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Mirones tells Panamanians that better policing costs money

Truths that may be hazardous to a career in government
by Eric Jackson, from other media

National Police director Rolando Mirones, who came to his post after serving as vice minister of treasury and finance, may have committed an unpardonable gaffe. He said that if Panamanians want top-notch police protection, they'll have to pay for it.

"Security costs and someone must pay this bill," Mirones told reporters from the daily newspapers and television stations while talking about his efforts at institutional reforms. "If we want First World security, that will have to be paid for and as a society we will have to decide."

To anyone who has dealt directly with government finance at any level, this statement would on its face seem so non-controversial as to be almost banal. But Panama is different, Mirones is different, and the reasons why he's talking about reforming the police have tried public patience. Thus within a day Mirones was backtracking, saying that his fairly straightforward statements had been misunderstood.

Since the 1989 US invasion, any hint of a return to militarism has set off alarm bells in Panama. Thus all of the directors of the National Police that replaced the military and police forces of Noriega's time have been civilians. That may or may not have prevented any coups --- ask most cops who are disposed to answer with any candor, and they will usually have nasty things to say about the politicians but will add that they don't think that it should be up to the police to take on the botched job of running the country. But all has not been well in the police force, and in his 2004 campaign Martín Torrijos advocated the hiring of a career law enforcement officer to direct the National Police. Predictably, he was accused of promoting militarism by his opponents, but among the electorate that stand was reasonably well received.

Nevertheless, President Torrijos has appointed civilian police chiefs. The shaven-headed Mirones, however, has been dubbed by cartoonists and wags as "Kojak" and called a worse militarist than actual soldiers by some opposition political figures. From a public relations point of view it hasn't helped that Mirones inherited a force with some serious discipline problems and has a personality disinclined to just let things slide for the sake of appearances. Moreover, when former cops engage in shootouts on Via España on behalf of their drug dealer employers, entire shifts at police posts in the Interior are busted for grabbing drugs from one gang of smugglers to sell them to another criminal organization and the daily news is frequently about an individual cop gone bad in one way or another, a lackadaisical attitude only keeps up an appearance that the institution can't afford to maintain.

And so it was that Mirones made his remarks about the cost of policing at an event in which he pointed out ongoing investigations of 99 police officials and the firings of 13 cops, including three majors, in just the first two and one-half weeks of April. The director said that police reform is necessary and his boss, Government and Justice Minister Héctor Alemán, has backed him on this point.

But the talk of what policing costs and the need to pay was what most of the media seized upon. To some it was a shakedown of the politicians for more money for a police force that has expanded while most other government departments were shrinking. To others it was a lame excuse for rampant corruption that Mirones has been unable to control. For Rubén Darío Paredes, whom General Noriega forced aside in the rotation to command the old Panama Defense Forces, it was a sign that the post-invasion system of civilian political appointees as police directors is not working. For some business leaders it was a harbinger of yet higher taxes.

So within a day, Mirones was backtracking, saying that he didn't mean that the citizens would have to pay more for police protection.

And meanwhile in the capital the police don't seem to have enough cars to suppress the sometimes deadly drag races that yuppie puppies with illustrious surnames hold on the streets; in rural areas cops sometimes have to get to crime scenes on buses or bicycles; many officers have not been trained to work a crime scene without contaminating it and so on.

Panama Canal expansion update

Also in this section:
Truth about policing that people don't want to hear?
Piña beach wall toppled
Drug plane strafed, banana co-op security guards busted
Tico presidential inauguration will be a big international event
Panama News Briefs