Counting bodies: crime mapping, policing and race in Colombia

How do internationally informed, technology-driven efforts to democratize the police and citizen security policies in developing countries intersect with pre-existing racial dynamics and discourses? This question is relevant to scholars of both race and security in developing countries, given the current global diffusion of US policing reforms into distinct racial and political contexts. I analyse the intersection between the adoption of crime-mapping technology in urban Colombia and dynamics and discourses regarding the Afro-Colombian population. I find that efforts to democratize the police can paradoxically displace important questions about race from citizen security policy discussions and generate seemingly 'objective' findings that fuse with subjective assumptions regarding the links between criminality, violence and race. Keywords: Colombiapoliceraceviolencesecuritydemocracy Notes 1. A heuristic case study is purposely chosen to develop a theoretical framework or hypothesis that is potentially generalisable. 2. The concept of deracialization has been used by scholars of US city politics to categorize political campaigns by racial minorities – mainly African-Americans and Latinos – that remove race as a defining feature of the political image and platform in order to build multiracial and multiethnic political coalitions that increase the probabilities of winning an election. As the case of the official discourse concerning racial diversity in Colombia demonstrates, however, deracialization is a political tool available to those who already hold public office to advance particular depictions of social harmony. For an overview of the concept of deracialization in the context of US city politics, see Perry (Citation1999). 3. The country's indigenous population has nevertheless managed to realize important political gains that exceed those of the Afro-Colombians. Hooker (2005) finds that that the disparity in political gains result from the indigenous population's ability to claim an ethnic identity distinct from the national culture, something which the Afro-Colombian population has had more difficulty achieving. 4. Colombia's urban population grew at a pace of 5.6 per cent annually between 1951 and 1964 (Barbary and Hoffman 2004, p. 118). 5. Cali is divided into twenty-one comunas. 6. By 1999, Aguablanca and a few smaller politically defined parts of the city housed nearly 70 percent of the city's Afro-Colombian population (Barbary et al. 1999). 7. The interests involved in the political debate and policy-making process regarding security in Colombia broadened considerably following the wave of decentralization that began with the popular election of city mayors in the late 1980s. Efforts to create a more participatory and decentralized democracy through the 1991 constitution converted citizen security in Cali and other cities into a major local political issue, as city mayors were made legally responsible for security. 8. Author interviews of Rodrigo Guerrero, Cali, Colombia, on 7 August 2008; former Cali Peace Councilor (1), Cali, Colombia, on 30 July 2008; former Peace Councilor (2), Cali, Colombia, on 8 August 2008; former Peace Councilor (3), Washington, DC, on 18 September 2008; former Director of Desepaz (1), Cali, Colombia, on 30 July 2008; and former Director of Desepaz (2), Cali, Colombia, on 12 August 2008. 9. Author interview of Rodrigo Guerrero, Cali, Colombia, on 7 August 2008. 10. Author interview with former Desepaz consultant (1), Bogota, Colombia, on 24 August 2008. 11. Author interview of Professor of Sociology at the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, on 31 August 2008. 12. Author interviews with Director of Asolibertad, Cali, Colombia, on 30 June 2009 and with Director of the Centro Empresarial Juvenil de Aguablanca on 30 June 2009. 13. Author interview with former Desepaz consultant (1), Bogota, Colombia, on 24 August 2008. 14. Author interview with Director of Asolibertad, Cali, Colombia, on 30 June 2009. 15. Author interview with Afro-Colombian political leader from Aguablanca (1), Cali, Colombia, on 14 November 2008. 16. Author interview with Director of Asolibertad, Cali, Colombia, on 30 June 2009. 17. Author interview with Director of the Social Observatory, Cali, Colombia, on 8 June 2006. 18. Author interview with the Executive President of a major philanthropic foundation, Cali, Colombia, on 13 November 2008. 19. Author interview with representative from the Agroindustrial Sector and Director of a private sector commission on security in Cali, Cali, Colombia, on 21 November 2008. 20. Author interview with the former president of an economic group based in Cali, Cali, Colombia, on 21 November 2008. 21. This is despite the fact that parts of the heart of the city where both formal commercial businesses and informal workers are concentrated have also historically had high levels of crime and violence. 22. Author interview with representative from a Cali-based commercial business association, Cali, Colombia, on 15 August 2008. 23. Author interview with representative from the agroindustrial sector and director of a private sector commission on security in Cali, Cali, Colombia, on 21 November 2008. 24. Author interview with Director of Comite Empresarial Juvenil de Aguablanca, Cali, Colombia, on 30 June 2009. 25. Author interview with Director of Asolibertad, Cali, Colombia, on 30 June 2009.