RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – 695 police procedures for homicides were registered this 2021 throughout Chile. The numbers make up a dark map that has the Metropolitan region as leader: practically half of them occurred right there. The commune with more cases? Santiago. La Pintana is close behind.
The data provided by the Undersecretary of Crime Prevention to BioBioChile’s Investigation Unit show that both police forces have carried out operations in cases in which at least one person was killed by another. In several of them, there is more than one deceased.
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And although in several areas the figures are decreasing, the outlook is worrying. Especially due to the explosive increase of cases in the Tarapacá region. If in 2018 there were 10 homicide operations, in 2021 the figure rose to 38.
One of the main problems? The fear of reporting. At least that is what prosecutors in the area say.
“They think there will be reprisals,” warns the Tarapacá prosecutor.
THE RANKING OF MISFORTUNE
The information provided to this media by the government agency corresponds to figures collated by the Center for Crime Studies and Analysis (CEAD). This is based on the “incoming” records provided by both police forces, which is why in some cases they differ from those handled by the Public Prosecutor’s Office on the matter.
Of the last four calendar years, 2020 was by far the one in which more homicide cases were reported (889), despite all the mobility restrictions and the mandatory confinement due to the advance of the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite registering 9.1% fewer cases than the previous year, during 2021 the commune with the highest number of homicides was Santiago.
According to CEAD figures, during the past year in the capital there were 30 cases of homicides. In other words, it accounted for 4.3% of the cases at the national level.
In second place, and despite reporting 46.2% fewer cases than in 2020, is the commune of La Pintana.
There, according to police data, during 2021 there were 21 cases of consummated homicides.
The third place, with 20 cases, went to the commune of Colina, while the fourth place went to Iquique with 19.
In the fifth position appears the commune of Valparaíso with 18 cases, relegating to sixth place the commune of Alto Hospicio which in 2021 “contributed” with 17 cases as did Puente Alto.
FIREARMS EVERYWHERE
The phenomenon of homicides has mutated over time: if in the past penknives and knives predominated, nowadays pistols predominate.
“Today 53% of homicides are committed with firearms, according to Carabineros 2021 figures, as opposed to what happened before, when bladed weapons predominated,” explains María José Gómez, Undersecretary for Crime Prevention, to BBCL.
The government representative explains that one of the focuses is precisely the control of the high power of criminal gangs.
Therefore, the focus of the work was on the coordination with the police to confront the three factors that influence this phenomenon: criminal gangs, drugs and firearms.
“This effort has yielded positive results, which do not satisfy us and challenge us to continue working until the last day, but which show the effectiveness of police action,” he said.
Gómez also points out that as a government they promoted the new Weapons Law. After 14 years in Congress, it finally came into force, which in his opinion provides more and better tools to control and prosecute the illegal use of firearms.
280% INCREASE
During 2021, according to police reports, 314 cases of homicides were registered in the Metropolitan Region, 140 cases less than in 2020.
The above translates into a 30.8% drop in murders, above the 21.8% decrease in cases nationwide.
Tied for second place nationally are the regions of Valparaíso and Bío Bío. Each in 2021 scored with 63 operations for murders.
The former had nine fewer cases than in 2020, while in the latter, the figure represents a decrease of three cases.
In third place in 2021 is the Tarapacá region, after presenting an explosive increase with respect to the previous year.
According to figures from the Undersecretariat for Crime Prevention, the number of cases increased by 280% from one year to the next.
AT THE LEVEL OF HAITI
There, however, the picture becomes even more complex. If, instead of police operations, victims are counted, the numbers grow even more.
According to information provided by the regional prosecutor of Tarapacá, Raúl Arancibia, 51 people were reported murdered in the area during 2021. Half of them lost their lives in Alto Hospicio.
“In our case, the homicide rate is 14 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (…) It is a figure that places us at the level of countries with serious problems such as Haiti, for example, which has a national figure of 14 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.”
In the prosecutor’s opinion, in addition to the high crime rate, they must face rudimentary problems when investigating. The lack of tools to advance in the investigations works against them. As an example:
“(In Alto Hospicio) there are no cameras. The camera that is installed on public roads, in strategic places, is an extraordinarily useful tool to solve many things.”