US embassy cable - 05LIMA4294

UNCLAS LIMA 004294 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PINS, KCRM, PE 
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT TOLEDO ANNOUNCES NATIONAL CITIZEN 
SECURITY PLAN 
 
REF: LIMA 4163 
 
1.  SUMMARY.  New public security measures announced by 
President Toledo on 9/29 include more police patrols in high 
crime areas, vehicle purchases, prison reforms, a focus on 
highway robberies, and new training academies.  Although some 
of the resources required will be generated internally 
through reassignment of officers from protective and 
administrative duties, implementation of the plan will 
require the GOP to allocate significant new funding to the 
police.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  President Alejandro Toledo unveiled a new Plan for 
Citizen Security on 9/29.  The initiative consists of 13 
measures scheduled to be implemented by December 2006. 
Toledo was accompanied in his presentation by the new ranking 
members of his security team, Interior Minister Romulo 
Pizarro and Peruvian National Police (PNP) Director Luis 
Montoya.  The new measures provide further evidence of the 
GOP's desire to deal with public concerns about crime in the 
streets, and come just 10 days after the announcement of a 
package of salary and benefit increases for police officers 
(Reftel). 
 
3.  The following are some of the highlights of the 
President's plan: 
 
-- A new 1,500-member Citizen Security Squadron will be 
deployed to areas where crime rates are highest, with special 
emphasis going to increased police patrols at schools and 
street markets.  Staffing of this new unit will come about in 
part by reassigning 300 officers who presently carry out 
dignitary protection and administrative duties. 
-- Police patrols will achieve greater mobility through the 
immediate repair of 500 vehicles that are currently out of 
commission, and the purchase of 50 new patrol units.  In 
2006, the GOP will acquire 150 additional patrol cars, and 
300 motorcycles. 
-- Communications will be improved by installing 850 
computers in police stations throughout the country, and by 
increasing the capacity of the "105" emergency system 
(equivalent to 911 in the U.S.). 
-- Procedures in the prison system will be tightened up, by 
installing cell phone blocking equipment at penitentiaries, 
and by concentrating the most dangerous convicts at 
maximum-security facilities, such as the high-altitude 
Yanamayo Prison in Puno. 
-- The growing proliferation of armed robberies along Peru's 
highways will be addressed by prohibiting bus companies from 
picking up long-haul passengers at other than authorized 
terminals, and by requiring the companies to film passengers 
as they board. 
-- The GOP will work with the judicial branch to increase the 
number of Justices of the Peace that are co-located with 
police stations, in order to provide a speedier mechanism for 
dealing with minor offenses. 
-- The PNP will move ahead with plans to create four new 
decentralized training academies, in Ayacucho, Huancavelica, 
Pucallpa and Huanuco, with a combined capacity of 700 
students.  Additional academies are slotted to open next year 
in Trujillo, Andahuaylas and Cajamarca. 
 
4.  The public reaction to the measures announced by the 
President was uniformly favorable.  Opposition APRA 
Congressman Luis Gonzales Posada, head of the Congressional 
Sub-Committee on Citizen Security, referred to the plan as a 
positive advance, and said the next step will be to increase 
the PNP budget to cover the cost of these new measures. 
(COMMENT:  The increase in police funding announced on 9/19 
included a line item of USD 14 million for operational 
expenses such as gasoline, travel and meals; the new Citizen 
Security measures appear to represent funding requirements 
over and above this previous allocation.  END COMMENT.) 
STRUBLE