SALVADORAN LAW ENFORCEMENT OVERWHELMED BY VIOLENTSTREET

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 002249

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10 YEARS
TAGS: ASEC PGOV PINR PINS KCRM KJUS ES
SUBJECT: SALVADORAN LAW ENFORCEMENT OVERWHELMED BY VIOLENTSTREET
CRIME


Classified By: DCM Michael A. Butler for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)

1.(C) Summary: During a recent meeting with emboffs,
Civilian National Police (PNC) Director Rodrigo Avila
acknowledged that the PNC is struggling to address adequately
El Salvador's spiraling violent crime. Although the police
are trying to combat street crime with a mixture of
preventative public security and ongoing criminal
investigations, an inefficient and often-corrupt criminal
justice system prevents these measures from achieving
results. Furthermore, since budgetary constraints and
inadequate recruitment and retention of new officers prevent
increasing the police ranks, the Director is now focused on
simply retaining his current officers. Although a laudable
effort, the PNC needs more (and far better-trained) police
officers to provide sufficient public security to deter the
present violent street crime wave. Avila outlined that he
has recently requested that Salvadoran soldiers provide a
supporting role to police units in the crime-riddled city of
San Miguel. End Summary.

Addressing Violent Street Crime
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2. (C) The PNC combats street crime with a mixture of
preventative public security and criminal investigations,
although lack of manpower usually entails a greater focus on
the latter. Unfortunately, even the most thorough and
professional investigations often fail to remove criminals
from the streets because of shortcomings in all components of
the criminal justice system: the police, Attorney General's
office, and the courts. As a result, police are struggling
to counter violent street crime such as extortion of public
transportation workers, armed assaults, armed robbery, and
homicides. Gangs continue to extort and kill uncooperative
bus drivers in record numbers, and have recently turned to
setting buses on fire after robbing the occupants. Public
confidence is so low that the bus drivers' union is
reportedly negotiating directly with gang leaders to
establish an acceptable "tax" for transiting gang
territories. Leading dailies report that neighborhood watch
organizations are being formed to counter the threat from
gangs, and there are even unconfirmed reports of cases in
which criminal gang members were subject to extrajudicial
execution.

Criminal Investigations not a Deterrent to Street Crime
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3. (C) El Salvador's anachronistic and inefficient criminal
justice system is poorly equipped to dismantle the gangs who
are responsible for nearly all violent street crime. Unless
a police officer witnesses a crime in progress, the victim
must file a formal, public complaint with the prosecutor's
office before the PNC can initiate an investigation. Victims
are loath to file a complaint for fear of retribution from
the gangs; witnesses fail to appear for the same reason. The
Embassy prodded the National Assembly to finally pass a
Witness Protection Law in the last legislative session, but
the witness protection program is only partially funded, and
the office overseeing the program has yet to be organized.
Witness protection efforts have been unable to resolve the
conflict between the right of a defendant to confront his
accusers and the threat to witnesses who testify at trials.
El Salvador does not have a uniform code of evidence, with
the result that judges can refuse to accept valid evidence
against the accused without fear of being overturned by a
higher court--even overwhelming evidence often does not
result in conviction. When conviction is achieved, there is
often nowhere to incarcerate the prisoner in El Salvador's
prison system, which is now 35 percent above its designed
capacity. As a result, common criminals are often back on
the street the day after their arrest.

More Public Security Needed
--------------


4. (C) In view of the failings of the criminal justice
system, PNC Director Avila understands that the best way to
attack crime in El Salvador is to prevent it from occurring
in the first place. At his request, the Army recently
dispatched 500 soldiers to San Miguel to augment police
patrols; the Army promised another 1,500 soldiers for
nationwide deployment, but Avila (protect) is unsure if they
will follow through. Avila realizes that strengthening the
PNC with military forces is a temporary and unsustainable
means of enhancing public security. Although he would like
to increase police ranks, additional recruitment is not
included in the current budget, so Avila is instead focusing
on retention. From January to August 2006, the PNC graduated
534 cadets from its police academy, while simultaneously
losing 572 officers for various reasons (307 resigned; 221
fired for corruption; 39 incarcerated; 8 died in the line of
duty). Those who resigned went to work in the private
sector, or illegally immigrated to the U.S. In order to
retain more officers, Avila plans to increase salaries for
mid and senior level officers, provide medical and dental
care for officers and their families, and construct a country
club for officers and their families. Only the salary
increases have been funded thus far.

Comment
--------------


5. (C) El Salvador's weak criminal justice system limits the
effectiveness of criminal investigations in addressing street
crime. Emboffs are working with members of the National
Assembly to elaborate a major anti-crime bill which would
include RICO legislation to go after the maras more
effectively as well as an asset forfeiture law to allow
seizure of organized crime assets. Separately, emboffs are
also working directly with Avila and the PNC to devise
creative operational approaches to reduce the ability of mara
leadership to direct criminal activity from the prisons.
Separately, the GOES will have to make some tough budgetary
decisions to provide the PNC with the resources needed to
hire and train more officers capable of providing greater
public security.
Barclay