Interviews

In an exclusive article for Comunidad Segura, Alexandra Valéria Vicente da Silva, a psychologist of the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro tells us about the prejudices overcome and the valued services of psychologists available for those in uniform and with their lives often on the line.

Public Security Programme Coordinator of the UN-LiREC, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, William Godnick gave InterCambio an exclusive interview on his new police training course and comments on the role of police training in lowering youth violence.

Venezuela's Luis Gerardo Gabaldón has been studying mechanisms of social control as responses to crime, and states that some of the failures of the current police forces in the region may be attributed to the fact these mechanisms are disconnected from the control of police violence. The professor discusses the need for practical training manuals and adequate training for police officers.

Comunidad Segura interviewed Joyce Freda Apio, Ugandan lawyer and member of the human rights organization HURINET-U, on the recent push for police accountability in Uganda. Their work has called for civilian oversight of police for both professional misconduct and human rights abuses, but ultimately they also want to build public confidence in the police force.

Described as a Narco-state by the United Nations, Guinea-Bissau has become a strategic point in the international drug route to Europe. Luis Vaz Martins, president of the Guinea-Bissau Human Rights League gave Comunidad Segura an exclusive interview. 'We need the support of the international community', he says.

Scientific Coordinator of the Brazilian Public Security Forum, Renato Sérgio de Lima, believes it is vital to divulge public security data and foster a greater appreciation of the work of police officers. 

Rachael Hinton, Oxfam New Zealand researcher who lives and works in the PNG Highlands, describes peace initiatives in the area that ally security to development, in an exclusive interview given to Comunidad Segura.

Sociologist Gláucio Soares, architect of social policy that  lowered traffic related deaths in Brazil's capital by 40% in four years, speaks to Comunidad Segura about international evidence that more numbers and less theory can lead to better, life-saving policy.

In France today, public security issues fall within the scope of local government, to be addressed by municipal police forces whose work complement the role of the national police. Comunidad Segura spoke to Virginie Malochet from France's LAPSAC, who discussed decentralization and the conflicting vocations of its police de proximité.

Comunidad Segura invited Delegado Cláudio Ferraz, Head of the Special Investigations into Organized Crime Unit (Draco) of Rio de Janeiro State's Civil Police force, to talk about militias, as the paramilitary presence is known in his city. Ferraz, who is currently investigating militia activities in the state, stressed the challenge posed by its links with politics.