Panama - While over 500 surveillance cameras watch from strategic points, a new silent tool soars over the skies of the San Miguelito district to reach where fixed lenses cannot. These are drones, which have become a cutting-edge tool for the National Police in its struggle to control the territory. Subcommissioner Walter Stanziola, head of the San Miguelito zone, detailed how this technology is changing the rules of the game in patrolling a district classified as a 'red zone'. 'These drones are progressively sent to support and accompany the units during preventive or repressive operations, or simply to monitor what is happening in those areas without visual coverage, becoming a support in police operations,' explained the zone chief. The strategy is not limited to the skies. Subcommission Stanziola highlighted that aerial surveillance is combined with reinforced ground patrol, which includes incursions into areas with up to '5 and 6 police units with their respective long weapons' to confront criminal groups operating in these hard-to-access sectors. Despite technological and operational advances, the subcommissioner was clear about the major challenge: the lack of sustainability of the social, cultural, and sports programs being carried out in the district. 'We need more support from institutions, more financial support, some legal backing,' he admitted, making it clear that the battle for San Miguelito is far from over and requires joint and continuous effort. Other projects that are bearing fruit and increasing police credibility in communities are the 'watchful neighbors', 'watchful schools', 'watchful taxi drivers', and 'watchful businesses' programs, among others, thanks to which thefts and robberies have decreased in the district. From his point of view, the biggest challenge the San Miguelito district faces is education. 'We think that educating is just sending a minor to school, but education is instilling principles and positive values that allow the minor to handle themselves in society peacefully, and that work is not done only by the school, it is comprehensive work that has a lot to do with what is learned at home,' he concluded. 'We must respect the innocence of young people and children, and it is for this reason that Stanziola considers that 'security is a social issue and therefore needs the active participation of the largest number of possible actors'.
