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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, May 9, 2008, Vol. 8, No. 92

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Dominical
social note

Nicole D'Angelo and Eric Blaker will be married Saturday at the Hotel Cristal Ballena in Playa Dominical, and some friends came into town Wednesday, mostly from New Jersey and California. So there was an impromptu bachelor party at the El Patio in downtown San José with T-shirts bearing the groom's photo. They were having so much fun that editors decided this should be a tourism ministry poster.

dominical social note
A.M. Costa Rica/Saray Ramírez Vindas


10-year-old community policing plan gets favorable review
By Elise Sonray
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Ten years ago current Vice President Laura Chinchilla started a community security program initiative to prevent crime instead of react to it. Thursday a benchmark study announced some results of the security program and what still needs to be done in order to better the program.  

The program, Programa de Seguridad Comunitaria, organizes and teaches in 5,000 Costa Rican communities, said the director, Manuel Espinoza Campos.

The evaluation was conducted by a company called Culturas y Desarollo en Centro America  between September 2006 to September 2007.

The study evaluated and studied criminology, the program's institutional functions, institutional impact, and social impact.

The study showed that one third of adults felt unsafe in their communities.  

Researchers found between 1998 and 2003 one third of those convicted in crimes against property were between 18 and 25 years of age. Men under 35 years made up half of those convicted in drug-related crime.

People with higher education were three times more likely to report a crime than lesser educated people, according to
the study. The study also said education could play a part in reducing criminality since only three out of 10 children who start elementary school finish high school.

The committee suggested a more organized communication system between the community security program and police agencies, a new training program and a unifying document. It also said the committees are most successful when focus is put on the entire community and not individually.

Espinoza said he has seen definite results since the program formed 10 years ago. Ms. Chinchilla is a former security minister.

In Turrialba Espinoza said he has seen a 99 percent improvement in community organization and crime prevention. Radios and communication between communities have helped catch criminals, he said. If one community spots a suspicious car, a resident can radio other nearby towns to be on the lookout.

There are only 25 workers in the Programa de Seguridad Comunitaria, but the police coordinate with them, said Espinoza.

“I'm not interested in the statistics. I'm interested in the cause of the problems,” said Espinoza.

Although Ms. Chinchilla was listed as a major participant in the conference Thursday, she did not show up, nor did Gerardo Láscarez, vice minister of security.


Cartago dog breeder arrested to face drug charge in U.S.
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Police and national security agents arrested a U.S. man in Cartago wanted by the Drug Enforcement Agency, said a police spokesperson Thursday. 

The Drug Enforcement Agency put out a summons for the suspect, Augustus Pat Saunders, 48, in 2007, said the spokesperson for the International Police Agency in Costa Rica.  Saunders has had an extensive criminal record that
dates back to 1978, said the spokesperson.

Agents arrested Saunders in a Cartago bar where he was accompanied by a woman, said the spokesperson. Suanders entered Costa Rica in 2000 and lived on a property in Ujarrás, Cartago, where he raised and exported pedigree dogs with his wife, said the spokesperson.

The Policía de Migración will hold Saunders until he is deported back to the United States, said the spokesperson.



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