The Chilean Congress approved this Wednesday the “Naín-Retamal” law, also called “easy trigger”, which establishes the “privileged legitimate defense” for police forces amid an increase in crimes in the country.
The murder last week of Carabineros sergeant Rita Olivares, who was riddled with bullets as she got out of the police car while attending a procedure, accelerated the processing of this regulation, which establishes that in the event that a police or military officer uses their service weapons it will be presumed that “they have been correctly used” when acting in self-defense.
Following an agreement between the government and the Senate, several of the most controversial points of this bill were removed, the discussion of which in Congress took place in a climate of strong friction and the presence of victims of police repression and relatives of murdered police officers.
“We agreed to leave out some frankly aberrational ideas that were tried to be included in this project (…) It is not true that the police are supported when they are given a free hand (ndlr, complete freedom of action),” the minister said in Congress of the Interior Carolina Tohá.
The agreement with the government also eliminated the grounds that allowed the use of weapons when a police officer is attacked by two or more unarmed people, as well as the exemption from responsibility of police or military commanders for possible crimes carried out by their subordinates.
“What this project does is that when a police officer uses a weapon in his own defense, or that of a third party because his life is at risk, it is going to be assumed that the policeman should have operated according to professional principles, but a investigation can prove the opposite,” Minister Tohá explained after the approval of the law.
“Carabineros have died for this project to come to light (…) protecting our police, giving them greater powers, gives Chileans hope,” said opposition legislator Andrés Longton, author of the initiative.
The original project, which speakers and opponents called “trigger-friendly” during the process, has been criticized by criminal experts and the United Nations.
“It does not conform to international human rights law,” criticized the UN chief for human rights in South America, Jan Jarab.
According to surveys, crime is the main concern of Chileans, and its increase has pressured the government and Congress to deal with a battery of laws against crime.
Considered one of the safe havens in Latin America, Chile has seen a recent spike in crime.
According to the Undersecretary for Crime Prevention, in 2022 homicides grew 33.4% compared to the previous year, the second highest variation in Latin America behind Ecuador, where they increased more than 80%.