Undersecretary Vergara reaffirms that all of Chile’s municipalities will have patrol vehicles in 2023

Crime Prevention Undersecretary Eduardo Vergara traveled to the province of Malleco this Friday on his fourth day working as government liaison in La Araucanía Region. While there, he met with the heads of security of the 11 municipalities that make up the province. Provincial Delegate Andrea Parra also participated in the meeting, whose goal was to coordinate preventive security patrols in the area of the forest fire emergency. 

Undersecretary Vergara took the opportunity to reaffirm the commitment that all of Chile’s municipalities will receive resources during 2023 for the purchase of municipal security patrol vehicles. 

“This is a commitment that we have received from the President, which is why the Undersecretary’s Office budget for municipalities has been increased by 65%. That is a common preventive minimum,” the Undersecretary emphasized. 

In this sense, Undersecretary Vergara reiterated that the Government’s actions are guided by the principle of territorial justice, both in terms of public safety and the reconstruction process that is being carried out in the area. “Security is a right, not a privilege (…) There are municipalities that need a greater presence and reinforcement of government. It is very clear to us which municipalities need support in terms of technology and the presence of municipal patrols. We have asked Carabineros (Uniformed police service) to speed up the process of mixed patrol agreements and we also asked the regional head of security and the Provincial Delegate to carry out an exhaustive survey to see what their needs are in the short term,” he explained. 

The Undersecretary also reported that preventive patrols in the region have already been strengthened in coordination with the police. “We went over everything yesterday, and in the region’s 32 municipalities, 3,800 preventive controls were carried out over a 24-hour period, and there were 101 people detained, 70% of whom had an arrest warrant out on them. It has allowed us to make progress on a greater preventive coverage, which is precisely what we have been doing here today in the province of Malleco,” he said. 

Provincial Delegate Andrea Parra thanked Undersecretary Vergara’s work in the field, and highlighted the importance of this meeting in coordinating the security teams of the province’s 11 municipalities. “It gives us an overview of what is happening in the province and how we can accommodate the concerns of our public safety officers,” she indicated. 

She also explained that during the meeting they discussed how to speed up the delivery of aid to the sectors most affected by the forest fire emergency, and they scheduled visits to different sectors of the province.