Law enforcement in Venezuela
Encyclopedia
Law enforcement in Venezuela is highly fragmented, being split across multiple police agencies of various types. The National Guard
Venezuelan National Guard
The Venezuelan National Guard , also called the Armed Forces of Cooperation , is one of the four components of the National Armed Forces of Venezuela. The National Guard can serve as gendarmerie, perform civil defense roles, or serve as a reserve light infantry force...

, with around 33,000 officers, is attached to the Ministry of Defence. Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas
Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas
The Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas is Venezuela's largest national police agency, responsible for criminal investigations and forensic services. It replaced the Cuerpo Tecnico de Policia Judicial in 2001....

, with around 8,000 officers, is the primary criminal investigation agency. Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención
Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención
thumb|250px|right|El Helicoide building in Caracas - old headquarters of SEBINSEBIN, the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia , is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela...

 (DISIP), part of the Ministry of Interior and Justice, is the counter-espionage police agency. In addition, each of Venezuela's 23 states has its own police force, numbering around 50,000 officers altogether. The new Policía Nacional Bolivariana
Policía Nacional Bolivariana
Policía Nacional Bolivariana is Venezuela's national police force, created in 2009. Law enforcement in Venezuela has historically been highly fragmented, and the creation of a National Police was one of the recommendations of a 2006 National Commission on Police Reform...

, created in 2009, had 2,400 officers in July 2010 (with a further 1,400 in training). Finally, since 1989's decentralization legislation, many municipalities have set up their own police forces.

1958-1998

In 1958 Venezuela overthrew the dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez
Marcos Pérez Jiménez
Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez was a soldier and Presidents of Venezuela from 1952 to 1958.-Career:Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez was born in Michelena, Táchira State. His father, Juan Pérez Bustamante, was a farmer; his mother, Adela Jiménez, a schoolteacher...

, but for much of the 1958-1998 period the criminal justice and law enforcement system established under Jiménez and the earlier dictator Juan Vicente Gómez
Juan Vicente Gómez
Juan Vicente Gómez Chacón was a military general and de facto ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935. He was president on three occasions during this time, and ruled as an unelected military strongman for the rest of the era.-Early years:Gómez was a barely literate cattle herder and...

 was not substantially reformed, and "the criminal justice system remained a blemish on this image of democracy". A small 1987 survey found that 74% of prisoners said that the police tortured them. The police relied heavily on obtaining confession evidence, and for poor defendants a lack of effective defence lawyers "led to frequent convictions of innocent people". Other aspects of the justice system conspired to make this worse: "Venezuelan criminal procedure crushed poor and uneducated defendants in its Kafkaesque gears." Prisons were extremely violent, with a high probability of death or rape; and about 70% of prisoners were awaiting a judge's decision. After some years of public pressure, 1998 saw the drafting of a radically reformed criminal law
Law of Venezuela
The legal system of Venezuela belongs to the Continental Law tradition. Venezuela was the first country in the world to abolish the death penalty for all crimes, doing so in 1863.-Public law:...

, which came into effect in July 1999.

2006 CONAREPOL

In 2006 a National Commission on Police Reform
National Commission on Police Reform
The National Commission on Police Reform was a 2006 Venezuelan national commission which, in consultation with police and local communities, examined law enforcement in Venezuela and proposed reforms...

 (CONAREPOL, from the Spanish name) conducted studies aimed at reforming the police, in consultation with police and local communities. It found that

"Careful study of the different police agencies makes it evident that many do not have adequate infrastructure, and they are lacking in basic services or the spaces that are necessary for police activities (e.g., holding cells). In other cases, they do not even have their own building. Higher level technological resources (phones, fax, internet connection, computers, software) are relatively rare or, if present, are found only at central headquarters. Lack of, or deficiencies in, infrastructure are most marked for the municipal police.… [T]he majority of [all] police agencies are unable to assign a firearm to each officer on duty; neither are there sufficient handcuffs or bullet-proof vests. Some agencies have only one firearm for the whole force."


In general, the Commission found, "bureaucracy is weakly developed: three-quarters of state and municipal forces do not have a manual for procedures and two-thirds lack an organizational manual".

In November 2008 a Commission for the Police System (Comsipol) was created to implement CONAREPOL's recommendations. These included the creation of a National Police
Policía Nacional Bolivariana
Policía Nacional Bolivariana is Venezuela's national police force, created in 2009. Law enforcement in Venezuela has historically been highly fragmented, and the creation of a National Police was one of the recommendations of a 2006 National Commission on Police Reform...

, which was done in 2009. Other recommendations were that the police should be specifically trained in human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

, and have a greater emphasis on crime prevention. The Experimental Security University
Experimental Security University
The Experimental Security University is a state university in Venezuela founded in 2009. It specialises in providing training for Venezuelan police and security forces, in particular the new Policía Nacional Bolivariana...

 was set up in 2009 to provide this training.

Secret police organizations

  • Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención
    Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención
    thumb|250px|right|El Helicoide building in Caracas - old headquarters of SEBINSEBIN, the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia , is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela...

     (DISIP)
  • Dirección de Inteligencia Militar
    Dirección de Inteligencia Militar
    The Dirección de Inteligencia Militar was the military intelligence agency of Venezuela.According to the New York Times, as of June 3, 2008, DIM has been replaced with a new agency, the General Counterintelligence Office.-See also:...

     (DIM)

External links

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