- Title: ARGENTINA-PRIVATE SECURITY Private security booms in Argentina amid crime wave
- Date: 10th October 2014
- Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE OPERATION IN PLAZA SAN MARTIN AFTER A MURDER
- Embargoed: 25th October 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Argentina
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA5G0IG0825Q2JQNNSYAGNT1Y32
- Story Text: In the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires and its sprawling outskirts, a surge in muggings and property theft in recent years has resulted in an increased demand for private security officers and security systems.
In this security camera footage two people can be seen handing over their motorcycle after being robbed at gunpoint.
In another scene caught on tape, two robbers flee a police check stop on a motorcycle.
While some point to an increased level of poverty in the bustling South American capital as a possible explanation behind the crime wave, others think that drug abuse, and not poverty alone, is to blame.
"I don't know if it's related to poverty, I have also gone through tough times and I never thought about robbery. So I think it's not about poverty but more because of drugs. Drug use has increased a lot in the past 20 years and there are kids that with drugs and alcohol don't think and who are capable of doing anything because of the drugs," said Bueno Aires resident Miriam Edith Quintana.
Paula Litvachky, director the Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), a local human rights NGO, highlighted that while there has been a rise in property related crimes in the city, the number of first degree homicides is lower than in other comparable cities both in Latin America and globally.
"In Argentina, and above all in the big cities, as urban phenomena, yes, there has been a significant increase in cases of crimes against property but at the same time Argentina and Buenos Aires in particular, as a big city, has a low rate of first degree murders compared with other cities around the world with similar characteristics and compared to Latin America," said Litvachky.
However, due to perceived risks combined with the increase in property theft, some people, such as La Boca resident Andrea Lopez, take precautionary measures in an attempt to lower their chances of being the next victims of street crime.
"Generally by 6 or 7 at night older people like me don't leave their buildings," said Lopez.
With theft and robbery on the rise in Buenos Aires and its surroundings, many residents are turning to private security companies for protection.
According to Aquiles Gorini, president of the Argentine Chamber of Security Companies and Investigation, the reasons behind public insecurity are complex and people can't be expected to wait around for improved social conditions to prevent the societal situations that give way to crime.
"Insecurity has multiple causes, we are sure about that, everyone agrees - those who know a lot, those who know little and those who know absolutely nothing about security. What is sometimes unclear is that the times of social inclusion are not the same times as the police. The police can't be waiting for inclusion. You have to react today and with the means available and inclusion has to be achieved with a sustainable plan that doesn't end with one government and start with another," said Gorini.
But, for Paula Litvachky a flood of law enforcement officers to deter crime doesn't get to the root cause of the problem, which she believes is directly related to the country's thriving black market.
"The police have been responding to the last link in the chain, which are in general fungible chains. I detain the person that is stealing a car on the street and tomorrow the market will easily replace that person for another. Here the discussion is because they are giving the condition of possibility to the market, for example auto theft - and there is much talk about this in Argentina - and the illegal car parts market. This can be translated to other criminal phenomena," said Litvachky.
While a heavier private security presence in Buenos Aires and the outskirts can be expected as residents try to grapple with the recent crime wave, the complexity of the problem suggests that theft and robberies will persist until the black markets lose ground and social conditions in the South American nation become more egalitarian.
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