Police Chief Slowly Purging Corruption From The Ranks in Panama
The National Police Chief Gustavo Perez said on Tuesday, March 6, that this institution is in a debugging process. He said about 2,000 police officers have left the ranks of the organization, in the two and a half years of his administration. According to Perez, these types of people are getting out of the police force because they are not consistent with what both the Police and the community are looking for. The police chief explained that these dismissals have taken place because "we always seek the best for the community, for the citizens We are building professional police officers," he added. However, when he finds a police officers who has had many complaints filed against him in the Office of Office of Professional Responsibility, then he must be eliminated, he said. "No one fires an employee because they are good, that does not happen in any company," he said. The rank and file of the police officers and officials have said it's time to get these people out of the organization, explained the police chief in TVN Noticias. According to Perez, there are police commissioners and deputy commissioners who have up to hive homes, and in other cases there are police officers who have as many as ten cars, which they could not justify. (Prensa)
Editor's Comment: Creating and fostering and fomenting professionalism in a fundamentally non-professional force is a very difficult task indeed. It's safe to say that the National Police force in Panama is becoming "less corrupt" as time goes by. If you'll notice when the drug busts happen and hundreds of kilos of cocaine are seized, very often the bad guys will be carrying thousands of dollars in cash with them as well. That's to pay bribes - they will just hand over the wad of cash in order to be let go and not arrested. Also, in Panama a police "commissioner" or "sub commissioner" is a name of a rank, not a position.
