For those just tuning in, a word of caution for anyone thinking of living here:
One, this is a high-crime country.
Two, the police responses can be shy on timely and competent
Three, this is a descerebrado, Toy Country
Locals will recall that on Wednesday, March 12 this year, the Carabineros Communications Center (CENCO… thinking that lots of acronyms substitute for actual performance) at the Cachapoal district location answered a call from a home in Graneros. Not so remote. But it took the Pacos over an hour to find the address, and by that time the bloody scene of the murder was already getting cold. Or as the media here reported, the double homicide scene that shocked the country. Oh, and that district has exactly two Pacos on duty per shift.
But first, this: about 75 percent (varies by year) of the 133 calls to Pacos don’t result in a police action, such as a police visit. Part of that is many calls just aren’t legitimate, or appropriate for seeking police help. And that leads to overwhelming the system and distraction from performing as really needed. Chile is not the only backwater with this sort of problem, but it has a lot of leftist trolls buggering the government security functions.
Here is an example of another type of irresponsible use of the institution:
There was an NGO down here that employed a couple of idiot Americans who left two dogs inside a borrowed jeep. The day was cold and the dogs were in no danger, but to some unshod animalist citizen (of which there is no shortage) this was a matter of woof-or-death for the militarized forces to resolve, and right now. So this boludo called 133 and of course half of the district’s mobile force was then sent to the next town to find the owner of the vehicle to serve a criminal complaint. Naturally, by the time the Pacos found the owner, the vehicle operators returned and were long gone.
What sort of idiot country sends the bulk of its Keystone Paco force to track down a remote vehicle owner rather than the immediate vehicle operators when a presumed timely response is in order?
Part of Chile’s police response problem is that rather than truly local “911” services (to use the US and Canada model ), the country is divided into just 32 CENCO zones. Looking at that unidimensionally, that would divide 5000 km of country length into zones 150 km across, but of course it doesn’t work out that way and some areas are even more expansive.
Another performance limitation: Canada uses the E911 system, similar to the US, for geolocation of cell phone calls. If a 911 operator perceives than an incomplete call may be a serious evolving crime scene, that geolocation information can be immediately passed to law enforcement for rapid response. It’s widely accepted and appreciated and almost no one complains about any sort of “privacy” violations.
Not in Chile.
In Chile’s Let’s Protect The Violent Criminal politik, for the 133 calls for emergency help to a CENCO call center , the police – whether Pacos or PDI-- can’t have geolocation information for those calls until….wait for it.… until a tribunal judge grants that permission ! By that time the victims are already in the morgue and the front page of La Tercera.
Anyone who has watched the Pacos try to find a property in even a semi-rural area have observed the disappointing results. Between a lack of adequate posting of addresses and the absence of geolocation assistance, a response is just an unproductive snipe hunt.
In some parts of the country, nearly a quarter of the calls to CENCO/Carabineros are reportedly intended to harass and/or insult the CENCO operators. The bad guys know how to conveniently overwhelm the capacity for police response when planning their crimes, with misleading and wholly anonymous calls to the CENCO management centers. Preventing identification of these illegitimate callers serves the purpose of protecting their wrongdoing, the product of too many years of “progressive socialist government.” Yet the national government has the means to identify and localize those callers.
Chile. The Toy Country.