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Colombia THE NATIONAL POLICE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES
In 1988 the National Police was Colombia's principal
law
enforcement organization. Colombia's first national police
force,
consisting of an estimated 450 men, was organized in 1891
with the
assistance of a commissaire of France's National Police.
Over the
ensuing decades, the national police acted as a Liberal
counterbalance to the Conservative dominant influence
within the
Colombian military.
During the 1950s, the PC government moved the force
from the
jurisdiction of the Ministry of Government to that of
Ministry of
National Defense. This was done both to eliminate the
remaining
Liberal sympathizers within the force and to bring the
force under
stricter government supervision. In 1962 the National
Police
assumed administrative and operational control over the
separate
police forces that had been maintained by each of the
country's
administrative divisions.
During the 1980s, the National Police remained directly
subordinate to the minister of national defense. Officers
holding
military rank filled key posts within the National Police.
Their
uniforms and insignia of rank, however, were different
from those
worn by members of the country's military forces. Having
passed
through the police's own professional training
institutions, these
men were believed to have dedicated their professional
careers to
service with the force. Such career officers did not
alternate
between military and police service, as was customary with
some
Latin American armed forces.
In 1969 National Police personnel were estimated to
total about
42,000. Recruitment plans announced during the mid-1970s
projected
an increase in the size of the force to some 75,000
personnel by
1980. Yet despite the increased challenges to internal
security,
the size of the force did not increase significantly and
remained
relatively constant at some 50,000 between 1974 and 1984.
In 1988
the size of the National Police was estimated at
approximately
55,000, of whom approximately 10 percent were civilians.
The headquarters of the National Police was located in
Bogotá.
The force's organization appeared to parallel the
military's
headquarters command; it was divided into separate
functional
departments, including personnel (F-1), intelligence
(F-2),
operations (F-3), and logistics (F-4)
(see The Command Structure
, this ch.). Personnel not attached to the headquarters
staff were
deployed in each of the country's administrative
departments, in
which a police commander served as the ranking police
officer.
Bogotá was treated as a separate police section. In
addition to his
own staff, the departmental police commander supervised
police
personnel assigned to the various districts, stations,
substations,
and police posts maintained throughout the department. The
departmental commander was responsible to the director
general for
police operations and administration. The departmental
commander
was, however, subordinate to the departmental governor
with respect
to the manner in which law enforcement policies were
implemented.
Mayors and civil magistrates also were reported to have a
say in
law enforcement matters. During the late 1980s, some
observers
contended that the control exercised by these political
officials
was a corrupting influence within the National Police.
In addition to the force's primary charge to handle
common
crimes, its major responsibilities included narcotics
interdiction,
some counterinsurgency work, participation in civic action
in rural
areas, and riot control in the country's urban centers.
Other
duties included enforcement of traffic regulations,
supervision of
public recreation areas, provision of security at gold and
emerald
mines, provision of security in the transport of valuables
between
government banks and on the national railroads, and
administration
of and provision of guards for the country's prison
system.
A number of special police units functioned under the
overall
jurisdiction of the headquarters' operations command. They
included
the Radio Patrol Group, the Antimugging Group, the Private
Surveillance Group, the Highway Police, the Tourist
Police, the
Juvenile Police, the Railroad Police, and the Operational
Group
Against Extortion and Kidnappings. The Antinarcotics
Police were
important not only in the seizure of narcotics and the
arrest of
those involved but also in helping search out and destroy
the
concealed air landing strips and processing laboratories
used by
the narcotics traffickers. The National Police's
Carabineros were
a special rural police force that carried out
counterinsurgency
missions, frequently in conjunction with army units.
Headquartered
at the department and national territory capitals, the
Carabineros
were maintained in squadrons that were separate from those
of the
regular police; they wore distinctive uniforms and often
traveled
as mounted units. The National Police also administered
and manned
the country's fire departments. In support of these
various police
units, the National Police maintained a small air section
equipped
with some thirty light helicopters and one HS-748
airplane.
During the 1980s, the National Police reportedly also
assumed
control of the Directorate of the Judicial Police and
Investigation
(Dirección de la Policía Judicial y Investigación--Dijin).
This law
enforcement organization--commonly referred to as the
Judicial
Police--was formerly under the jurisdiction of the
Ministry of
Justice. The national Criminal Statistics Archives
(Archivos de
Estadística Criminal) and the Judicial Police represented
the
principal repositories of information required for the
prosecution
of criminal cases. The Criminal Statistics Archives also
was
transferred to the National Police and integrated as a
section of
the force's investigative division. Although located in
Bogotá, the
Judicial Police maintained its headquarters in a location
separate
from that of the National Police.
During the mid-1980s, the Judicial Police came to play
an
important role in Colombia's National Antinarcotics
Campaign. Its
responsibilities reportedly included carrying out criminal
investigations and continuing to assist in the preparation
of court
cases against narcotics traffickers. Members of the
Judicial Police
also were believed to be assigned to duty with various
governmental
bodies that had responsibilities related to law
enforcement and the
administration of justice, including the Office of the
Attorney
General and the federal government's Administrative
Security
Department (Departamento Administrativo de
Seguridad--DAS).
The National Police maintained its own professional
education
system, separate from that of the military forces and
administered
by the police's instructional division. The two principal
professional schools for members of the National Police
were the
General Santander Police Cadet School and the Jiménez de
Quesada
Noncommissioned Officers School, both located in Bogotá.
Completion
of the cadet school's rigorous two-year program was
required of all
recruits who aspired to obtain a commission in the
National Police.
Completion of additional training was required for
promotions.
Noncommissioned officers were required to complete a
five-month
course for each advancement in rank from corporal to
sergeant
major. The National Police also operated seven smaller
police
schools in various locations throughout the country. These
schools
offered a five-month basic training course for recruits as
well as
in-service training; coursework included subjects as
diverse as
Colombian history and riot control. Members of the
Carabineros were
required to undergo a special three-month training program
at the
National School of Carabineros, also located in the
national
capital. During the mid-1970s, this specialized
instruction
included courses in horsemanship, basic veterinary
medicine, and
civic action.
In addition to the National Police, two other
organizations--
the DAS and the Customs Service (Servicio de Aduana)--had
important
law enforcement responsibilities. The DAS was the
principal
organization responsible for enforcement of laws relating
to
national security. This organization had a national role
comparable
to that of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the
United
States. The formal responsibilities under the DAS's
mandate
included investigating crimes against the internal
security of the
state, fraud against the state and its financial
institutions,
breaches of the public faith, and crimes affecting
individual
liberty and human rights. The DAS also was responsible for
screening and maintaining records on foreigners who
entered the
nation and for enforcing immigration laws. To carry out
its
mission, the DAS had both investigative and
intelligence-gathering
responsibilities.
Like the minister of national defense, the chief of the
DAS
reported directly to the president of the republic. In
1988 General
Miguel Alfredo Maza Márquez served as chief of the DAS.
Among the
administrative units reporting to the DAS chief were the
heads of
the Office of Evaluation, the Office of Analysis and
Programming,
and the Rural Security Service. During the mid-1970s, the
DAS was
believed to have some 3,000 plainclothes personnel.
In comparison with the military and the National
Police, the
professional career system under the DAS was considered to
be
relatively weak, a factor that was thought to have
contributed to
the high attrition rate of DAS personnel during the late
1970s. The
DAS did, however, operate its own training schools--one in
Bogotá
and the other in Boyacá. The DAS coordinated its domestic
operations with the ministries of government, foreign
affairs,
justice, and national defense.
Data as of December 1988
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