A specialized group of the Metropolitan Police, in coordination with managers and officials of the Mayor’s Office of Medellín, including mobility agents, have carried out 11 “lightning” operations in Plaza Botero in Medellín.
It is about the intervention of the space by the authorities for several hours to carry out controls, searches, real-time monitoring and controls of the public space, in addition to crime prevention and decoration and cleanliness tasks.
“We continue with these interventions with great support from the Police, with all the district secretariats, with the aim of providing security and tranquility. We have had very good results. We have to announce that this year this area will have 57 more surveillance cameras. Last year we already had 87 interventions in Plaza Botero”, said the Undersecretary of Operations of the Secretariat for Security and Coexistence, Colonel Omar Rodríguez Aranda.
Results obtained so far
In the operations, a man was captured for the crime of prisoner escape, 15 bladed weapons, a blank pistol, more than 20 doses of drugs and a request for background checks were seized from 100 people. In total, 650 visitors to the park were counted in less than four hours.
In addition, as part of the reinforcement of the actions in the iconic square, a Unified Command Post will be installed, with the participation of the authorities and even plainclothes agents, who will participate in the investigation and reaction in cases that require police action.
The measures have been well received by merchants and associations in the city center, however, they consider that the institutional presence must be permanent. In this regard, Jorge Mario Puerta, executive director of Corpocentro, expressed that “the operations are opportune and necessary, we have been asking for them for a long time. We believe that the Mayor’s Office and the Police must have a permanent presence in order to recover Plaza Botero from the ills that afflict it. We hope that they are not just hit-and-run operatives, but that they are always there.”
Read the statement shared by CORPOCENTRO regarding this issue:
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