The Integrated System for the Improvement of Police Strategy (SIMEP) will change the way police operate in Costa Rica.

The Costa Rican government is investing in technology and greater citizen participation to combat crime.

That’s the aim of the Integrated System for the Improvement of Police Strategy (SIMEP), launched in September 2012 in the district of Tibás, north of the nation’s capital of San José.

The government expects to implement the second phase, which will cover most of the country’s seven provinces, by the end of the year, according to Public Safety Minister Mario Zamora.

“It will be a major transformation with regard to policing,” he said. “The idea is to take what’s happening in Tibás and apply it to the rest of the country.”

The homicide rate in Costa Rica has declined from 12.5 homicides for every 100,000 residents in 2010 to 9.5 homicides per 100,000 in 2012, according to the Judicial Investigation Agency.

SIMEP’s platform consists of three main points:

• The division of community policing into quadrants;
• The use of R2Police technology, which collects statistics, produces criminal activity maps and measures police responses;
• More accountability from authorities.

“With this approach, we have police working more closely with communities and we’ll have a new technological tool to provide a daily measure of crime rates, which will enable us to take immediate preventive action,” Zamora said.

Working in quadrants facilitates police work and allows communities to get to know their local officers, according to Iván Dumani, coordinator of the Public Force’s Preventive Policing Programs.

“The local residents know who enters and leaves the community, while the duty officer might not. That’s why communication between officers and neighborhood residents is so important. Everyone benefits,” he said. “When the police strengthen ties with the community, people can see that police work is complicated and police officers are not their enemy.”

The Ministry of Public Safety provides a variety of preventive security courses to communities, which is how it will implement SIMEP nationwide.

“The experience of being able to work with law enforcement agencies has been invaluable. We feel safer and more united as a community,” said Luis Sánchez from the town of Oreamuno de Cartago, who took part in the Business Security program offered by the Ministry of Public Safety’s Office of Preventive Programs.

By June 2013, police expect to have 20 mobile devices, with which officers will be able to report incidents from any of the 11 quadrants they patrol, according to Freddy Guillén, the police commander who oversees SIMEP.

“The US Embassy is providing us with [laptops] that will allow all police units to access databases and enter the work being done,” Guillén said.

The program will consolidate all data being generated by security agencies, Zamora said.

“[For instance, thanks to R2Police] we will be able to find out which block in Tibás poses the greatest risk to citizens, which has the most conflicts between neighbors or which has the most disturbances,” he added.

The Ministry of Public Safety also will implement a surveillance program during the second half of the year.

For example, in Tibás alone, 50 additional cameras will be distributed throughout the area, according to the local government.

SIMEP is being implemented in coordination with the United States Embassy and has been in the works for two years, according to Eric Nelson, the U.S. Embassy’s deputy chief of mission.

“We had to design an entire system of maps in a country without street numbers or street names,” he said.

SIMEP is based on a model developed by New York City in 1995, which substantially lowered crime rates and has been implemented in other major cities, such as Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Vancouver and Panama City.

“This model has generated a valuable new approach to organizing and managing police forces at a citywide and nationwide level,” Nelson said. “It motivates police forces to devote more of their time to their communities.”

As part of the agreement with the Ministry of Public Safety, the U.S. Embassy will provide up to 280 hours a month of technical assistance, as well as consultants, experts and computer equipment, for a total investment of about US$500,000.

With SIMEP, authorities expect to increase the transparency of their management and improve policing strategies using statistics provided by the system.

“It’s an accountability tool that will allow the Public Force to better assess the effectiveness of its officers and resources it has deployed,” Nelson said. “As a result, citizens will feel more confident in the effectiveness of their police officers.”

By Mario Garita for Infosurhoy.com

More than 25.000 teachers are expected to take part in today’s protest march to Casa Presidencial (Government House), to oppose the government’s plan to cut back bonuses and overtime pay of public sector employees.

At the heart of the protest is the removal of “incentives” to teachers and all of the country’s employees of the central government, according to the head of the teachers union, the Asociación de Profesores de Segunda Enseñanza (APSE), Beatriz Ferreto.

“We will not talk about pay cuts, we don’t want to start from scratch on this topic, what we want is to change the subject of discussion”, said Ferreto.

Ferreto added, “we had agreed on discussing the public employment issue, but not with that the government came up with”.

The union has called on its members and other public sector unions to gather at the Fuente de la Hispanidad (fountain in front of San Pedro Mall) at 11:00am today, for a march onto Casa Presidencial a few blocks away.

The Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SUTEL) rejected a rate hike request by the state telecom, the  Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). ICE had asked for an increase of ¢4 and ¢11 colones for fixed line telephone service.

The request was made to the regulatory body on January 29, however, more than a dozen objections filed with the SUTEL led to the refusal.

The SUTEL has asked for a market analysis on the current rates, which report is to be filed within three months, before ICE can again apply for a rate increase.

Filing objections against the ICE increase were Claro, Movistar, Call My Way, the  Defensoría de los Habitantes (Ombudsman), the Defensor del Usuario de Aresep (price regulator) and five individuals, according to the SUTEL.

The Ruta 32 – the road to Limón – between Tibás and La Republica has been a pain for drivers, who daily had to face congestion and delays for the longest time, worsened recently with the never ending resurfacing work.

Many had expected, or at least hoped, that bus bays would be part of the improvements on this part of the busy road. However, the result is just a letter from the Laboratorio Nacional de Materiales y Modelos Estructurales (Lanamme) to the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Conavi) – national road council – to correct the situation.

According to Lanamme president, Guillermo Loria, the continuing situation of buses stopping in the right lane to let off and take on passengers, is a serious safety concern.

Though the maximum speed on this section of the road is 60 km/h, some drive it as a highway, only to find a bus stopped ahead. Add to the situation the lack of proper lighting at night.

The director of Conservación Vial (Road Maintenance) at the Conavi, Cristian Vargas, explained that the bus bays would require a new contract.

Rationalizing the situation, Vargas accepts that the situation is a safety concern, but this is a problem on almost every road in Costa Rica.

The lack of bus bays are common on the autopista General Cañas; the Bernardo Soto;  the Florencio del Castillo (San José – Cartago); and even the Ruta 27 (San José – Caldera)- the road in the planning and building process for more than 30 years;  Costa Rica’s busiest roads.

On these roads where maximum speeds are up to 90 km/h, buses make stops in the right lanes, with the only warning a sign reducing the speed to 60 km/h. On many other roads, the bus stops are not even marked, only bus drivers and users of the bus knowing the stop, leaving drivers to brake hard or swerve to avoid an accident.

Just when we thought Ottón Solís was out, with Epsy Campbell entering the race for the Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC), we get pulled back in.

On Thursday, the founding leader of the PAC, met with the leader and presidential candidate for the Frente Amplio party, José María Villalta and members of the Partido Centro Democrático party, a party that is made up of former members of the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) and the Partido Social.

The breakfast meeting at the Solís house was to discuss a possible alliance.

This is the first time representatives of the three groups met at the same table.

Solís has been having separate talks with the groups and other politicians, all in the name of seeking a consensus to solve the problems facing Costa Rica.

Costa Rica’s public sector workers unions are calling for day of protest on Friday, making a call to all public sector workers to skip work and gather in front of La Hispanidad fountain (in front of San Pedro mall) starting at 11:00am.

The protest and day of strike is to pressure the government on the proposed proposed wage adjustment bill, as proposed by the Ministry of Finance which would cut bonuses and either cancel or restrict overtime hours and earnings, similar to the internal policy being adopted by the Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS).

The march, protest or strike – depending on your point of view – is being organized by the Asociación de Profesores de Secundarias (APSE), one of Costa Rica’s largest public sector union and the Magisterio Nacional. Expected to take part in the protest will also be the Asociación Nacional de Educadores (ANDE) – teachers union and other public sector unions.

Union leaders say that the government’s plans to cut incentives and bonuses from “regular” public employees would leave them with wages below that of the private sector. The unions, in other words, are not against cutting bonuses and incentives of upper government managers, but not that of the every day employee.

Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister, Enrique Castillo, confirmed that the country aims to recover a portion of the Caribbean sea ceded to Colombia and now belonging to Nicaragua, after a ruling by the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

Castillo said the court ruling not only varied the boundary limits between those two countries, but also altered the maritime limits of Costa Rica.

The court ruling, according to Castillo, erased the border between Costa Rica and Colombia in the Atlantic Ocean and abrogates the border treaty signed in the in the 1970’s.

Thus, Castillo said he has asked his Nicaraguan counterpart, Samuel Santos, for a sit down to negotiate the maritime territory, using the United Nations as an intermediary.

The Foreign Minister would not say the exact territory Costa Rica could get.

According to Castillo, he is waiting on a response to the letter he sent to Nicaragua.

Tuesday night, the Venezuelan embassy located in Rohrmoser (Pavas), received a number of Venezuelans living in Costa Rica, who were there to show their grief following the death of president Hugo Chavez earlier in the day.

The Venezuelans gathered at the embassy expressed concern over the future of the country and all Venezuelans, who are being asked to put their faith in country’s constitution.

While some were waiting the death of Chavez, others expressed surprise.

Without a doubt this is a difficult time for Venezuelans in a country that has, for years been divided, and now the unknown of how the general population will react to the death of their president for the last 14 years.

The concern by many Venezuelans making Costa Rica their home is the future of their loved Venezuela and the uncertainty about the cessation of the “Chavismo” in Venezuela.

Costa Rican president, Laura Chinchilla Miranda, by way of a press release, expressed her solidarity with the Venezuelans. Chinchilla sent her “pesames” (condolences) to the Chavez family.

“We extend to the family of Presient Hugo Chavez, to the Venezuelan government and all Venezuelans our solidarity and understanding at this time”, was the presidenta’s message.

Representatives of Costa Rica and Panama will meet today (Wednesday) to seek a solution to the conflict of truck drivers in the border at Paso Canoas.

The protest by 800 Costa Rican truck drivers got stronger Tuesday, with the support of some colleagues from the bordering region, said the Costa Rican Transport Workers Chamber here Tuesday.

Marjorie Lizano, president of the entity, said its affiliates did not block the highways, but the trucks are parked at the side of them, and assured that other Central American truck drivers blocked the border since Monday early morning.

Lizano said there are things going on affecting transport workers for a very long time, and they had decided to stay there until some measures to solve the situation are definitely taken.

Drivers refuse to enter in Panamanian national territory, while dozens of private vehicles and buses, were trapped in an extension of more than four miles.

The total blocking of the border started at 11:00 am after an incident with two Salvadoran drivers entering Costa Rican territory, and ended at 5:00 pm.

Truck drivers started their protest last Thursday because what they considered mistreatment by the authorities of the National Border Service of Panama, which members make the migratory steps, let them enter and then arrest them to question them.

Since Thursday, the Costa Rican government made contact with the Panamanian authorities and they expect to call for a meeting next week.

The Municipalidad de San José on Tuesday began the clean up of the area of the National Stadium roof damaged during the fireworks display Sunday night.

A section of the roof of the western sector of the stadium caught fire during the opening of the uegos Deportivos Centroamericanos 2013 (2013 Central American Games).

According to municipal officials, the temporary fix will be done before the end of the month, but it will be three months before the permanent repairs will be completed.

The delay is due to the lack of material and money to buy the original plates in which the muni will be seeking a donation from the central goverment.

Municipal officials assure that the entire process will be documented and the costs will be covered by the insurance policy of the company hired for the fireworks display.