In This Issue:
|
||||
|
|
||||
From Hunted to Hunter
|
||||
 Photos show 45-foot former trafficking boat that was fully rehabilitated and rechristened "Cazador" (Hunter). Left photo: before the modification. Right photo: after the modification. |
It was the boat that couldn’t fly fast enough to elude Panama’s Aero-Naval Service (SENAN). Back in July 2010, DEA and the U.S. Embassy’s Tactical Analysis Team (TAT) alerted SENAN to the presence of a suspected narcotics vessel near Colon on Panama’s Caribbean coast. Using a USG-donated boat maintained by the Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) Panama with CARSI funding, members of SENAN found the vessel in a small bay three miles east of Colon.
As they closed in to intercept the boat, the four suspects operating it opened the throttle and jumped overboard. Hitting a dirt ramp in the village of Puerto Pilón, the driverless boat flew out of the water and landed 100 feet inland, crushing a makeshift home. One of the occupants, an 11-year-old boy, suffered a broken leg in the crash. Meanwhile, SENAN seized 2,477 kilograms of cocaine and captured one suspect—a Colombian national.
The story could have ended there, but for the bright idea of a SENAN base commander and the funding and mechanical expertise of NAS. The 45 foot former trafficking boat was fully rehabilitated and rechristened “Cazador” (Hunter) I for narcotics interdiction operations. For just over $43,000—a fraction of the cost of a new interceptor—NAS Panama helped SENAN equip Cazador with a modern radar system and a new navigation console. Under the oversight of NAS Maritime Advisor Jorge Medina, a team of six SENAN mechanics also repaired the boat’s four outboard motors; installed engine guards, aluminum fuel tanks, and a machine gun mount; armored the key components; painted the entire craft; and updated its electronics.
The result was not only a new look, but a new life—as a drug fighter. And it didn’t take long for the former narco-craft to prove its worth. Within 48 hours of its commissioning at SENAN base Flotilla del Pacifico Vasco Nunez de Balboa on May 17, the “Cazador I” had already bagged its first seizure: 241 kilos of cocaine. It scored a second cocaine seizure on June 3: 173 kilos of cocaine. Given these early successes, NAS promptly agreed to SENAN’s requests for further remodels of seized vessels and has issued orders for work on a “Cazador II.” Medina says SENAN has many more seized vessels, including three more 45-foot craft and at least 10 smaller boats, that would be good candidates for retrofitting. His teams are currently working on two of those smaller craft, repairing the flat-bottomed fiberglass hulls that permit them to enter the shallows of Panama’s many inland waterways.
 A handler with his K-9. |
 Atlantic Coast All-Stars girls softball team. |
The project’s key goals included: spurring public dialogue among often disparate national, regional, and local governments, private citizen groups, and educational institutions about the influence of transnational organized crime, trafficking, substance abuse, domestic violence and a myriad of narco-fueled violent crimes; providing alternative outlets to At-Risk Youth; and building a strong social network in those Regional Autonomous Area South (RAAS) communities.
Participants come from the RAAS communities of Bluefields, Haulover, Pearl Lagoon, and the Corn Islands. The top players competed against all-girls teams from around Nicaragua in tournament play May 27 to 29.
The Atlantic Coast All-Stars, ages 15–17, were very excited to be part of this experience that pits them in friendly competition against teams from Chinandega, Estelí, Granada, and Managua Girls sports is another way Embassy Managua is teaming up with the Nicaraguan people to keep kids off drugs—“Estamos Unidos!” (We are united!)
 Map of Iraq. |
In addition to advising, the PDP will include an instructor development or train-the-trainer program, and support training at Iraqi Regional Training Academies to assist the Ministry of Interior’s national police professionalization curriculum across the country.
Within the U.S., the INL program will provide training for select Iraqi police through partnerships with well-respected academic institutions, organizations, and state and metropolitan police academies. The courses are designed to meet the needs of the Iraqi police services and provide greater exposure to a community-based policing culture.
Other agencies such as the U.S. Department of Justice’s FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Department of Homeland Security, will provide advanced and specialized training in Iraq and the U.S. for Iraqi mid-level leadership under the PDP.
 Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) representatives and Community Policing Working Group members developing community policing implementation plan for Tajikistan. |
Five community leaders from the district-level CPPTs in Rasht, Qairoqqum, and Qumsangir joined their police counterparts on the second and third days to develop local community policing implementation plans. The plans define the roles, responsibilities, and activities of the police and community members for preventing crime and improving safety.
At a presentation on police reform in Tajikistan, the Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Colonel Khaidar Mahmadiev, announced that the MIA had established a working group to revise the Law on Police, which will underline the importance of community policing. He remarked, “Changing the name from ‘militia’ to ‘police’ is the first step towards increasing trust and improving cooperation between the police and the people. The MIA must take ownership of community policing and institutionalize it as part of the police reform process.”
On April 8, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) office in Tajikistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Police Reform with the MIA. The goal of the police reform is to assist the MIA to develop its policing based on internationally recognized democratic policing principles. The U.S. Embassy Dushanbe will support the reform through INL’s law enforcement reform and capacity development programs, including community policing.
 IP Agnes Ndegemo moderates a community meeting. |
The INL project using Section 1207 funds has furnished the Uganda Police Force with a Police Academy Advisor to help them develop their academy. Dr. Nicholas Walling, Ed.D., CPP, assists academy staff in their vision of building a world class school by providing guidance and advice in curriculum development and training concepts related to community policing initiatives. Dr. Walling accompanied the trainers to Kyaka to give them support and to promote INL’s 1207 Community Policing program.
The model of community policing that the trainers brought to Kyaka uses the S.A.R.A. model (Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment) of problem solving, in which police moderators facilitate forums where the citizenry identify the problems found in the community and agree upon resolutions for the problems. This method provides residents with greater control over the safety and security of their villages. The settlement consists of seven areas loosely characterized by the refugees’ country of origin. These areas were consolidated into four meeting sites, each one attended by a mix of nationalities. In spite of the “integration,” citizen participation was lively and enthusiastic.
The four community meetings at the Kyaka refugee camp were lauded by both refugees and camp managers who expressed their gratitude for the visit, claiming that the meetings had enlightened them regarding the criminal justice system and given them new direction for addressing the problems they face. They said that the new relationships created will help to improve the quality of life for the refugees. Follow up contacts reveal that the forums are still main topics of conversation among the residents and that the news of the meetings bringing a new style of policing has spread to the refugees and staff of the camp who were not able to attend.
 Photo Contest: Left photo-Category: How Narco-trafficking Harms Society. Title: "Consequences of Narco-trafficking: Our People." Winner: Lorena Sanchez Cardenas. Right photo-Category: Colombia's Natural Beauty. Title: "Nothing to Envy of Africa." Winner: Leonardo Arango. |
During the month of April, “Colombia, Pais de Contrastes” (Colombia, Country of Contrasts) received 2000 photos from 7500 fans across Colombia. The goal was to highlight the incredible environmental richness of Colombia, the world’s second-most biodiverse nation, as well as the damage done by the cultivation and business of coca. There were four themes—the natural beauty of Colombia, the social and environmental damage caused by narco-trafficking, and what ordinary Colombians are doing to support their country and the environment. INL’s Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) Bogota organized the contest, together with its partners at the Government of Colombia’s Ministry of Interior & Justice and El Tiempo, Colombia’s largest daily newspaper.
The first of its kind in Colombia, the contest’s entry-phase received coverage from nearly every major media outlet in Colombia. “Environmental Ambassadors”—prominent Colombian actors and journalists committed to spreading the message of the environmental damage, like deforestation and chemical contamination, done by coca cultivation—filmed a number of promotions for the contest, aired throughout Colombia, and appeared at events to encourage participation.
 Photo Contest: Left photo-Category: How Narco-trafficking Destroys the Environment. Title: "The Present Blind Country Will be a Future Unconscious Country." Winner: Cano Ana Maria Palacios. Right photo-Category: What do I do? Title: "Colombia and Her Ancestors." Winner: Amador Rodriguez Esmeralda Nidia. |
A jury of Embassy representatives and prominent photographers selected 15 finalists, spanning the four thematic categories and all ages. The final result was put to popular vote on Facebook.
The four grand-prize winners shown here received an all-inclusive trip for two to the National Park of Isla Gorgona, an uninhabited island off the coast of Colombia that resembles the Galapagos in its biodiversity and Alcatraz in that it was once used as a prison. They and the finalists were honored at an Earth Day Celebration, April 29.
