GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemala’s National Civilian Police, or PNC, swore in 2,161 new officers on Tuesday, boosting its ranks to 23,287 uniformed members in this crime-ridden nation of roughly 13 million people.
Members of the 24th graduating class of the PNC academy were sworn in by the police command at a ceremony attended by President Alvaro Colom.
PNC chief Baltasar Gomez said the new officers would be assigned to cities in the interior of Guatemala where there were high levels of crime and violence.
“It is a commitment to society to professionalize the security forces to provide better service,” Gomez said.
The PNC, founded in 1997 as part of the peace agreements signed by the government a year earlier with leftist guerrillas who battled repressive rule from 1960-1996, is considered one of the most corrupt public entities in Guatemala.
More than a dozen high-level PNC officials, including former chief Porfirio Perez, are serving prison sentences for corruption and other crimes.
Some 50 active-duty officers are being investigated for crimes ranging from abuse of authority to murder and drug trafficking, the PNC Inspector General’s Office said.
Last year, 62 active-duty officers were charged with a variety of crimes, and more than 1,000 officers have been sacked since 2004 for being involved with criminal groups.
Guatemala is considered one of Latin America’s most violent countries with an average of 17 murders daily and a large presence of street gangs and drug traffickers. EFE
Source:laht.com
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