Global Courant 2023-05-26 11:48:36
San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Corruption networks within the police force in charge of regulating traffic in our country is more than just an open secret, it is a reality experienced firsthand by those desperate drivers seeking to apply for their driver’s license for the first time or who want to avoid doing so. long lines and cumbersome procedures at regional transit offices.
Investigations have revealed that a significant number of agents from the National Highway and Transportation Directorate (dnvt) have solicited bribes from citizens in exchange for issuing driver’s licenses. A letter processed through the Directorate of Police Disciplinary Affairs (Didadpol) and the Institute for Access to Public Information (IAIP) shows that only between 2019 and 2022 were processed 41 cases of members of this State security body, accused of requesting gifts (money) to grant the vehicle identification document.
Between the investigated included a class I, a class II, a class III, 29 agents, a deputy inspector, two inspectors, a deputy commissioner, a commissioner and another whose position was recorded as unidentified. The files indicate that these are police officers assigned to the departments of Valle, Olancho, Atlántida, Santa Bárbara, Francisco Morazán, Choluteca, Copán, Francisco Morazán and the majority in Cortés. Of the 41 cases, 30 are men and 11 women.
Related: Transit continues to fine Hondurans for expired license despite not having material
In 10 of the cases, Didadpol recommended cancellation due to dismissal, 10 of the complaints were dismissed, 17 filed or remain under investigation and four of them suggested suspending them for 15 days. Of the ten recommendations for dismissal issued, the then Minister of the Security Secretariat, Julián Pacheco, through the General Secretariat, only dismissed two agents and one class II police officer from the institution on July 5, 2018, on February 15 and November 12, 2019.
Information from the human resources section of the same National Police indicates that those involved in this illegal activity do so through social networks or directly with the citizen.
illegal activity
Lincoln Pacheconational traffic director, acknowledged that they are aware of networks that engage in this illegal activity, for which they have coordinated actions with the Public Ministry and internal control units in order to resolve the corresponding complaints.
“Everything is in the process of investigation, it is a network that operates nationwide in places where Roads and Transportation issues driver’s licenses. These unscrupulous people dedicate themselves to defrauding uninformed people,” said the police chief during an interview with this medium.
380 million lempiras were collected for the issuance of driver’s licenses of different categories nationwide between 2020 and 2022, according to DNVT
Although the Security Secretariat is the second investigation filter, with the power to mitigate the offense or even aggravate it, it is the Didadpol that is in charge of the investigative stage of the disciplinary process against members of the National Police or employees and officials of the Secretariat to of Security, being able to investigate only serious and very serious offenses established.
your director Silvia Ayala He said he didn’t fully understand why the cases they recommended didn’t end in cancellation. “Everything depends on the seriousness of the offense, in some cases the trajectory of the police or the level of participation is considered, possibly a minor sanction was issued by the Secretary of Security, I do not know the criteria themselves,” said the lawyer.
“We do not fully understand what happened to our recommendations on these cases”: Silvia Ayala, director of Didadpol
He explained that the cases dismissed from Didadpol were in the preliminary stage (10 days) because it was possible that sufficient responsibility was not found, it was not possible to fully identify the person involved or he presented important evidence that contrasted the accusations. The cases consigned as archived occur in two stages: when the proceedings are carried out, it is considered that no fault was committed and the other arises in the last phase, when the defendant arrives and presents more evidence than that shown during the defense hearing.
Didadpol has more than 75 days to investigate each case and can even refer to the Prosecutor’s Office if money is involved in the crime. He commented that so far in 2023 they have registered 12 complaints and that most of these come from personnel from the same police institution or in some cases from citizens who call complaining because they paid and were not given the license.
He indicated that in this year’s records there are both low-ranking police officers and commissioners, for example, and that they are all in the investigative process. He stressed that in certain cases, a low-profile police officer is first denounced, and along the way of the investigations there are indications of the participation of even police chiefs.
”Not only the police officers must be punished, but also those who give them the money”: Herman Vogelsang, criminologist
The law is the law and must be followed regardless of who it is, as the criminologist considers Hermann Vogelansag. “If these police officers have committed an offense, they should be punished or fired, since they are supposed to be the representatives of the law, they swore to protect and defend it,” he said.
For the public security expert, these “are well-organized mafias, there is disorganization within the Police, a lack of leadership from the high command and little interest in doing their job.” Vogelsang asked not only to punish the police officers involved, but also those who pay for these favors, because in his opinion, “they are still a bridge to corruption.”
Civil society analysts who work with approaches to transparency and who were approached about what is happening, agreed that as long as these and other lucrative ways of earning a living are not eradicated, such as charging to grant licenses to irresponsible drivers, it will be difficult to root out police.
Denis Diazlawyer and specialist in criminal policy, recalled that in Honduras there is a culture of corruption in which bribes, collection of favors, favors, threats are used to achieve objectives or outside the law.
“Participants commit the crime of bribery”: Denis Díaz, lawyer and analyst
It expanded that a part of the population drives vehicles without their license, a situation that can arise due to many factors.
“Let’s start from the assumption of a citizen who cannot obtain his license due to some external factor or because he wishes not to queue, then he offers the policeman money in exchange for facilitating or collaborating without presenting the required documentation or respecting the time of other citizens. . If the policeman asks for money, he incurs the crime of bribery, either active (when he asks voluntarily to obtain a personal benefit, gifts, favors, payment in cash or species in exchange for doing an action contrary to his duties as an official; punished with two to four years in prison) or passive (when he receives money in exchange for some benefit on a matter that he is aware of; punished with one to four years in prison, plus special disqualification equal to twice the length of the imprisonment) “, said.
Regarding the judicial process, as it is a crime, it must be reported to the Public Ministry or for the investigation phase to proceed.
It is necessary for the citizen to have the means of proof with which he can prove that a police officer requested or received money, favors or gifts in exchange for activities contrary to his functions and above all contrary to the law.
For the legal analyst, it is extremely difficult to combat corrupt behavior when “police officials are being poorly paid, which, of course, is not a justification, but it is a reality that goes beyond and takes precedence over the duty and aspiration that we as citizens have, which is that of a society that is more respectful of the laws”, he concluded.
