The thuggish thief: a growing problem for Colombia?

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]
A glance at most reports into the levels of crime and violence in Colombia shows that the country has gradually been getting safer since the turn of the millennium.

Some Colombians blame Venezuelans for a perceived rise in violent crime.

The headline-grabbing one — and the easiest to measure really — is how the homicide rate has dramatically fallen, from almost 70 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2002 to just over 24 per 100,000 in 2020.

Not-so-decent criminals

Other insecurity issues — theft, violent crime, rape and suchlike — are more difficult to both accurately measure and interpret. 

This is because they aren't always reported and thus aren't counted while, conversely, any apparent rise could be down to an increase in victims coming forward and/or better detection by official bodies.

So the "real" picture could actually be better. Or it could be worse. It's not for nothing we have the saying, 'there are lies, damned lies and statistics.'

Whatever the current situation is in Colombia — homicides, for one, are on track to increase this year compared to both 2020 and 2019 — the perception here in Bogotá and elsewhere is that violent crime has shot up over the last couple of years.

The belief, supported by numerous anecdotes, is that many armed assailants are no longer just content to steal from their defenceless victims, victims who put up no resistance whatsoever that is, but the delinquents also seem hellbent on inflicting serious bodily harm on their targets.

'One hypothesis is that this increase in violent crime is down to the arrival of a different breed of thief from the East i.e. Venezuelans.'

In the past, so it goes, most robbers just wanted their booty. So if it was handed over to them immediately the chances of a physical attack were practically zero. The 'ordinary decent criminal' one could say, to borrow from the 2000 movie.

Now, however, the idea is proliferating that wanton violence is increasingly a part of such robberies. And, in some quarters, it's led to a hypothesis that this is down to the arrival of a different breed of thief from the East i.e. Venezuelans.

It's no revelation to state that some Venezuelans commit crimes here.

I recall an El Tiempo article from a few months back highlighting the nationality of those arrested for various offences. The percentage of Venezuelans on the list was slightly higher than their proportion in the population as a whole. Again, one must treat such statistics with caution.

Is drug use contributing to more violent crimes?

In addition, Bogotá Mayor Claudia López has previously reflected publicly what appears to be a popular opinion amongst the city's residents that Venezuelans are responsible for this rise — perceived or otherwise — in violent crime.

Drugged-up delinquents

Nationality aside, one has to ask why there seems to be a new-found desire in some thieves to draw blood when robbing people?

I'm not a thief but I would have thought that the principal goal was to take whatever can be taken with as little fuss as possible, as quickly as possible. Wasting time inflicting injuries on cowed victims seems counterproductive to me, potentially detrimental to the "business".

I say detrimental because in these parts most people expect to suffer from thefts from time to time. Thus, non-violent robberies are almost accepted. When violence is introduced, assailants can expect to see greater pushback from state authorities and the community at large.

One theory for the bloodier thefts is that they are conducted by drugged-up delinquents not tied to any "disciplined" gang. They are their own, dangerously deranged bosses.

There might be something to that. In a more general sense, the British journalist and author Peter Hitchens, for one, is quick to point to the link between violent crime and long-term drug use, particularly marijuana.

Throw in a feeling of hopelessness and associated desperation and one can at least understand the temptation to steal.

It could be done without the reckless violence, though. It rarely ends well for either victim or assailant.
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Colombia's arrested development

I've never really agreed with doing what are changeable types of work by numbers. For example, back in my radio newsroom days, we would be given a certain amount of stories to file daily, while the length of the hourly and main news bulletins had to be the same each day.

Colombia's 'Goodfellas', at times.

Basically, with the odd exception, the news always had to fit certain parameters, regardless of what was happening, or not happening as the case sometimes was.

Fair enough, there are programme and ad-break schedules to stick to and the listeners, so we are told, like familiarity and routine. It's dangerous to mess with their heads you know, it could lead to chaos.

There are other areas, however, where this working to set numbers is far more questionable, to the point that it's potentially dangerous.

My new housemate is a recently graduated Colombian police officer and she told me how when out on patrol — that's two cops on the beat — they have to make a minimum number of arrests per shift. In her case it's three, but for others that threshold can be higher.

OK, but you're talking about crime-ridden Colombia I hear you say; they should easily be able to meet whatever arrest requirements are stipulated. In many places, that is probably the case.

Yet having a minimum target can work negatively in two, somewhat opposing ways. 

First, should officers be on the beat in Barrio Utopia, or more realistically just be on duty in a place where not many arrest-warranting activities are happening on the day, meeting their target is then difficult. With the pressure on, the temptation to 'invent' arrestable offences will surely be high. Who knows, they might try and push somebody's buttons who had previously been minding his own business, drive him over the line and then you have 'insulting a police officer' or the like — out come the cuffs.

On the other hand, if you have officers who, let's say, aren't the most consummate of professionals and are stationed in a heavy, 'caliente' location, once they've reached their arrest total, the onus to continue crime-fighting might be low: 'I've done what I've had to do today and that's it. That stabbing can go by the wayside.'

For sure, this kind of stuff isn't unique to Colombia (and, as I've mentioned before, I find the police here pretty trustworthy), but the bottom line is that there shouldn't be any need for it. Incidents of crime fluctuate depending on time and place. The goal for any upholders of law and order is to try and keep it under control. It's pretty obvious to tell when that's not happening, regardless of what the numbers say.
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