I’ve been retired from urban policing for four years, yet still feel actively engaged in the issues that confront police officers. I follow local and national police issues and I am still fascinated by individual and group behavior.
Most cops with significant street experience become keen analysts of human nature and behavior over time. They become experts at human and situational assessment without a day of formal clinical experience, and their assessments take place in seconds rather than over a series of clinical appointments. It is a unique ability, and coupled with sound judgment and restraint, it is what makes police officers special in society. I have traveled extensively internationally and have learned that police insights are universal.
I have visited Colombia many times in the last few years. The Colombian people are some of the hardest working and friendliest people I’ve met in my travels, yet they have suffered greatly. Historically, Colombians have been exposed to extreme political and narco-violence, as well as significant street crime.
In Bogota during the 1980’s and early 1990’s, it was against the law to wear a motorcycle helmet in traffic because helmets hid the identities of the armed assassins, sicarios, who roamed the city on motorcycles. Women could not wear earrings on buses or in the street without fear of having their jewelry torn from their ears. It was necessary to attach your purse or handbag to a latch of your chair in bars and restaurants, and using a taxi was a complicated process of recording and reporting plate numbers and confirmation codes before entering the cab. Robberies, kidnapping and criminal justice system corruption were rampant, and Colombia was on the verge of becoming a failed state due to a weak central government and the proliferation and influence of the drug cartels.
Traditionally, Colombians could not rely on the police. Security, la vigilancia, was the pre-eminent theme in Colombian life. The private security industry that emerged to fill the void was multi-layered and omni-present. The security guard at the McDonald’s in the resort city of Cartagena carried a shotgun, but also helped clear tables. Hotels employed squads of plainclothes and uniformed guards. Even very small businesses pooled money to employ guards to patrol their block.
That climate has changed dramatically in the last 10 years, largely due to the courage and determination of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. With American financial assistance from 'Plan Colombia' and U.S. State Department aid programs, Uribe has transformed Colombia into a stable society with a strong central government and a growing economy. With the financial aid, and Uribe’s personal fortitude, military and urban police training was increased and the urban security situation was greatly improved.
The Colombian criminal justice system was overhauled and law enforcement professionalism and training was emphasized. The major narcotics cartels have been shattered and the guerilla groups such as the FARC and the ELN have been largely marginalized. Today, Colombia is a vibrant, educated, and modern country with a thriving international and domestic investment climate.
On a recent visit to Pereira, Colombia, I was having a morning coffee at Café La Florestria in the business district adjacent to the cathedral. Pereira, population 450,000, is a thriving manufacturing city west of Bogota.
As I chatted with the barista, there was a commotion just outside the open door. The young woman ran to the front, looked down the sidewalk and ran back behind the bar, yelling to me in Spanish, “Watch out, Watch out!”
I got up from my table near the door and cautiously stepped outside. 20 feet to my left two farmers had squared off -- each swinging a machete. If you’re from the countryside, carrying a machete into town is not a big deal, but this was a righteous sword fight taking place on a crowded street. People were running and screaming. I hated to waste a good cup of coffee, but it was time to go.
As I exited the cafe to the right, a man in a white polo shirt and khaki slacks walked calmly past me towards the fight. He approached the first combatant from the rear and placed him in a headlock. Simultaneously, he pulled a black revolver from his waistband and pointed it at the second suspect, who was about 6 feet away.
“Drop it! Drop it! Drop it!” he yelled at the second man, while restraining the first man by the neck. The free-swinging suspect seemed enraged at this intervention, and advanced on the man with the gun.
Expecting 'shots fired', I retreated back inside the café and braced for the inevitable.
No shots. The man in the polo shirt simply shuffled backwards with his restrained suspect in a sort of improvised salsa move.
"Drop it!" he repeated several more times as the attacker advanced.
The bizarre dance moved down the sidewalk. “What’s he waiting for?”
Just as the attacker prepared to lunge, two unarmed municipal police officers in green uniforms, approached the suspect from behind, each grabbing an arm, and wrestled him to the sidewalk. It was over. No shots, no injury. Both men were quickly escorted to the main square and packed into a police truck.
“Incredible!” I remarked to a man standing next to me on the sidewalk. “yes, very calmly”, he replied, complimenting the man in the polo shirt.
This incident lasted probably three minutes from start to finish and was professionally and heroically handled by an off-duty Pereira police officer moonlighting as a business district security guard. The guy acted with a cool head, bought time until his colleagues stationed in front of the cathedral could respond, and prevented a tragedy.
I don’t believe this scenario would have played out the same way in the past. The Colombian people and their security forces had been exposed to extreme levels of violence, and, over time, this exposure had affected their responses to crime and disorder. The poor and rich alike became victims of the poorly trained national and local police as well as the paramilitaries. I think that historically two extremes existed in Colombian policing, either indifference in response to crime, or unrestrained force in dealing with political opponents or criminals.
The Colombian transformation under Uribe is comprehensive. The commitment to improving the criminal justice system and abiding by the rule of law has had dramatic results on national and local law enforcement, and on the Colombian psyche.
I believe the Pereira officer’s instincts and restraint demonstrated a level of training and professionalism that police officers everywhere should aspire to reach. "Well done, my friend."
Author Jeffrey Haire is a retired police officer from Torrance, Ca. with a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University.
tomtom33
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... Thanks for the article, Jeff. You are going to really piss off some regular commenters. Up until a few months ago, I would have agreed with the tenor of your essay. Today I do not. Colombia, especially Medellín, Antioquia, Cali, Barranquilla, and Cartagena outside of the tourist zone, has gone to hell in a hand basket. Extortion is rampant. Murders are soaring. Fear is palpable. No longer is Poblado or Laureles an oasis of security. We got a break with the arrest of an extortion gang preying upon Comuna 13 and surrounding areas, but we have a very long way back. Some Colombians claim that today is worse than the heyday of Pablo. |
Adriaan
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... Things have definitely gotten much worse than before the extradition of paramilitary heads, but that seems to have lead mostly to violence between gangs or paramilitary factions. You can argue that the security situation has been managed badly politically, but that doesn't mean the police hasn't improved. |
tomtom33
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... The police may have improved. But the way I judge policing is by my personal sense of security. I was forced to leave my house in Medellín(estrato 4/5) because of extortion demands, and I have nothing to do with gangs, drugs, or paras. I personally know of Colombian families who are in the same boat, and they have nothing to do with gangs, drugs, or paras. My wife who was born and raised in Medellín had two restaurants in suburban Medellín. Both had to be closed because of demands for vacuna. And I never had anything to do with the operation of either. The average Colombian person on the street has a lot to fear these days. The extranjero has even more to fear. I hope that the police get even better and quickly. |
Jeff Haire
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... I saw this incident as an evidence that national policies and public demands for accountability and professionalism have created change at the local level in Colombia. In the Los Angeles area where I worked for 20 years, the police officers rarely worked on foot, and did not care to do so. They want separation from the public, so there are no undue demands or questions. In Colombia I see squadrons of officers, both municipal and tourism officers, deployed openly in squares and on corners, fully exposed. Many are unarmed. This is the part of Community- Based Policing that Americans don't receive. It is going to take a long time to have major changes in the institutionalized corruption, and political acceptance of graft, and impunity of police and (para) military abuse. It takes a long time to undo things, sometimes generations. But national attitudes and behavior can and do change over time. I think they change sooner on the local level where there is more visibility od whois doing what around the town square. Colombians are to great a people to give up hope when there are signs of progress. |
Jeffrey Haire
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... It is the small things in institutional change that often reflect progress. It is the upper level, elite positions that seem to be the hardest to change. I believe the average Colombian wants major insitutional change. It is the people in charge of implementing this change, the gatekeepers, the elite, who have the most to lose. It reminds me of the downfall of the PRI in Mexico. There was a vacuum created, and nothing substantive to fillthat void. As for Colombian local policing, I think the Colombians have made great progress. In the United States, since the late 1980's, there has been an organizational trend called "Community-Based Policing". It has generally been successful, and well-received by the public. Yet, I can speak from my experience in the Los Angeles area. The police officers prefer to stay inside there cars, insulated from the public, in order to limit demands for service or contact. My observations of Colombian policing are different. The police are often highly visible and available to the public in town squares, parks and other pedestrian areas. They are ahead of the USA in this regard, and this is a huge advantage in building public support for the police mission. This is an excellent platform for building trust, and providing professional services. In addition, the officers get to know "who's who in the zoo" as we say here in L.A. That is why I was impressed with my observations in Pereira. |
Bluebird
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... My wife's family, who live in El Poblado district of Medellin, have not mentioned anything to me recently about a noticeable increase in crime or security problems in the area but then I have not asked the specific question either. We were there a few months ago and I felt completely safe as always. I also know that things have deteriorated in other districts within the city and for a variety of reasons.A couple of quick comments....It is refreshing to read something of the many positive things that are happening in Colombia. I feel that these things are just as newsworthy as the negative things that we all are aware of.but they rarely get much attention. The second thing is that it is really great to see this writer giving the police a pat on the back for a job well done. Policemen, in general, are terribly underpaid, certainly underappreciated, and put their lives on the line every day to protect us from the predators that roam our cities and towns. Yes, I realize that sometimes the local police are the biggest predators in town but fortunately this is the exception rather than the rule. |
gringomedellin
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... while things may have improved much more is needed, being in Medellin I see young people acting as police with what seems little training the walk around talking on their cell phones , in groups of two or more, at times stopping someone to pat them down, or telling people to move along you can´t sit here. then you have useless transit police that seem on break more them on the job, and when it comes to directing traffice can´t direct themselfs out of a paper bag let alone traffic, but even worse watse is those of the Defenders of public space, who block public ways far more then any venders of medellin, I call them a herd of cows feeding off the people of medellin, in which Medellin seem to receive nothing in return but clogged sidewalks of lazy useless public employees |
Jeffrey Haire
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... Yes, Indeed. Things are going to take time, and, the changes vary, of course, across the country. The locals are only as good as their supervision. What's needed is an extended emphasis on excellence which can only come from extraordinary leaders, whether they be police or politicians. When young officers see and believe that the change is welcome, rewarded, and appreciated, they adapt. I have seen it here in Los Angeles. I have also seen the lazy, unmotivated and burned out officers you speak of in Medellin, here in Los Angeles. These issues are universal. Only extraordinary leadership by example, the courage to change, and consistent praise and discipline will effect change. |
