I Saw Part Gubmint Actually Work Last Night
We were invited to join the Commite de Apoyo a la Policia de Jarabacoa and attended our first meeting last night. Seems some of the town movers and shakers formed this committee 4 years ago to address the various law enforcement needs of the town, and a mechanism for the townspeople to directly interface with them. During those 4 years, enough money has been raised to give the local PN, AMET and Politur some excellent tools to do their jobs: multiple motos, 4-wheelers, communication radios, extra phone lines, solid innerweb connections with computers, police cars of various types, spotlights, different weapons, training, etc.
Donations are optional, but the Committee raises around RD$100,000 a month, and proper accounting assures every peso goes to local law enforcement. Certainly, we will contribute.
We attended our first monthly meeting last nigh in the large meeting room of a local business. I counted 45 townspeople there, many whom I've seen or met before. The Comandante's of the local PN, AMET and Politur were there, as was the local chief investigator of the PN.
Folks were introduced around, and the meeting was underway. First order of business was presenting a carefully crafted "traffic plan" for Jarabacoa to make for a better vehicle flow for the city. It was a truly professional presentation, and copies and CD's were given to the AMET chief for his review and comments at the next meeting. He seemed pleased and somewhat humbled.
Then there was a lengthy Q&A session where the townspeople were able to directly address their concerns. I chuckled inside when I heard some of the questions, because they could have come from the states (the music is too loud, my kid got stopped and your officer wasn't nice, motos have loud mufflers, why did you let that delinquent out of jail, what are the deatils of that shooting, you responded too late to my call, etc.) And each LE head stood tall and directly answered the questions, made notes, and vowed to answer specific questions they didn't have an answer for at the next meeting.
Applause and handshakes went all around, and the meeting was adjourned. The LE officials stayed and mingled with the crowd. Seemed nice enough folks, and my "sleaze censors" never went off once. I got a chance to press a bunch of flesh, and was taken aback when the PN chief, a lawyer by edumacation, spoke solid English.
Later I learned that the Commite had disbanded for 4 months because the leadership committee did not like how the old PN El Jefe was doing his job. They cut off the funds and, I speculate, complained to the higher powers that be, and got him replaced. They even somehow had *some* input into the choice, I'm told. More veto power than proactive selection. And now there is a new PN guy in town, and the Commite is back helping them out.
It was a great lesson in civics and gubmint-citizen cooperation. And not only does it seem to work based on my observation, but folks from the town have told me it's been a great success, and keeps Jarabacoa the peaceful town it is. Certainly, the core leadership of the Commite are influential locals, but it works. The delinquency has dropped like a rock since they formed the organization.
My question is this: do other towns have similar organizations? If so, what are some other success/failure stories.
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