use of minors in crime and the Programa Nacional de Barrios Prioritarios (National Priority Neighborhoods Program).
“Public safety has no political color; crime does not go on vacation, nor does it change its motivation when one government ends or a new one begins,” President Piñera concluded.