Very interesting news. If Nieto wins the election in Mexico, this would be the guy he would be using for battling the cartels. Naranjo has the track record of cleaning up Colombia, and he is a foreigner in Mexico. Which makes me wonder how Mexicans would view this move? Will this be a boost or negative when it comes to votes? –Matt
Colombia’s legendary police chief heads to Mexico
By FRANK BAJAK
June 16, 2012
A signature trophy that Gen. Oscar Naranjo has carefully displayed in glass at Police Intelligence headquarters is odd by any measure: the neatly folded uniform of a rebel commander slain in 2008, clearly showing the holes from the shrapnel that killed him.
The four-star general, who retired as Colombia’s police director this week, is proud of that and the others that line a hallway at the Police Intelligence Directorate in northern Bogota. They are testament to an intelligence empire he built that is unrivaled in Latin America.
Naranjo, 55, has played a central role in the capture or death of nearly every top Colombian drug trafficker, beginning with Pablo Escobar. The dismantling of the Medellin and Cali cocaine cartels and the splintering of successor trafficking organizations into ever-smaller groups was, as much as anyone’s, Naranjo’s doing.
On Thursday, Mexican presidential front-runner Enrique Pena Nieto said Naranjo has agreed to serve as his adviser on fighting drug trafficking if Pena Nieto wins the July 1 election.
The candidate has pledged to reduce violent crime affecting ordinary people in Mexico’s drug war, a contrast to President Felipe Calderon’s strategy of going after drug kingpins. Analysts have said Pena Nieto’s strategy could mean that drug dealers who conduct their businesses discreetly will be left alone.
But Naranjo, standing with Pena Nieto at a news conference, said all cartels should be treated equally because “there can’t be inequalities in the treatment of criminals.”
Honduras is the latest focal point in America’s drug war. As Mexico puts the squeeze on narcotics barons using its territory as a transit hub, more than 90 percent of the cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela bound for the United States passes through Central America. More than a third of those narcotics make their way through Honduras, a country with vast ungoverned areas — and one of the highest per capita homicide rates in the world.
The drug war is definitely heating up in Honduras. The strategy seems pretty simple, and that as you can see with the quote up top, Honduras is a main smuggling route on land and the US plans on helping to stop that. Also, the amount of land to cover is smaller and you could consider Honduras a choke point that US and Honduran forces plan on blocking. Or at least trying to.
Below I have posted two stories in regards to the efforts in Honduras. The first is about DEA’s FAST teams working with the Hondurans on operations, and the second is a story about the US applying lessons learned in Iraq towards operating bases in Honduras.
What is cool is the whole ‘outpost’ concept that is being applied to the effort. To get folks closer to the smuggling routes, as opposed to making long trips back and forth. You can also stay closer to the cities next to smuggling routes, and do more patrols that way as well. In comparison to Afghanistan–this is moving the guys off the FOBs and out into outposts so they are closer to their AO’s.
In past drug operations, helicopters ferrying Honduran and American antinarcotics squads took off from the capital, Tegucigalpa, whenever an intelligence task force identified radar tracks of a smuggler’s aircraft. The three-hour flights required to reach cartel rendezvous points did not leave much idle time to spot airplanes as they unloaded tons of cocaine to dugout canoes, which then paddled downriver beneath the jungle canopy to meet fast boats and submersibles at the coast for the trip north. In creating the new outposts — patterned on the forward bases in Iraq and Afghanistan that gave troops a small, secure home on insurgent turf — spartan but comfortable barracks were built. Giant tanks hold 4,500 gallons of helicopter fuel. Solar panels augment generators. Each site supports two-week rotations for 55 people, all no more than 30 to 45 minutes’ flying time from most smuggling handoff points.
No word if any contractors are helping to set up these outposts or do work in the outposts, and I will be keeping my eye open for any jobs related to Honduras.
They are currently looking for a country that would sponsor this charter city, and so far no one has taken a bite. But if someone were to sponsor it, then that city would provide work for the region. The hope would be to bring immigrants south, and they would work in the RED to make a life, instead of them running to places like the US and Canada illegally.
That kind of dynamic would not bode well for the drug cartels either, just because they depend upon immigrants delivering their drugs up into the US. Or at least taking advantage of the massive flow of people crossing the border every year–because it overwhelms law enforcement. A charter city like the RED would also require excellent law enforcement/security in order to keep drugs and crime out.
Now one idea for Honduras is to let the US know that if they want to operate in Honduras for the drug war, that they should help out with the Charter City concept. Either the US could become that sponsor, or the US could help apply some leverage to get a country to jump on board? I would think that if both Canada and the US is wanting to clamp down on illegal immigration, that providing an alternative like this charter city, would be an option to help alleviate that problem. Especially if Honduras is willing to do this, and businesses are drawn to the RED because it is such a good deal.
Interesting stuff, and lots of things going on in Honduras right now. –Matt
D.E.A.’s Agents Join Counternarcotics Efforts in Honduras
By Charlie Savage and Thom Shanker
May 16, 2012
A commando-style squad of Drug Enforcement Administration agents accompanied the Honduran counternarcotics police during two firefights with cocaine smugglers in the jungles of the Central American country this month, according to officials in both countries who were briefed on the matter. One of the fights, which occurred last week, left as many as four people dead and has set off a backlash against the American presence there.
It remains unclear whether the D.E.A. agents took part in the shooting during either episode, the first in the early hours of May 6 and the second early last Friday. In an initial account of the second episode, the Honduran government told local reporters that two drug traffickers had been killed and a large shipment of cocaine seized; he did not mention any American involvement. Several American officials said the D.E.A. agents did not return fire during the encounter.
Next will be the military. lol Greece has definitely had some serious problems financially and when it’s police force has to do extreme measures like this, it makes you wonder.
Now here is the thing. The whole rule of ‘you get what you pay for’ or ‘you pay peanuts, you get monkeys’, definitely applies to this situation. When you reduce salaries and benefits, what incentive does the police have to do well? To actually police a community, a community that has decided to lower their salary. It reminds me of places like New Orleans which had some of the lowest paid cops in the country. And when hurricane Katrina hit, a lot of those NOLA cops just left.
Also, if you look at the photo below, those are Greek law enforcement involved with riot control. These guys have been very busy trying to maintain law and order in a very angry country. The last thing that country should do is make their police angry by messing with their pay.
Now on to the ‘cops for hire’ scheme. You see this happen in one form or the other all over the world. It’s just these guys are being very open and business-like about it. Of course Greece has a long history of hoplites for hire and I am sure Xenophon would approve of this modern scheme. lol But I do share the concern that once you get into this game, will they be able to effectively protect and serve the community, or will they become more concerned with protecting paying clients?
On the other hand, that community should take note. If your police are renting their services out, maybe that might be a hint that you are not paying them enough? –Matt
Greece offers “cop-for-hire” service to raise cash
Tue, Apr 10 2012
In a bid to raise cash, Greek police are offering a 30 euro ($39) per hour “cop-for-hire” scheme for private companies or citizens seeking protection at special events.
Police said the service was provided only under special circumstances, such as cases of high-security risk, and that revenues would be used to fund police equipment and boost the state budget. It used to be available for free before a debt crisis hit the country.
“We will provide these services only in exceptional cases and only if we have the available assets and staff. We’ll first make sure that no citizen is deprived of police protection,” police spokesman Thanassis Kokkalakis said on Tuesday.
Hiring a police officer for an hour costs 30 euros, according to the law, which has entered into force. A police vehicle escort, for example for the transfer of art works or other sensitive material, will cost an additional 40 euros per hour and a motorcycle escort 20 euros.
Chris Sims, the West Midlands chief constable, said: “This is not about taking away the core responsibility for policing away from officers. I want to be clear that where a police power is needed a police officer will carry out that duty. “The backbone of the service will remain unchanged but we are committed to finding a long-term transformational solution that is more cost-effective and improves the service we deliver,” said Sims. “Our values remain at the heart of the service and our priority is to put the public first in everything we do.”
I will have to warn you that this is a Guardian article. lol But if you can look beyond that, this is interesting news. There is much debate going on about this, and it is a classic public versus private debate. You can also see that the unions are rallying around how dangerous of an idea this is and really pushing the narrative of that.
Personally, I think it is a great idea. Because this looks more like a public private partnership than a complete privatization of police work in the UK. The duties these companies will be performing are totally in line with what private industry can accomplish and accel at. Just look at what Bruce Power SWAT accomplished? Look at how massively large and successful G4S is? In both cases, private security and related administrative duties can definitely provide value to the client.
Best of all, these police departments can fire a company if it is a poor performer or if they violated the contract. A private company has incentive to do well in that kind of environment and they will fight to do it better/faster/cheaper than the next guy. That versus a government force who has no ‘real’ incentive to perform well–because there is no one that competes with them. Check it out.
My one bit of advice for these police departments is to ensure they have a strong contracting officer corps that can monitor and manage these contracts to the fullest extent. A contracting corps armed with a contract and policy that answers as many of the issues of principal agent problem as possible. That means having folks dedicated to holding these private companies accountable and ensuring the tax payer and local community does in fact get a good value for their pound sterling. –Matt
Police privatisation: dozens of firms register interest in £1.5bn contract
Surrey and West Midlands forces invite bids for services including investigating crimes and detaining suspects
By Alan Travis
Tuesday 13 March 2012
Delegates from private security companies were attending a “bidders’ conference” on Tuesday for a £1.5bn contract to run a wide range of policing services in the West Midlands and Surrey.
The contract notice drawn up for the groundbreaking contract invites bids from the private sector for services that include investigating crimes, detaining suspects and managing high-risk offenders.
The widely drawn West Midlands/Surrey contract notice says that all those services that can “be legally delegated to the private sector” have been put on the table while “preserving the integrity of the office of constable”.
The West Midlands police authority says there are “many household names” among the 64 firms but has declined to name any of them. Potential bidders will hear both chief constables and the outgoing chairmen of the West Midlands and Surrey police authorities detail the procurement process and outline what they hope to achieve from the “business partnership programme”.
Yes, you heard that correctly. Bruce Power is a nuclear plant in Canada that is privately owned and operated, and they have a private security force protecting it. Within that private security force, they actually have a SWAT team to respond to all and any threats against that plant. That is an extremely important job and is of national interest to Canada that these private forces do a good job. So to me, this is another example of private security doing a vital job of protection.
This is not new and private forces protect nuclear facilities all over the world. If you look at the list of competing SWAT teams, there are quite a few ‘private’ SWAT teams competing. Which is great, and all of them are competing against State police and government forces. I guess my point here is that private forces are perfectly capable of doing a good job and being the best at an activity we usually associate with government or state raised forces.
So bravo to Bruce Power and thanks to Kyle on Facebook for pointing this out. If anyone from Bruce Power SWAT would like to share with us as to why they keep winning, we would love to hear from you? I suspect they have excellent schools they attend, and they practice like world class athletes in order to win–or lots of hard work and a mastery of the fundamentals. Also, with these private SWAT teams, they might have more money and time to pursue training because they are not taken away for police duties like their state or government teams might be. But that is just speculation. Either way, Bruce Power SWAT is victorious! –Matt
Bruce Power team wins U.S. National SWAT Championship
26 Oct 2011
Bruce Power’s Nuclear Response Team has captured first prize at the 2011 U.S. National SWAT Championship in Tulsa, Okla.?This is the fourth year in a row Bruce Power has taken top prize at the competition which consists of eight tactical events that test fitness, weapons skills and team organization. Bruce Power finished first in six of those eight events which simulate real-life scenarios faced by tactical officers. Scoring is based on time and target hits and the events are conducted in full tactical gear in head-to-head stages.?“This team is a real credit to our company and have demonstrated great pride, dedication and integrity in winning this championship,” said Duncan Hawthorne, Bruce Power’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
