Wave of robberies in shopping centers exposes public safety crisis in Chile

Inflation and the economic slowdown are not the only concerns of the people of Chile. The country is experiencing a public safety crisis, in which robberies at shopping centers have been one of the most visible aspects in recent weeks.

On Nov. 20, two robberies occurred in the Mall Plaza chain units.

In Mall Plaza Oeste, in the commune of Cerrillos, in the region of Santiago, five armed men robbed an Apple store; an employee was hit on the head with a rifle butt.

On the same day, in Mall Plaza Norte, located in another metropolitan commune, Huechuraba, another group, also armed, threatened customers and employees and fled, taking several products from a Mac Online store.

The Mall Plaza group expressed concern about “the high level of violence and the weapons used by the delinquents”.

It stressed “the criminal organization of these groups,” with actions with large numbers of criminals and the use of “bulletproof vests and large-caliber weapons.

Although these were the cases with the most significant repercussions, others have been registered in Chile recently.

This month, reports of customers of the Costanera Center in Providencia (also in Greater Santiago), who said they had been victims of armed robberies inside the shopping center’s stores, went viral on social networks.

In October, about 15 criminals robbed two cell phone stores in the Espacio Urbano de Piedra Roja shopping center in Chicureo (Greater Santiago).

The robbers wore overalls of different colors and masks of Halloween, clowns, and the protagonist of the comic book and movie “V for Revenge”.

They threatened customers with firearms, even holding some temporary hostage.

“This is not a problem unique to shopping malls or retailers. It is a national phenomenon replicated with increasing levels of insecurity throughout the territory,” Katia Tursich, president of the Chilean Chamber of Shopping Centers, told ADN radio last week.

She made the statements after meeting with representatives of President Gabriel Boric’s government, the Carabineros (the Chilean police), and the Public Ministry.

Tursich claimed that despite recent violent cases, shopping centers are still safer environments but stressed that “on the issue of security, one can never be tranquil.”

“It’s an issue that affects all of us as a country; there is a big perception of insecurity on the rise,” she stressed.

At the meeting, the Chilean government said it would send a bill on private security to Congress, and the Carabineros announced a reinforcement of the Centauro Plan to increase policing in the regions of shopping centers significantly closer to Christmas.

Eduardo Vergara, the undersecretary of Crime Prevention, representing the Boric administration at the meeting, also said that a “joint public-private task force” will be established to increase security in stores that sell high-tech and high-value products in shopping centers.

Given the repercussions of these robberies, lawmakers from the Independent Democratic Union (UDI), a Chilean opposition party, presented a bill last week to authorize the possession and use of firearms by security guards in shopping centers.

GENERAL CRISIS

Despite the increased visibility of shopping center robberies, the search for measures to prevent theft indicates that Chile’s public safety crisis affects the economy in general.

According to a report from the website La Tercera, more than 50% of Chile’s commercial establishments have tightened security measures this year, given that almost 60% of the country’s stores have been victims of robberies.

Earlier this week, Chilean truck drivers ended an eight-day strike after reaching an agreement with the government on the category’s two main demands: lower fuel prices and greater security for carriers.

While on the fuel issue, the Boric administration committed itself to seek measures to stabilize prices, especially for truckers working with smaller loads; on safety, three main commitments were defined.

An exclusive prosecutor was assigned to investigate robberies and kidnappings suffered by truckers.

There was an agreement for an operational plan by the Carabineros to improve security at seven points between the cities of Arica and Coquimbo, and the construction of six rest areas for carriers in the Northern Macrozona throughout 2023 was defined.

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