crime

Gang activity goes unchecked

Police say more help is needed from citizens to help combat criminal activity.

la prensa

guarded:Police say they need help to thwart gang activity. 1139805

María Rosiri Bethancourt, who lives in El Chorrillo with her two children, dreams of the day when she can move to somewhere safer.

“This neighborhood is too violent,” Bethancourt said, adding that there are so many gangs operating near her house that she can no longer keep track of their names.

The problem of violence in El Chorrillo, and in other neighborhoods such as ­Curundú, Santa Ana, Calidonia, Viejo Veranillo, San Joaquín and San Miguelito, has caused what sociologist Bolívar Franco calls a “vicious cycle.”

“When people live in a society where there is a lot of violence, they become violent,” he said.

While police have cracked down on gang activity by arresting suspected leaders, that simply creates more opportunities for other gang members.

Ebrahim Asvat, a former director of the National Police, said that all of the murders committed in Panama City in December appear to be gang-related. He said that any youths growing up in neighborhoods where gang activity is prevalent will be tempted to join one themselves.

He said that, as the gangs become more organized, he expects the crime situation to get worse. He said they do not have the level of sophistication of other gangs operating in Central America, but “sooner or later they will be transformed into more complex organizations.”

According to the former police director, the code of silence that exists in the neighborhoods where gang activity is prevalent adds to the “indifference” on the part of authorities. More specifically, he said that police are not as willing to crack down on criminal activities if the population does not come forward to help them.

In this regard, Asvat said there must be a unified anti-gang effort between police and citizens, as well as the creation of anti-poverty programs to improve the living conditions of people in crime-ridden areas.

José Polo, president of the Give Me an Opportunity Foundation, which is dedicated to reforming gang members, said any such programs need to be comprehensive because the programs that have been tried so far have not been able to do much to address the problem.