Tag: Mexico

The ICPC strengthens its influence in Latin America through two presentations

On July 24, we had the pleasure of sharing our expertise at the International Congress on Good Practice in Security and Crime Prevention, organized by our member the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the municipality of Querétaro in Mexico. One of the topics covered was the importance of community policing in creating a climate of trust between law enforcement agencies and local communities. In addition, Oscar Figueroa, our strategic consultant in Latin America, outlined our impact internationally and in Quebec, particularly through projects developed by our Urban Safety Laboratory, which was implemented in 2020. The day was also an opportunity to share best practices with local, national, and international stakeholders, and to strengthen our collaboration for the creation of  safer and more sustainable cities. 

International Congress on Good Practice in Security and Crime Prevention.

In addition, on August 21, we  had the opportunity to build on  this momentum by  speaking in the Municipality of Nuevo León, at the 3rd municipal community prevention forum, and during a visit to the León Metropolitan Public Security Academy in Guanajuato. This time, our role was twofold: to contribute our expertise as specialists in criminal analysis, and to develop a relationship with  stakeholders involved in  the police academy. This visit was essential to explore  the possibilities of  support that the ICPC could offer to this municipality, and to other municipalities in Mexico. It also illustrated our commitment to supporting our local partners in the implementation of effective prevention strategies tailored to local realities.  

Visit to the León Metropolitan Public Security Academy in Guanajuato. 

These two events demonstrate our commitment to consolidating our presence in Latin America, not only by sharing our knowledge and expertise, but also by forging close relationships with key partners in the region.   

3rd municipal community prevention forum in Guanajuato.

Thanks for the invitation!   

To watch Oscar Figueroa’s intervention (22min10-1hour16) :

OAS and ICPC Organize a Discussion on the Role of Civil Society Crime Observatories in Mexico and Central America

On Tuesday, November 8, 2020, the Third Discussion of the Inter-American Community of Crime Observatories jointly organized by the Department of Public Security of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC) took place.

The panelists were Alfonso Domínguez (Mexico), Migdonia Ayestas (Honduras) and Carlos Mendoza (Guatemala). The presentations provided an opportunity to learn more about the creation and mandate of their respective observatories, their methods of data collection, processing and analysis, and their strategies for disseminating results.

The exchanges that followed these three presentations included discussions on the contribution of civil society observatories on violence and crime in unfavourable and difficult contexts. According to Mr. Mendoza and Ms. Ayestas, such observatories contribute to greater transparency and credibility around the construction of knowledge because they approach official data on crime with a more critical eye. This function is essential in countries where trust in state institutions is relatively low. Carlos Mendoza, coordinator of the Regional Observatory of Violence, also believes that this type of structure makes it possible to highlight problems "that governments cannot see or do not want to see".

The exchanges also addressed the challenges faced by these observatories in collecting and analyzing data on crime in the Mexican and Central American contexts. In particular, Ms. Ayestas highlighted the difficulty of obtaining official data from uncooperative public authorities and the difficulty of conducting perception and victimization surveys in some dangerous neighborhoods. Mr. Mendoza referred to the dependence of these observatories on the goodwill of governments for access to data, illustrating his point by the way recent decisions by the Guatemalan government limit transparency.

The event was organized by video conference and was broadcast live. It can be viewed in its entirety online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjNtPsK9sIA.