Well, time for another change of area and change of incredibly kind families. Sara has covered the gist of our day yesterday so I shall concentrate on my vocation.
We visited the cctv base for General Rodreguez. They have only had cctv for a year and have 30 cameras in total. They are hoping to get 10 more. They say that people feel safer knowing the cameras are there. Some of the cameras watch the town square, which is just as well as the Mayor recently installed wi-fi in the park, genius! It was amazing to be in the middle of a park, getting my emails for free, fantastic idea. We the went to see a small out of town holding base for detained people. It only holds four people, men to be precise. The cell has two moulded bunk beds so women have to go to another cell block in another town. I had a good chat with the Chief of Police who gave me some insight in to the training process and general policing.
All police officers must be educated to at least GCSE equivalent level and be between the age of 18-30. Up until about 2004-6 you could not join the police if you already had children, and before that only if you were single. Another very recent change is that although officers still buy their own uniform and arms they are given the money from the State to do so. Previously they had to fund it themselves. When you join the police the expectation is for a 30 year career, but initially they sign up for 3 years to see how they get on. They have a mixture of classroom and practical lessons, with a mentoring process at the end. There is no time limit to the mentoring, just when the officer is ready to be independant. Similar to the UK police officers can be sacked but not made redundant. The Chief told me that they have officers who do paperwork and they spend about 9hrs of their shift doing paperwork and about 3hrs on patrol. Other officers only do patrol and spend all their time out and about.
The promotion process is different and is based around merits, seniority, qualifications and commendations rather than an exam. They do however take exams for specialist roles. During their career officers recertify annually, with specialist officers continually retraining throughout the year.
I asked about the arrest to court process. In theory it is like England, but people can be detained for 15 days initailly or given bail. They then go before a court but it may not be for several years, as I saw for myself at the previous police station.
I asked about the reputation of the police and their relationship with the community. He told me that they work with Non-Governmental Organisations to design strategies to apply within the communities. However, there was someone filming our meeting and an unknown man who interjected on my more invasive questions. I imagine that may have stifled some of our conversation in this area.
The Chief told me that they had 120 police for 90,000 people. I asked if he could have his ideal police force what would it look like. Basicallly he said more officers, sounds familiar.
Overall a very interesting exchange.
The interviews have gone out on air and in the newspapers, we are officially celebrities. We had more press today in the mayors office, all very strange!
Anyway, I am off to destroy the beautiful dance that is the tango!
Update you all soon, also please feel free to write comments, we are getting lonely!
Jerusha x
Hello. Am delighted that your days are full and that your experiences are both new and a bit familiar. I think that you gave some good information about key aspects of the work of police services in England (Thames Valley only?) and Argentina (Buenos Aires only?) - those long remand times seem inefficient and counter to securing real justice, from where I am standing. Also, the information about the personal circumstances of the police in Argentina because it gives an insight into social assumptions and conventions as well as what was expected of a police officer. On the face of it, losing one's life or the life path being altered has to be part of those presumtions - or am I reading too much into that? Are there women in the police service in Argentina or are you really a curio?
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, how do people from different backgrounds get on? Is there a social structure that is as problematic as our own class system? How is your Spanish and have you been mistaken as a native-born Agrentinian yet.
I am sure that the dancing will have been brilliant.
Enjoy all that is coming as this is really an experience that money can't buy and that will live on in your memory (and hopefully in your contacts and work life) for a long, long time.
Thanks for writng such a clear and interesting account (with brilliant spelling).
P. X.