Impacto measurment in Sucre, a matter of budgetary precision

Focused patrolling in 6 percent of the Municipality of Sucre (Caracas, Venezuela), which concentrates 80 percent of the area's homicides. was the objective of the impact measurement carried out by the Mayor's office jointly with CAF. The goal was to evaluate the impact of the security forces in the hot spots, to maximize the scarce resources they have: 140 patrol cars, and 114 motorcycles. 

Ángel Alvarado, Director of Citizen Security in the Mayor's Office of the Municipality of Sucre. explains that several plans have been carried out in the area, but without measuring the impact. "Now we see how important it is to do so. to see if we are adequately using the resources". 

In this case, through the use of a GPS, the entry and presence of patrol cars in hot spots could be observed, as well as whether something had happended in that period of time, and the impact of the patrol cars' presence in the area. "In this way, we learn about the behavior of the officers, their commitment, how orders are carried out, how the different divisions work, and their support to the Mayor's Office and the project".  

Alvarado points out that it is still too early to fully know the effectiveness of the hot spots, but it has been noted that since September of 2013, the number of homicides has fallen. If in 2012 there were 52.27 deaths per 100 thousand inhabitants, the figure for the former date dropped to 38.82 per 100 thousand inhabitants.