Command & Control U.S. Police Operations in Latin America
In the past decade, the United States has strived to develop a vast program of counterinsurgency activities in the Western Hemisphere. By disguising these activities in sanitized language and...
...In large measure this is due to the effective job of Mr...
...Specifically, the Records and Identification Advisor has devised and successfully put into operation the following : A. Standard Complaint Form, mechanized B. Standard Arrest Form, mechanized C. Complete Vehicle Registration for the entire country, mechanized D. Stolen Vehicle File, mechanized E. Personnel Evaluation Form, mechanized F. Personnel Qualifications Form, mechanized...
...the high crime rate...
...Driggers and the OPS have convinced themselves that their role is simply "technical" and "advisory" and that what the Colombians decide is their own business...
...Driggers' opinion that the vote count was on the up-and-up...
...Incidentally, the money from these robberies was used to finance terrorist activities...
...However, even these methods aren't always considered sufficient...
...Department of State justify this in the belief that stability is better than chaos, but they also reveal how the U.S...
...Driggers was obviously pleased that on the inflated and car-poor market of that country this meant that even the worst of these 1964 (and earlier) models would bring at least U.S...
...The second, the main university located in the capital city, was eliminated as a communist sanctuary by government action in December 1966...
...Georgetown), be placed into key positions in the Colombian police system in order that their specialized training can be effectively used...
...This officer began his tour of duty in May of 1962 and ended it in October of 1967...
...The important point is that a third-country training program can be tailored to meet the criminalistics training needs of any Latin American country...
...Not a little of the success of this rapid development during the last five years is due to the OPS and to its director, Mr...
...involvement in Colombian politics via the police system in Colombia which we are considering...
...b) Policemen, previously assigned to fixed posts to protect private enterprise, have been released for patrol and the other type of police duties for which they are paid...
...In Venezuela, Public Safety officials meet monthly with private security companies and officers of the oil firms and mining companies to determine a uniform policy for dealing with insurgency and guerrilla warfare, therefore, playing a direct role in protecting selected private sectors of the economy and in determining military policy...
...Thus Public Safety officals cite as their most- 15 - significant accomplishment in Brazil the establishment of the Federal Police organization in 1965...
...1,000 each...
...110 CRIME INVESTIGATION TELECOMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT To establish nation-wide and limited intrastate telecommunication systems, to develop portable radio communication capability for times of civil disturbances, to increase radio patrol effectiveness...
...Indeed, my own naivete in directly relating the importation of 1,255 police vehicles into Bogota just before the elections was also corrected by this OPS interview...
...The country example used now, which is archetypical rather than typical, draws most of its material from an unclassified report by the former Chief Public Safety Advisor in the Latin American country concerned...
...Public Safety Advisors participated in the planning of these invasions--thus assisting in the obliteration of democratic rights and academic freedom in a supposedly sovereign nation...
...To date there have been participants from Colombia and the Dominican Republic who received training...
...Driggers, the Acting Chief of OPS in Colombia made this clear when he said, "The Colombia national police are a showcase in taking on our ideas and making them their own...
...The character of assistance indicated by this agreement called for concentrating most of the Public Safety Advisors in Brasilia...
...Police Program in Venezuela - An Inside View NOTE: Reproduced below are the "accomplishments" of the Public Safety Program in Venezuela, as determined by the former Chief Public Safety Advisor in that country...
...Riot batons...
...42 Radio Terminal...
...The concept of assistance presently provided is for the development of capabilities within the Federal Police to provide assistance to the respective states in their development of appropriate civil police institutions...
...investments...
...Approximately one out of three have been promoted to positions of higher responsibility...
...Efficient because the relationship is intimate, constant and interdependent...
...patrol cars just before and after the first real challenge the establishment in Colombia has had in some years, was considerable...
...The United States has even gone so far as to congratulate the Venezuelan government and police for arresting Congressmen and Senators who allegedly represented a threat to the government, and for invading the university to wipe out "Communist sanctuaries...
...What is even more interesting than the coincidental presence of the police vehicles is Mr...
...Resources Center Created: The Public Safety Division has built up a resources center for use of police agencies throughout the country This center now contains about 200 books in the Spanish language...
...the various assessments and evaluations available now have been accomplished "in-house" by the AID organization...
...7 units Fingerprint kits...
...Public Safety Division Coordination with U.S...
...studied local conditions and recommended means of halting bank robberies, setting up training courses to implement these recommendations...
...assistance to be with the Federal Police to assume an increasing share of the provision of training and technical services for the state level police forces, as well as for its own police officers, through the establishment and utilization of central federal facilities, including the National Police Academy, the Technical Telecommunications Center, and the National Institutes of Criminalistics and Identification...
...Most importantly, a significant accomplishment of the Public Safety assistance program was the establishment of the Federal Police organization in 1965...
...Additional emphasis was recently put on the advisory and training activities of the National Guard, with added funds programmed to increase training at the International Police Academy for National Guard officers...
...r%_ ____ -- AL *- 22 - Accomplishments of the public Safety Program have been considerable...
...The U.S...
...Mr...
...It was no coincidence that I saw the same new Ford police cars in Panama, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic...
...Similarly, a resource center and library have been organized by OPS in Venezuela, and the crime lab has been improved to such a high degree by day-to-day technical advice from OPS officials that officers from other countries have been sent there to receive training...
...At pe-- 17 - sent, one of the regions is in the process of reorganizing its various district and municipal police into a single state-wide agency...
...Since the end of FY 1969, the Public Safety program has been focusing its efforts on the Federal Police in Brasilia...
...12 Public address system...
...It is used as a textbook for the basic course taught throughout the country...
...a need for basic reorganization in line with modern police management concepts...
...5 HF-VHF Receivers...
...269 SSB [single side-band] Mobile...
...The report below, plus the introductory comments, are from George's paper, "Police Assistance...
...Military and Police Operations in the Third World...
...5,100 Grenades, smoke...
...Both of the above actions dealt a severe blow to terrorist capabilities...
...Improving the agencies responsible for rural policing is being given top priority...
...The OPS program is long-range and widespread...
...800,000 rounds To develop more effective investigative capabilities and to promote better collection of physical evidence...
...Since its founding by President Kennedy in 1962, OPS has trained 100,000 police officers at the International Police Academy in Washington, D.C., at other institutions in the United States, and in the Third World countries themselves...
...By March of 1967, assistance was being provided to fifteen states, the Federal District in Brasilia and the new Federal Police agency...
...The first, the Congress, was eliminated by government action in 1963 when extremist congressmen and senators were arrested...
...Military and Public Safety advisors have traveled together throughout the country and, in terms of effectivity, this coordination and cooperation have paid dividends...
...2) preserve order...
...6. Training: Public Safety Advisors have furnished technical guidance and training for such things as construction of police firearms training ranges (both indoor and outdoor...
...At the hub of this counterinsurgency network, which includes Green Berets and American-trained Latin American military forces, are the police--who, according to U.S...
...The Criminalistics Advisor has not only provided dayto-day technical advice but has made considerable progress in overcoming a virtually complete void in Spanish materials i the criminalistics field...
...My visit to the U.S...
...1971, and JulyAug...
...however, the OPS convinced them that what was more important was a national communications "network" which is now being developed...
...14,000 worth of police shield-helmets which will shortly be augmented by an additional $25,000 purchase of the same item...
...When asked about the gradual change-over during the last decade.from the United States' previously military to present para-military or police emphasis, Mr...
...In addition, the Public Safety program has financed the development of nationwide communications systems which are designed to enhance the operational authority of the central police command in each country...
...Investigation field kits...
...Each of the twenty-two states has a plaincothes Civil Police force and uniformed force called the Policia Militar, or Military Police...
...However, lately, the goal of the OPS, in its recommendations to the Colombian police, is to make this force more efficient while expanding the force only gradually...
...By that time the training will be "completed" or, if it is to continue, the Colombians will have to pay for it themselves...
...In September of 1968, a new agreement was signed which provided for the main thrust of U.S...
...and Brazilian officials continued the main thrust of assistance aforementioned for the Federal Police...
...These vehicles consisted mainly of U.S...
...By examining a report by a former Chief Public Safety Advisor in Venezuela (1968), an interview with the Acting Chief Public Safety Advisor in Colombia (1970), and an official OPS report on its program in Brazil (1970) we can see more clearly the aim of the program--to suppress dissent, to crush resistence movements, to avoid future Vietnams--by building up the police as a paramilitary force disguised as the friendly cop on the block...
...By coincidence, this put more than 80% of these police cars into Bogota (where they were located originally and where many of them still are), just in time for any trouble that might develop in relations to the elections...
...agrees to pay, say, 80% of the first year's budget, 2/3 to 1/2 of the second year's budget and a lower percentage the third year...
...The Colombian National Police some two years ago received from the Import-Export Bank a loan of something over $3.0 million U.S...
...The OPS has also been effective in convincing the Colombians that in the face of rising internal disturbances and political threats, it is not numbers but effectiveness that counts...
...The results have been very encouraging, with security tightened in all companies...
...OPS advisors also urged the establishment of a unified police command in Caracas, and in 1963--Just prior to the presidential election of that year--such a "command and control" center was set up with U.S...
...Driggers said about the Colombian police, with no sign he understood the ramifications of his words: "The Colombian national police are a showcase in taking on our ideas and making them their own...
...Detailed recommendations for establishing this command were prepared, with full support of the Ambassador and other elements of the Country Team...
...A Police-Instruction Manual was prepared and 4,000 copies printed...
...Another means by which the United States seeks to influence Third World police forces is through the training of police officers...
...Police Aid - Brazil Excerpts from an Office of Public Safety memorandum on the Public Safety Program in Brazil (1970...
...In sum, the police have been trained in subjects ranging from how to direct traffic to bomb disposal methods and techniques...
...3. Organization: While there has been no overall reorganization, police organization, nonetheless, has been strengthened...
...Embassy (under AID), was to ask about the reported influx of "thousands" of police vehicles into Colombia from the U.S...
...20 units CRIMINALISTICS LABORATORY To establish new police laboratories, to assist already existing facilities, to assist in equipping technical field units in order that they may provide effective scientific aid to investigators...
...The OPS is constantly urging the Colombians to do a better PR Job with the public...
...For obvious reasons the returning personnel reports, drafted by advisors who do not expect reassignment to the same overseas post, are more candid and therefore more useful--especially when they have been left unedited by the AID Mission Chief concerned...
...Although he did not identify by name the country to which the report pertained, he provided the contract number (52911-710-022) which is cited in OPS documents as the Venezuela Public Safety project (see, for instance, the proposed OPS program for fiscal 1972, in NACLA Newsletter, Vol...
...technicians repair parts until Colombia has the resources to buy them outright...
...assistance went to the establishment of Brazil's Technical Telecommunications Center and the National Institute of Criminalistics and Identification, all with the aim of bolstering up the Federal Police Force...
...It is this U.S...
...Initial resistance to the idea was eventually overcome, and the unified operations center was formally established in November 1963...
...It is intimately involved in similar long-range training and advising in Brazil, Uruguay, and elsewhere...
...How OPS fits into the whole U.S...
...Not only are there joint discussions of mutual problems, joint planning, and exchange of information, but U.S...
...role of counter-insurgency operates far more effectively from "within" a country than was true of the type of external incursion we carried out in the Dominican Republic...
...For example, some vendors of U.S...
...Alas, their hopes were dashed as Pastrana turned out the winner the next morning by some 50,000-plus votes...
...In sum, rural police capabilities have improved...
...Twentyseven officers are now in training...
...As he said, "We have a different interpretation of those elections...
...25 training films...
...In a previous issue of the Latin America and Empire Report (July-August, 1971), NACLA presented the country-by-country OPS budget request for fiscal year 1972, and an analysis of the rationale for this program...
...Under the guise of making Latin police systems less violent and U.S...
...The dreaded DAS is a counterpart of the U.S...
...Private enterprise participation was a result of coordinating efforts made by the Public Safety Division...
...and, perhaps most important, the exchange of equipment and personnel to improve the communication system throughout Colombia so that information and men can be moved quickly from place to place as they are needed...
...shortly before the presidential elections in April of this year...
...The way this happens is fascinating...
...92 VHF-FM Portable...
...These private companies are important for two reasons: (a) Improved security in the various companies has made it more difficult for terrorist brigades to carry out attacks...
...influences...
...These technicians assisted the police in setting up a complete preventative maintenance program, which included a clinical-type record being kept on each vehicle...
...Other U.S...
...4. Public Relations: Police agencies implemented a public relations program, using recommendations and guidance furnished by the Public Safety Division...
...It is related not only to AID but to the other international banking institutions which the U.S...
...Furthermore, as Mr...
...Partly for their exposition of the range of services which an OPS program can provide, these thirteen separate accomplishment claims are quoted, as written in Section V of the report: 1. Timely delivery of badly needed police equipment, purchased by the host country under an especially arranged credit sales program, materially strengthened the law enforcement agency in the capital city prior to the presidential elections in December 1963...
...As Mr...
...The United States has taken it upon itself, through the Office of Public Safety (OPS) of the Agency for International Development (AID) to develop, train, equip, and indoctrinate the police force of the Third World...
...This is not only a large force, but it is expanding rapidly...
...as well as numerous lesson plans, visual aids, etc...
...All of these activities guarantee a certain degree of ideological control by the United States over the police forces of Third World countries...
...Passenger cars...
...For example, in the departamento of Santander, radio and telephone communication is very limited, so that the 150 walkie-talkies we now have there (I couldn't tell if he meant the OPS or the Colombian police) provide an important public service function...
...The Colombian national police has some 40,000 employees now, located in 23 "states" throughout the country (these states are smaller political/ geographical subdivisions of the departamentos and distritos...
...1970, July-Aug...
...21 HF-SSB Transmitters...
...Military Group advisors and Public Safety Advisors are sharing the same office at National Guard headquarters...
...Nationwide intelligence systems are being established at national police headquarters through the use of computers and other mechanized equipment...
...Also, excellent coordination and cooperation between the various companies and with the U.S...
...The most significant aspect of the reports, reproduced below, is that they cite specific occasions in which the United States interferred in the internal affairs of another country through the police system...
...In preparing the text materials, the host country's constitution and penal codes were used to insure the legality of procedures taught...
...All aspects dealing with security and insurgency problems are discussed and unified action decided upon...
...This program has resulted in improving the character and the image of these forces and binding them more closely to the community...
...15,236 Grenades, CS...
...The Agency for International Development does not provide assistance to military forces and it should be recognized that the "Military Police" is not a military force, but a civilian police force analogous to the State Police in some states in the United States...
...95 Gas masks...
...Military Group: Much has been accomplished- 18 - in this field, and coordination has improved immensely...
...Improvement was achieved in various elements of the police institution, such as the establishment of a training capability, the establishment of statewide, municipal and tactical police networks and the improvement of administration and management of police resources...
...Public Safety Advisor, Colombia _ An Interview- 19 more efficient, the OPS has effectively penetrated Colombia's para-military forces in order to keep close tabs on events in Colombia and to be able to "invade" and "aid" that country on a nonpolitical level so as to greatly reduce the danger of any internal subversion...
...Office of Public Safety (OPS) in Bogota and my conversation with Mr...
...It was coincidental that these patrol cars arrived at the "right" moment in Colombia...
...FBI, while the formerly weak National Police is now building a nation-wide communications network so that every hamlet and village can be watched and controlled...
...The OPS and the U.S...
...Driggers, chief of that division in the U.S...
...business investments...
...During the past three years the Public Safety Division has been in close contact with private guard companies (merchant police...
...Gains were made in the key states wherein resident advisors were stationed...
...For example, the United States helped shape the outcome of presidential elections in Colombia in 1970 and in Venezuela in 1963 through the "timely delivery of badly needed police equipment...
...122 Grenades, CN...
...Government now exist...
...1970, Nov...
...One of these agreements requires that all police, whether officers or sergeants, shall, upon returning to Colombia from the International Police Academy (IPA) in Washington, D.C...
...The initial impact on Bogota of the sudden appearance of so many brand new U.S...
...Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, in July 1970...
...VHF-FM Mobile...
...50c).- 16 - Document U.S...
...a lack of continuity in police leadership...
...The report from which this excerpt has been taken is in the files of OPS in Washington, D.C...
...One of the major responsibilities of OPS officials is to assure that local police concentrate on those tasks considered most essential to U S. security, i.e., riot control, political surveillance, and the protection of U.S...
...160, in English...
...The most recent agreement (May 1970) signed by the U.S...
...3 Transformers...
...Most Colombians went to bed believing the old general was back in power, this time by democratic election...
...An example of this switch is that Colombia just recently bought from the U.S...
...Not too many years ago, for instance, the Colombian police had a five-year plan calling for the addition of 20,000 men to the force...
...dollars and in turn contracted with the Ford Motor Company (after receiving bids from Chevrolet and Plymouth) for the purchase of 1,255 vehicles and three tractors...
...The facts follow...
...2. A unified or combined command was established...
...68,500 Instruments $35,000 Apparatuses 16,600 Supplies 13,300 Reference aids 3,600 RECORDS AND IDENTIFICATION To assist in the development of more effective maintenance of records, to provide capabilities for quick retrieval of information and to develop identification capabilities...
...Thus, Brazil's Federal Police Academy was established with U.S...
...The inter-American issue is how long this kind of facade can keep the lid on rising anti-U.S...
...Furthermore, training programs in Colombia are normally of 3-year duration, in which the U.S...
...As an ordained Episcopalian minister he lived many years in the Dominiaan Republic and has traveled widely in Latin America...
...Driggers over the past five years...
...representatives defined the goals of the assistance provided to be (a) the establishment of a Federal Police organization at the time that the capitol of the country was moved to Brasilia from Rio de Janeiro, and (b) to deal with interim problems of police development in key states in the country...
...motorized equipment sent Spanish-speaking technicians to the host country...
...It is about this innocent and so-called simply "technical" police relationship that I wish to direct my attention...
...His "Project Activity," designated "Public Safety No...
...The effects of intervention in the university were twofold: The first was the closing of the dormitories, which were looked upon as the organization center for the extremists...
...3) provide protection of lives and property...
...This was accomplished at the beginning of Fiscal Year 1970, with area advisors being stationed in five locations throughout the country...
...feeling in Latin America.- 21 - UuuS Pumcedl U.S...
...Driggers was quite clear that the OPS now discourages the Colombian police from buying such items as helicopters, which are definitely a military purchase (except, he said, perhaps for two or three...
...540 Body shields & vests...
...In exchange for U.S...
...Another- 20 - contribution OPS has made is to impress upon the Colombians how important the whole police system is to national security and why it must receive a greater share of the budget...
...On the night of election day, Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was clearly winning and pulling away from the "programmed" winner, Misael Pastrana...
...Specifically, assistance was provided in order to modernize police operations, to expand and improve police training and central information services (records), and to provide for more coordination between the to-be-established Federal Police and respective state police forces...
...The training provided has been at a basic level for patrol work and riot control...
...In an effort to improve coordination among police agencies in the capital area, the terrorists' prime and most sensitive target, the Public Safety Division urged the host country to accept the concept of a unfied police command...
...Such training is provided at police schools in the United States, and in the special training programs established by OPS in the host countries...
...There is however a wide variety of communications and other documents--cables, memoranda for the record, reports of personnel serving or returning from overseas assignment, and a few appraisals by police specialists engaged by AID from outside organizations...
...agrees to aid Colombia in all these ways in exchange for certain "understandings...
...There are three kinds of police forces in Brazil...
...corrdination between the many and varied police agencies...
...One such understanding is that all police officers who receive training in the United States must be placed in key positions in their own police system upon their return--so as to more effectively carry out the responsibilities which have been set for them by the United States...
...The "purposes" which the end-of-tour report listed as having been served by the activity correspond: the civil police and paramilitary forces were adjudged to have been improved and modernized, increasing their capabilities to "(1) effectively maintain internal security...
...Government officials, are the "first line of defense" against insurgency and riot situations...
...By disguising these activities in sanitized language and by minimizing their importance, the U.S...
...9 units Ammunition (.38 cal...
...dominance of inter-American relations, how the OPS is used to ensure fraudulent, undemocratic elections, how the OPS has turned a previously violent police system into an efficient control system which can maintain the status-quo, did not seem to occur to him...
...It's an efficient arrangement having the Office of Public Safety (OPS) located in room 1712 of the Edificio Bavaria in Bogota, while the Colombian National Police branch office is in room 1710 and the branch office of the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS) in room 1709...
...Roy W. Driggers...
...See also the NACLA pamphlet, "U.S...
...handgun...
...The third force is the five year old Federal Police force...
...A major thrust of the OPS program is the reorganization of local police forces into a national coordinated police force under a unified command, which can respond to problems that may arise anywhere in the country...
...V, July-Aug 1971...
...Nancy Stein For additional information on U.S...
...Tab B provides details concerning police officers who have been trained and gives the character of the training received...
...NOTE: The following is a memorandum by Philip E. Wheaton summarizing an interview with Roy W. Driggers, Acting Chief of the Public Safety Division, U.S...
...Little outside.comment has been passed on the OPS programs overseas...
...Its goal is not just "law and order" but U.S...
...assistance to specific institutional Federal Police elements, the National Institute for Identification, the National Institute for Criminalistics, the National Police Academy, and the National Telecommunications Training Center...
...police aid to the Third World, see the following issues of the NACLA Newsletter: Jan...
...Primary assistance provided by the area advisors has been in direct training of uniformed municipal and state policemen...
...aid under the 1968 agreement between AID and Brazil...
...In this issue of-the Report, we present additional documents which reveal how the Public Safety Division actually operates in a given country--the mechanisms and practices by which it controls and manipulates foreign police agencies under the guise of remaining merely a "technical, advisory" group...
...External gunboat diplomacy is thus eliminated by the far more effective internal influence and actual presence of the Office of Public Safety...
...36 units Jeeps...
...He told of how antirabies vaccine had recently saved some children in a small village in that area...
...The loan contract with the Export-Import Bank called for the Colombians to sell their old fleet of cars and trucks in order to make the down payment...
...45 SSB Portable...
...As I listened to this OPS officer, a man who had obviously done his job well and had successfully influenced the Colombians to see things our way, I was equally amazed at his lack of awareness of the wider political implications of his office...
...137,000 Micro-film outfit $23,000 Kardveyers (12) 64,000 IBM system 26,000 IBM system 24,000...
...reloading of ammunition, which gave the police the necessary non-expensive ammunition needed in their extensive firearms training program...
...influence on any and all political movements that might threaten our present role in the hemisphere, such as the "development" of these countries through U.S...
...Aid and equipment have been supplied to Third World police forces by the United States in the key areas of communication, mobility, intelligence-gathering and surveillance...
...This has resulted in concentration of U.S...
...Driggers pointed out, there are important fringe benefits to such a communications network...
...99 VHF-FM Base...
...This was particularly important in this election, which is considered a fraud by most Colombians...
...529-11-710-022" under the smaller program that preceded OPS, was "to improve overall police organization and operations, and to encourage more effective coordination and cooperation between the various country agencies involved in public safety and internal security matters...
...At present 438 of the country's police officers have been trained in the U.S...
...Shortly before the elections in both countries, there was a heavy influx of U.S.-supplied police patrol cars and riot equipment which were used to round up demonstrators and to instill a climate of fear in the capital cities in order to stifle dissent...
...At present the government maintains the right, which it did not maintain before, of being able to send police into the grounds of the university in the event that terrorist groups used them as a sanctuary...
...5 units units units units units units units units units units units unit units units MUNITION To provide ammunition for firearm training, to provide police with an economical capability of replenishing ammunition on a continuing basis...
...Let's look at that system more closely...
...After listing the problems and difficulties, which included "lack of...
...The total for the Brazilian Army is 200,000...
...Such trained officers actively support in-country training programs and the operation of improvement efforts of the Public Safety Program...
...advisors are usually attached to the police headquarters of each country where they work in close conjunction with the local police and thus ultimately play a significant role in the day-to-day affairs of the particular country...
...52 units Trucks...
...Much needs to be done...
...The President of the host country gave full support and personal attention to the plan...
...9. Rural Police Capabilities: Public Safety influence has been extended to all parts of the host country...
...Two area advisors, assigned outside the capital city, cover the rural areas...
...The Colombian example is illustrative because our police training equipment right now is helping hold down a widespread popular protest against the un-democratic facade of the present Pastrana government...
...1970, Jan...
...normally closed to the public, these files were made available to John George--a former Public Safety Advisor in Africa-in 1968...
...In light of the insurgency threat, these capabilities are still inadequate...
...10 Generators...
...While the stated role of the OPS is simply an advisory one and its philosophy, as outlined by one of its State Department officials, to put "a friendly 'bobby' on every street," the actual goal of the OPS is to help maintain Colombian political stability...
...Public Safety Division Coordination With Private Enterprise Matters: The Chief and Deputy Chief Public Safety Advisors meet monthly with security officers of all major oil companies operating in the country and the security officer for the leading mining company...
...Other agencies have improved on public relations, but many of them have failed to properly follow through...
...assistance to local police forces, aid recipients must make certain commitments...
...4 Console...
...purchases are only one way the national police is linked to the OPS and the police-industrial complex...
...Phil Wheaton is currently director of EPICA (Ecumenical Program for Inter-American Communication and Action) based in Washington, D.C...
...He has prepared a number of papers and developed the capabilities to give third-country training in the host country to participants from other Spanish-speaking countries...
...The second was the establishment by the government of the principle that the grounds of the university are not inviolate...
...The cars were not only used to patrol and pick up Colombians involved in non-violent political protests but, in the first few days following the election, were utilized to divide and cordon off mass groups into smaller segments where U.S.-made tear gas and riot-trained police could handle them efficiently...
...1970, Sept...
...Initially, formal agreements signed by the Brazilian and U.S...
...Unprepared for such a popular switch, the establishment had to take abrupt action, closing down all radio and TV broadcasting until all the votes were in...
...As of August 31, 10,656 police officers have been trained within the country...
...Government has attempted to keep most elements of this program out of the public consciousness and thus relatively invulnerable to criticism...
...Lesson plans and techniques were developed by the Public Safety Division...
...Although not acknowledged by OPS, it is safe to assume that U.S...
...The OPS agrees to provide such technical needs as training programs both in Colombia and in the U.S...
...8. Criminalistics: The crime laboratory of the Technical and Judicial Police has been developed to a high degree of efficiency...
...That program never came off, though they do add 2,000-3,000 annually...
...George included this excerpt from the Venezuela report in a paper he delivered to the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, Inc...
...4) extend miscellaneous police services and minimize community hazards...
...defective policies regarding ;alaries...
...Communist Sanctuaries Eliminated: Two privileged sanctuaries where communist activities were planned--and to a large extent carried out from--have been eliminated...
...Four other agencies partially reorganized, putting into practice most of our recommendations...
...IBM and Records system...
...7. Records and Identification: The technical groundwork has been laid for the country's public safety agencies, through electronic data processing and related processes, to pool their identification and intelligence data in a central location for more efficient coordination and rapid distribution of relevant facts and leads...
...This involves both a teletype and Army-style walkie-talkie contact in which trouble in any locale can be reported and met by rapid movement of police or soldiers from place to place...
...This followed extensive assistance to the Federal District Police in Brasilia and in the formulation of legislation for the eventual formation of the Federal Police agency...
...The Public Safety Division is active in assisting in this project, with the Area Advisor assigned to the region working directly with the committee, appointed by the Governor, responsible for drawing up the overall plan...
...It has continued and still continues to operate effectively and has been a factor in the improved policing of the capital area...
...Emphasis in assistance to the states was in the functional areas of training, communications, criminalistics, records and identification, transportation, administration and management, humane methods of riot control, urban patrol, reporting procedures, industrial security and public relations...
...Since the inception of the Public Safety Program, there have been 519 Brazilian police officers trained in the United States...
...The Identification Division was reorganized, old records microfilmed and destroyed, and teletypes were installed...
...At present, the Colombian national police have built up their appropriations from the federal treasury to $64 million annually (U.S...
...Besides, he went on, the Colombian Army has enough helicopters for any emergency...
...OPS training activities and deliveries of police weapons cost the United States a total of $236 million between 1961 and 1969...
...Then he went on to say that the real reason OPS advised against helicopters is that the Colombian terrain is really too mountainous and that the Colombians don't have sufficient maintenance to keep helicopters in the air, though he feels the police should have a few Cessna scout aircraft...
...104 SSB Base...
...the terrorist and subversive interventions by the Cubans, the report referred the reader to earlier (classified) reports and studies and moved on to enumerate the accomplishments claimed...
...Reloading Outfit...
...Most of this training has been conducted at the International Police Academy operated by AID in Washington with some of the earlier training being provided by the former AID operated training school for Latin America police officers in Panama...
...It is significant that more than 95% of those trained remain with the police...
...Every year a contract is drawn up between the OPS and the Colombian police, called a "Program Agreement,' which involves police training, equipment, and communications...
...These U.S...
...1971...
...Even though these used vehicles were in poor condition, Mr...
...The total numbers of police in the country amount to about 240,000.* The AID Public Safety program was begun in Brazil in 1960 at the request of the Brazilian Government...
...style 4-door Torino sedan patrol cars (over 50%), jeeps, and a few ambulances...
...The Municipal Police of the Federal District, which has developed into one of the best agencies of its type in Latin America, has an excellent public relations program...
...5. Preventative Maintenance: Representatives of private enterprise and Public Safety Advisors helped improve preventative maintenance programs for police vehicles and equipment, which added to police operational efficiency...
...One agency completely reorganized in accordance with Public Safety Division recommendations...
...This original procurement process began in September of 1968 and the vehicles arrived in Colombia in late February and early March of 1970...
...3 1/2 million...
...Indeed, by midnight the radio and TV stations were giving the election to Rojas Pinilla by more than 300,000 votes...
...It provided for the development of mobile police training teams to supplement the training resources of the National Police Academy...
...1 Megaphones...
...Also, in recognition of the need for developing rural police capabilities, two public safety advisors (rural) have been assigned to work full time with the National Guard...
...APPENDIX: EQUIPMENT DELIVERED TO BRAZIL UNDER THE PUBLIC SAFETY PROGRAM, 1959-1970 MOTOR VEHICLES AND EQUIPMENT To increase mobility, patrol effectiveness and police coverage by the state and federal law enforcement agencies...
...Laboratory commodities...
...2 units RIOT EQUIPMENT To provide Brazilian police with means for protection and non-lethal suppression of riots...
Vol. 6 • January 1972 • No. 1
