The Dominican Republic will strengthen citizen security through the strategic use of information to reduce violence and crime. To this end, the Ministry of Interior and Police developed the inter-institutional training “Strengthening Citizen Security through Intelligent Information”, in which it shared experiences with Honduras and Costa Rica.
The activity was carried out together with the Regional Infosegura initiative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with the support of the United States Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
In this scenario, the Minister of Interior and Police, Jesús Vásquez Martínez, announced as part of the actions to curb these scourges the use of smart phones in the National Police and the increase of preventive patrolling.
He said that social transformations have changed the way of living, which requires modernization. In this context, technology is fundamental, which is why they have requested joint work, in view of the fact that the Government prioritizes citizen security.
Meanwhile, the UNDP resident representative, Inka Mattila, explained that “from the Regional Infosegura Project, a regional strategic alliance between UNDP and USAID, we have accompanied the Ministry of Interior and Police in the coordination of the Integral Strategy for Citizen Security, providing data and analysis that contribute to take comprehensive action to promote peace and achieve concrete results in favor of the welfare of the people”.
He stated that the purpose is to accelerate the interconnection between institutions to act in favor of people, especially the most vulnerable. With data and analysis that provide accurate and updated information, it is possible to create tools and processes to implement comprehensive security policies based on evidence.
USAID Acting Deputy Director Robert Clink said his nation recognizes the potential of security through information and “is committed to working with our partners as they build a safer and more prosperous society.
On behalf of Honduras, the Vice Minister of Security and Police Affairs, Julissa Villanueva, presented her country’s achievements in terms of data collection, which already has 61 municipal observatories on coexistence and citizenship and has created an open portal to receive data, which systematizes information from seven agencies.
He expressed that the objective is to identify the territories, classify them according to the degree of threat and vulnerability, focus policies and make effective decisions against violence.
On this aspect, the Dominican Vice-Minister of Internal Security, Jesús Féliz, said that they aspire to quality data in order to be able to achieve forceful actions and need the law enforcement corps in the transformation initiated by the Government.
Oscar Delgado Cascanate, from the Inter-institutional Technical Commission of Coexistence and Security Statistics of Costa Rica, pondered the advantages of coordination, agreements and accords to identify the genesis of violence and vulnerability.
He cited, among the shortcomings, weak or non-existent data and non-standardized records. He suggested strengthening technical units and observatories, as well as a network of analysis for prevention.
The director of the Citizen Security Analysis Center, Daniel Pou, explained that during his term as head of this unit “we have deployed efforts in the country’s data and we are committed”.
Participants included the Citizen Security Data Analysis Center, the Attorney General’s Office, the National Police, the 9-1-1 National Emergency and Security Attention System, the National Institute of Forensic Sciences, the General Directorate of Traffic Safety and Land Transportation, the National Statistics Office, the Ministry of Women and the Ministry of Public Health.
Also, the National Council for Children and Adolescents, the National Drug Control Directorate, the Ministry of Education, the Institutionality and Justice Foundation, the Ministry of the Presidency of the Dominican Republic and the Government Office of Information and Communication Technologies.
About Infosegura
The Infosegura Regional Project is a strategic alliance between UNDP and USAID to work together with national institutions to improve the cycle of management and analysis of information on citizen security in Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) and the Dominican Republic.
Its purpose is to strengthen the capacities of the States for the formulation of evidence-based, people-centered public policies on citizen security based on a multidimensional approach with a gender and human rights focus.
Source: presidencia.gov.do
