Reform as a Safety Valve: The Rise of Community Participation in Policing in Latin America

• In Event: Padding the Iron Fist? Ethnographic Approaches to Ongoing Criminal Justice and Citizen Security Reforms in Latin America

Abstract

The language of community and societal participation in the context of crime prevention has become ubiquitous throughout Latin America as governments increasingly turn to police-community partnerships as a means of addressing the seemingly intractable problems of rising crime and insecurity. The adoption of this particular type of police reform, while relatively commonplace today, differs markedly from the ways in which police institutions have historically operated in much of the region. Moreover, opening spaces for citizen input and oversight could potentially limit an executive’s control over police forces, which can serve as an important political tool. Why, then, do politicians sometimes enact police reform that includes community participation as a key component? This paper examines the adoption of what I call participatory security, understood as a specific type of police reform that establishes institutionalized forums for community input on matters related to local security and policing. I argue that politicians choose participation as a safety valve to disaggregate societal discontent particularly where police-society relations are poor and police capacity and resources are low. Participation, however, may serve different purposes, which will in turn shape the institutional design of the participatory mechanism. Drawing on evidence from Buenos Aires Province, São Paulo State, and Colombia, I demonstrate that we can explain the adoption of participatory security and its institutional design based on variation in police-society relations and police capacity and resources.

Author

• Yanilda M Gonzalez, Harvard University