With the sentence: “Wherever we go they want us more police officers”, the former regional Public Security coordinator, Alan Ibanez, tried to the paradox that happened after months of demonstrations of the so-called “18-O” to show. 2019 and that will be remembered, among many other reasons, because of the chants and lines against the police in uniform.
However, it seems that this general unhappiness or decline in applications has been left, and the support that the institution received from the community in those years is marked by an unprecedented crime crisis in the country increasingly apparent.
It is in this new context that Carabineros announced that the High Command has already authorized the creation of a new prefecture for Ñuble, which is expected to be located in the Department of Itata and, in addition then, what will be the Eighth Police Station for the area, with a seat in the Coihueco community, which will mean more workers, more logistics and more resources for these areas.
“Wherever we go they ask us for more police officers” It is also common to hear from General María Teresa Araya, head of the Ñuble Carabineros Zone, who admitted an increase in staff since she took control of the department .
Although he warned that this is not a significant increase in the number of almost 40 groups that the institution has deployed in Ñuble, he has been committed to the creation of new specialized units with regional coverage, in order to be able to follow the main focus of crime. which affects the community: organized crime.
To the OS10, OS7 and the existing SIAT, under his command, the units of the OS9, the GOPE, the Vehicle Commissioning and Inspection Department (Sevb) arrived in Ñuble and the seventh Public Order Control Police Station (COP) to create ), in 2020.
Since these are regional coverage units, this way it was possible to increase the staff for all departments. As a result, Ñuble is one of the regions of the country that has started to reduce the crime rate, with a drop of 3.4% so far, showing significant reductions in some crimes such as vehicle theft , which in previous years had exceeded 1.5 per day. cases in the sector and in 2024, there will only be 11 complaints in total.
And this increase in resources will also benefit the Regional Public Ministry, because this May 31 the official launch of the new Carabineros (Labocar) laboratory is expected, which will be located in the offices that have been until now in the courts of the Local Police, on Ecuador Avenue. , in Chillán.
“With the creation of the new area, we also saw an opportunity to be able to establish ourselves with all the services. And that is the thought we had regarding the presentation of investment initiatives. So, our general manager thought that view was interesting and he said to me, ‘yes, specify all the special units, even if they are not yet requested, because I am going to sign and to say yes, because they deserve it, as a region. , as a new region, to have all the police services,” General Araya told LA DISCUSIÓN.
Itata Prefecture in Quirihue
According to the custom, each region of the country must have a Carabineros prefecture, which is not achieved in the new department of Ñuble.
That is why one of the requests that General Araya made to the High Command was to use the inactive structure of the new 5th Police Station in Quirihue, to settle in that building with capacity for 120 officers, a new Prefecture Itata, what was accepted. from Santiago.
This new prefecture will be responsible for the use for the provinces of Itata and Punilla.
This new prefecture needs a new management facility where the head must be a chief executive or a sub-chief, to be able to implement new services, “because rural dynamics are completely different from the it is missing in cities like Chillán,” explained the general. , who explained, “for example, the most reported crimes in these regions are stealing cables, stealing trucks, rustling, stealing agricultural inputs, chemical importation and we have confirmed this both with the complaints and with the various “working boards in which organizations that are particularly involved in rural areas participate.”
The idea of this new prefecture began to take shape when the 5th Center of Quirihue was established and the project was socialized with actors such as the vice president Felipe Camaño or the mayor of Quirihue, Richard Irribarra, who gave passed the initiative to the Under Secretary of Finance. Inside, Manuel Monsalve.
Although the mayor admitted that the most serious crimes still do not have a big impact on his society, he has been asking for more police actions in cases of protection.
“The initiative of General María Teresa Araya makes us very happy, because it is difficult to think that a regional capital does not have its own prefecture, a prefecture specialized in rural affairs.”
Irribarra recalled when he attended the ribbon cutting of the new Quirihuana police station, “I was encouraged by the fact that it was a building with more staff than we actually had, because I realized that co- at least intend to introduce it. in more officers, although “I didn’t think it would be a prefecture, which logically seems much better to me. “
The Province of Itata shows a reduction in crimes of 18% compared to the section January-April 2023, seeing a reduction in almost all crimes of greater social significance, with the exception of theft in a place where people do not live, which has 42 complaints So far, it is. showing an increase of 20% compared to the same period last year.
The building is located at 735 Street Esmeralda, corner of Blanco Encalada, in front of the Plaza de Armas, has more than 1,700 meters built, with two levels, a charger for hybrid vehicles (which allows it to be the new police unit -conventional in 2018). electromobility in the country) and appropriate places to meet the diverse needs of the residents of the Itata Region, since this basic unit is dependent on the Coelemu Sub-Police Station and the checkpoints Cobquecura, Vegas de Itata, Ninhue, Portezuelo, Trehuaco and Ñipas. , which they bring together a population of more than 53 thousand people.
FIt was established on May 25, 2022 and had resources of $2,861 million.
Regarding the dates that could be established for the implementation of the initiative, “it will depend on political will, because not so many resources are needed, because the necessary structure is already there,” clarified the general.
The eighth police station in Coihueco
The mayor of Coihueco, Carlos Chandía, confirmed that his city financed a soil mechanics study of the building where the command’s sub-police station is today (responsible for the 6th Police Station of Chillán Viejo), to confirm the the state could be reshaped. structure and adapt to the demands of the police station itself.
This, because after the Carabineros Ñuble confirmed that the Commander-in-Chief had approved the promotion of the unit, and that the architectural program was carried out by the police institute, the initiative was given to the funds of the department, ” and they asked us to study soil mechanics, but we did not have these resources, so the Municipality of Coihueco offered to finance it and we made a cooperation agreement to comply with this requirement requested by the Ministry of Social Development. ”, explained the general.
The decision to create the 8th Police Station was made by judging the current situation in terms of crimes, complaints and other parameters related to public security, which showed that Coihueco has a quadrant protection security plan about early
As expected, for Mayor Chandía, this inauguration could be a good way to close his mayoral term which ends in 2025.
“At this time we want to focus on aligning the will and decision of all parties. The important thing is that the process begins, so that, hopefully next year, Coihueco will have an infrastructure in line with what the community needs today in terms of police protection. We know that the well-being of our people also depends on the greater abilities of the Carabineros, above all, in preventing crime,” said the general commander.
The mayor said that they have seen with concern in the last five years how some of the crimes that were more common in the bigger cities are being committed today in the environment of Coihuecan, and the statistics have begun to show this.
Contrary to the regional trend, Coihueco has seen a general increase in crimes of 4.8% compared to the same period in 2023, with the largest number reported as robbery by force (10.5% more than in in 2023).
For the mayor, just the presence of a police station, with the increase in staff that this means, can “help us so that citizens feel more protected, more secure, and have a lot of Increased police presence to that. , which has an endowment commensurate with one of the largest and most populous communities in the region.”
The insecurity that has existed in recent years in society is even seen in the city as an obstacle to the increase in productive activities, such as tourism.
This is because “this is the first condition that the residents need to fully develop, and we have made every effort within our reach so that our neighbors can live in peace. We hope that the dream of having a police station for Coihueco will finally come true, improving the quality of life for all its residents,” said Carlos Chandía.
As is the case with Quirihue prefecture, a date for the completion of this project has not yet been determined.
Nearly 1,200 officers
Without the new Seventh Police Station (COP), there are six police stations in Ñuble that have checkpoints, possessions, sub-policies and sub-policies in the Ñuble area.
The First Police Station, in San Carlos, has five checkpoints, a police station and a sub-police station; The second police station in Chillán has property and a sub-police station; the Tercera de Bulnes, completed with a checkpoint and property, thus closing the three police stations in the largest communities in Ñuble.
The fourth police station, in Yungay, has with reserve and two holdings; La Quinta, in Quirihue, is completed with seven checkpoints and a sub-police station; while the Sixth Police Station in Chillán Viejo has jurisdiction over four checkpoints, two properties and a sub-police station.
Highways catch is also added, located in the samehe works at the Traffic Accident Investigation Sub-Commission Station (SIAT), Ñuble.
In the old Bonilla checkpoint, in Chillán, today there is the Gope, and units like the Sevb were installed in the building of the old Minors sub-police station (today the Seventh Public Order Police Station) .
It is estimated that there are close to 1,200 Carabineros officers in the area.
