Jaime Fernández, Director of the National Police, is not the only one speaking of flexible precautionary measures granted to those apprehended for drug-related issues; President José Mulino has also been highly critical of this topic.
Fernández highlighted the value of these operations, as attacking micro-trafficking breaks the economic muscle of gangs, who are being paid with drugs. Fernández acknowledged that the National Police has reinforced its presence in East Panama and pointed to the following legal bodies as those who grant soft precautionary measures.
In addition to talking about public perception, an old rhetoric used by previous police directors, Fernández points to the war between gangs and the internal fractures these groups are experiencing over power quotas, territorial control, and everything related to the businesses they manage, which would be, in his view, the cause of the latest homicides.
Fernández stated that 2% of homicides nationwide are related to common crime, "and the rest is framed within the war between already established gangs," he justified.
Jaime Fernández, Director of the National Police, hides behind statistics to ensure that crime rates in Panama have decreased, although these numbers contrast with the feeling of the citizens on the street who say they do not feel safe.
"In the National Police, we measure everything, and it is seen in the captures... after I put the person at the order of the instances that follow, if there they give very flexible measures, we have already done our job," said Fernández, pointing to the Judicial Branch.
To face this, the National Police has reinforced the areas of Don Bosco and Pacora with operations and 400 new units who will be in charge of the checkpoints and verification points.
"Regarding the perception of what is being sold to the community, from the point of view of police operability, we understand that actions must be taken," said Fernández.
"Of the 20 police zones, we have the zones of Don Bosco and Pacora, where criminal groups and gangs prevail that during the year have had internal fractures," said the police director on TVN.
Attacking the financial muscle of crime
Relying on statistics, Fernández stated that daily operations are carried out against micro-trafficking that generate "no less than ten people (apprehended)".
"These operations are not done overnight, it is a matter of intelligence and operability, a lot of street work, it is not just about seeing that someone is supposedly selling a drug," he assured.
"We have been very effective in the operability against micro-trafficking, the statistics say so."
