The Peruvian Police will purchase 43 pump trucks and 56 protected vehicles

By Peter Watson

The Ministry of the Interior has authorized its General Office of Administration and Finance to acquire various vehicles for the Peruvian National Police (PNP) through Ministerial Resolution N° 0391-2023-IN dated March 16, 2023.

The vehicles required by the PNP are:

• 32 motor pump trucks (local denomination Rochabús, water pressure tanker truck for riot control) of 4WD or Type I;
• 11 motor pump trucks of 6WD or Type II;
• 56 protected vehicles of 4WD with multirole capabilities (essential for patrolling in the Vraem);
• and 58 4×4 pick-up trucks.

They are part of the Public Investment Project (PIP) called Improvement of the civil disturbance control service at the national level, with Unique Investment Code No. 2251056.

• Thirty-four pick-up trucks with 4×4 traction as part of the PIP called “Improvement and expansion of the road control service at the national level” with Unique Investment Code N° 2197248.
• A 119 SUV truck with 4×2 traction and 40 motorcycles as part of the PIP called “Improvement of the patrolling service in the urban area in 17 departments” with Unique Investment Code N° 2197249.
• Two panel vans and a minibus as part of the PIP “Improvement and expansion of the services of the Urban Tactical Division – SUAT of the National Police of Peru in Metropolitan Lima and Callao – district of Callao – province of Callao – Department of Callao” with Unique Investment Code N° 2407158.

ENSURING THE PNP’S CAPABILITIES

In its reports, the Multiannual Investment Programming Office of the Ministry of the Interior states that acquiring vehicles for the Police seeks to guarantee the institution’s capacities to fulfill its constitutional mandate of maintaining and reestablishing internal order.

It has technical files approved and registered in the Investment Bank.

They are considered viable and will contribute to closing gaps in the provision of police service, reducing the number of units operating in inadequate conditions.

It should be noted that the acquisition of motor pump trucks has been in the pipeline since 2019.

In November 2019, an Infodefensa report announced the intention of the Ministry of Interior to acquire a batch of ten new anti-riot motor pump trucks with their respective preventive maintenance program up to 150,000 kilometers or five years of use.

The Interior sector planned to award this purchase by the end of November 2019.

The following year, in February 2020, Infodefensa reported that the water pump truck was added to the list of strategic procurements for the Peruvian National Police as part of the modernization program of the police institution.

Several companies were interested in the selection process for purchasing and selling motor pump trucks.

However, the Supervisory Body for State Contracting (OSCE) declared the bidding null and void because only one bidder met the technical requirements, thus not having a plurality of options to benefit the transparency of the process.

The process returned to the call for bids stage, but the purchase was not completed.

Infodefensa has emphasized on multiple occasions the need to provide the Police with protected vehicles to carry out their patrolling operations in the Vraem (Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro River Valley) in a safe manner and with the capacity to repel terrorist attacks or ambushes from within the protection of an armored vehicle resistant to the impact of small arms projectiles.

Patrolling with commercial pick-up trucks in areas where narco-terrorist elements still operate is placing police personnel at unnecessary risk, which has once again claimed the lives of seven police officers on February 11, in the district of Pichari, province of La Convención, department of Cusco, an area considered part of the Vraem.

With information from Infodefensa