By Loïc Mermilliod / Unsplash
Gabriel Boric's government is growing concerned about security and safety in Chile. In particular, it fears that the increase in crime will have repercussions on tourism, a sector that represents 3.3% of the country's GDP, according to the OECD. In response, the city of Valparaíso is considering creating a special kind of police force to ensure the safety of tourists.
Gabriel Boric's government is growing concerned about security and safety in Chile. In particular, it fears that the increase in crime will have repercussions on tourism, a sector that represents 3.3% of the country's GDP, according to the OECD. In response, the city of Valparaíso is considering creating a special kind of police force to ensure the safety of tourists.
With its colorful houses and its famous funiculars, Valparaíso holds plenty of appeal for visitors. In fact, its historic center has been classed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003. Every year, thousands of foreign tourists come to this "pearl of the Pacific" to discover its hilly landscapes.
But Valparaíso has taken on a different vibe in recent years, as a result of the impoverishment of its 260,000 inhabitants, the deplorable state of some public infrastructure and the rise in crime. Twenty homicides occurred in the port city in the first nine months of 2021, according to Bloomberg. That's as many as in the whole of the previous year.
This climate of insecurity is pushing the local authorities to consider creating a police force specifically dedicated to the protection of tourists. The latter would be made up of retired officers from Chile's national law enforcement police, as well as agents from private security companies, according to the website of the television channel Meganoticias. These officers could be asked to carry out identity checks in the busiest areas of the city or to inform tourists about areas to be avoided, although nothing has yet been specified about their exact roles and powers.
While the project is still in its infancy, the idea has the support of Valparaíso Mayor Jorge Sharp. "This is an effort we have to make, in tourism, to make sure that people come and say, 'I had a good time [in Valparaíso]' and are willing to repeat the experience," he told Meganoticias. The Valparaíso Regional Chamber of Tourism intends to build on similar experiments carried out in the past in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia, in order to create this tourist police.
For his part, Chilean President Gabriel Boric has already announced an increase in the number of police officers in the country's busiest areas for the beginning of 2023. This initiative aims to reassure the five million foreign tourists that Chile is preparing to welcome in the next 12 months, according to the Spanish-language daily newspaper, El Economista.
However, the city of Valparaíso hopes that the government will take additional measures to fight insecurity in the country, and especially in the "Pearl of the Pacific." "The important thing is that these measures have permanent resources, because one of the problems of the state security policy is that effective initiatives are abandoned partway through due to lack of funding," explains Jorge Sharp, speaking to El País.
