Honduras Aims to Create New Rural Police Force

The spokesperson for the National Police said that the emphasis should not only be on purging the police force of corrupt officials, but on the executive and legislative branches as well.

Note: The following article was reprinted with permission. It was originally published in InSight Crime.

By Elyssa Pachico
On Sunday, the president of the Honduran Congress, Juan Orlando Hernández, announced plans to create a new rural police unit. Hernández said that the new branch is not intended to replace the National Police, but to aid in the fight against organized crime, according to Proceso Digital. Hernández's announcement followed a visit by representatives from the Chilean National Police, meant to advise Honduras on how to restructure the police force, reports the AFP. The Secretary of Security for the Organization of American States (OAS) also visited Honduras over the weekend in order to discuss police reform.

Honduras' Congress is currently debating a bill which would create an independent monitoring body, the Commission of Public Security Reform, charged with overseeing a purge in the police force. Debate on the bill is set to begin today. If established, the commission’s most sensitive points of debate will likely concern how to clean up and reorganize Honduras’ police. This could involve reshuffling the force, and perhaps creating a new specialized unit charge with rural security, as Hernández suggested. In the most extreme case, police reform would entail rebuilding the force from the bottom-up.

Hernández’s remarks appeared to hint at how sensitive the issue could become, when he made a point of emphasizing that the National Police “will continue to exist” despite the mass reshuffling planned for the force.

The spokesperson for the National Police said that the emphasis should not only be on purging the police force of corrupt officials, but on the executive and legislative branches as well.

President Porfirio Lobo announced plans to push through with widespread police reform last September, after the country registered over 4,000 murders.

The issue of police reform became more hotly debated after police in Tegucigalpa were accused of killing two university students last October. These extrajudicial killings followed a series of other scandals, in which the police were accused of trafficking weapons and drugs.

According to a poll by the Central American University, over two-thirds of Hondurans believe the police are corrupt, and 77 percent blame President Lobo for the current crisis.

Honduras finished 2011 with 6,273 homicides, or 86 murders per 100,000 inhabitants -- the highest murder rate in the world. (1/31/12)