More than 350 military police deployed to reinforce security in Colombia’s Bogotá

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Colombian government deployed this Wednesday (15) in Bogotá some 360 soldiers of the Military Police to patrol and reinforce security in the city, where robbery and homicide figures have soared in recent months.

“The purpose of this additional force (…) is to accompany specific control points in the city, in the most critical places (…) and control the issue of homicides, which so much affects tranquility, and theft,” said the Minister of Defense, Diego Molano, in a statement to the press.

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In recent days, the city has experienced lurid scenes in which thieves stab, threaten with guns, and, in some cases, murder citizens during robberies, as well as gangs that are robbing restaurants in broad daylight in busy sectors of Bogotá.

CRISIS IN THE CAPITAL

Between January and last August, according to figures from the Security Secretariat, 65,207 thefts from persons were registered, 12,116 more than in the same period of 2020.

Likewise, thefts of vehicles increased from 2,037 in the first eight months of 2020 to 2,204 in the same period last year; of cell phones, from 30,330 to 35,781, and motorcycles, from 2,131 to 3,021.

Meanwhile, bicycle thefts fell from 7,146 to 6,542, commercial thefts from 8,253 to 5,515, and residential thefts from 5,299 to 4,922.

REQUEST FROM THE MAYOR’S OFFICE

Given this situation, the mayor of Bogotá, Claudia Lopez, asked the Government to deploy the military so that the soldiers, together with the Police, can carry out “dissuasive surveillance and disarmament” tasks in the face of the crisis that the city is experiencing.

“In no case, there will be the militarization of Bogotá, but we do think it is convenient that the Military Police support the personnel of the Metropolitan Police of Bogota in two particular tasks: patrolling of deterrent surveillance of crime in certain critical areas that are having problems of theft and also in control points for disarmament,” said Lopez.

These uniformed officers are in addition to the more than 1,500 police reinforcements that arrived in the city a month ago and the social investment initiatives, disarmament, and security fronts with citizens that seek to reduce crime in the Colombian capital.