In 1962, the Chilean Carabineros incorporated women into their ranks. A process that began timidly, occupying only some functions within the institution. As the years went by, that changed and women increasingly assumed more responsibilities in different areas. In O’Higgins there are several Carabinero women who occupy leadership positions. Here we show you only two cases of the many that exist. We present to you Major Karla Piña Bravo, commissioner of the 2nd Police Station of Santa Cruz, for three years; and, to the senior non-commissioned officer Janet Olguín, Chief of the Los Lirios Detention Center for 6 years.
“HEAD OF RETENTION HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE OF MY CAREER”
Proud to be a Carabinero woman. Since she was little, the head of the Los Lirios Detention Center, Chief Petty Officer Janet Olguín González, dreamed of belonging to the institution, where she has already been for 32 years. She says “I joined Carabineros when I was 17 years old. Since I was a child I liked the Traffic Brigade and I also have a deep-rooted institutional tradition: I am the niece of the Carabineros hero who gave the Fabriciano González Urzúa Non-Commissioned Officer School its name, on my mother’s side, and although I did not know him, because He passed away when I was born, I always felt very connected to his story. We went to the cemetery a lot,” she says excitedly, and she adds that “for me, he is a reference, with an impeccable institutional resume. He is an example that I have tried to follow, that is why I always try to do things well.”
A tradition that Janet’s family has continued. The son of the senior non-commissioned officer is currently a Carabineros lieutenant and is in the Specialty School. Additionally, Janet’s husband is a non-commissioned officer. “We are a family of Carabineros and I feel very proud of it,” she says and adds that “our conversations are not always about police issues, but it is difficult not to comment on some, we understand the schedules, and, above all, the responsibility of belonging to the institution and we support each other so that each one can develop and do things well.”
“I joined Carabineros with the purpose of helping the community to feel safe,” emphasizes the senior non-commissioned officer, who in these 32 years of career has been in 19 different units, mainly in the Metropolitan, Coquimbo, and Valparaíso regions, where He was even on Easter Island; and, since 2014, in the O’Higgins Region, where she arrived at the Requínoa Subpolice Station, in 2018 she will assume the Headquarters of the Los Lirios Detention Center, where she has already been for six years.
An experience that she says “has been, without a doubt, the greatest challenge of my entire career, because, although the Carabineros has made a lot of progress in equality and women today occupy positions of leadership, it has been a process for men to get used to it. At the beginning – 6 years ago – when I first arrived, it was more complicated, but now it has been achieved,” she asserts.
Senior non-commissioned officer Janet Olguín González is the only woman in the Detention Center and says that when she took office there was also another female Chief in the Millahue Detention Center (Graciela Beltrán Zúñiga), now retired, then little by little more women arrived. Today, there are already several detachments with female leaders.
For Janet, the contribution of women is fundamental, we provide a different perspective and highlights the activities they carry out at the Retén with the community, which range from celebrating Christmas to Halloween and doing campaigns for winter. The children wait for different dates to come to the Checkpoint and take photos. This year, she was recognized by the Municipality of Requínoa, as a prominent character, for her constant concern for the community and the preventive work that she carries out Carabineros.
“WHEN I ARRIVED AS COMMISSIONER IT CAUSED A LOT OF STIR IN THE COMMUNITY”
Major Karla Piña Bravo, Commissioner of the 2nd Santa Cruz Police Station, has been in the institution for 21 years and has worked in various units, in Santiago and other regions, before arriving at the head of the police station three years ago.
She is originally from Santa Cruz, so she says she always felt very supported and welcomed by the community and especially by the women, who “when I arrived they came to the police station to greet me and congratulate me for the position I had come to hold.”
Piña adds that “Feeling that support from the community and also from the family in this job is important, because being a woman, police officer and mother, it is not always easy to make it compatible. In my case, I have two children and sometimes it has been complicated, especially working in a position, because one comes home to do chores with the children, but I have always had the support of the family to continue developing,” she asserts. happy
The Commissioner remembers that when she just graduated from the School, in 2005, “there were no offices for women in all the police stations, an issue that has been resolved at this point. During these 21 years, the inclusion of women has taken important steps in Carabineros, all the detachments have been modernized in that aspect, but women have also advanced in functions, today many are in command of a detachment or unit and that speaks volumes. of the real progress in the incorporation of women into the ranks of the Carabineros. Today, we have positions carrying out functions transversally throughout the institution, which allows us to be increasingly empowered and working with all the police in prevention and community safety.”
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