Police officials say a nationwide purge of corrupt and incompetent officers has begun, spurred by the revelation that ten officers in Cali were responsible for a string of bank robberies and the murder of one of their own.
The investigation is being held in Cali, but the exam process in Medellín will also intensify. Methods including polygraph tests and testing compliance with patrol duties, reported Caracol Radio.
Some officers will be reassigned, others will be asked to leave the forces.
“The institution is not going to delay in taking appropriate action,” General Rafael Parra, director of the National Police, told El País.
Investigations into murders allegedly committed by members of the security forces have increased by more than 50 percent since 2006, reported El País.
Of 558 cases, 383 occurred in the past three years, according to The Prosecution Unit for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
Currently 412 investigations are carried out in the previous penal system and 146 have been prosecuted under the new system of criminal justice, which came into effect in 2005. 685 army personnel, 36 policemen and four DAS detectives have been linked to the investigations.
Of 1015 victims, 933 are men, 82 women and 48 minors. The departments where the most homicides are recorded are Antioquia, with 155 cases, with 107 and Cordoba with 54.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, so far only 42 members of the Army have been convicted.
Meanwhile, 6 of the Army colonels are under investigation for alleged responsibility in homicides, as well as 7 majors, 23 captains, 33 lieutenants and 480 professional soldiers.