The institutional development of police forces and policing patterns in Latin America

Abstract: This article examines the institutionalization and performance of Latin American police forces through a literature review and document analysis to identify their institutional patterns and historical development. Latin American police forces face complex challenges to maintain social order in a context of high rates of violent crimes, often characterized by use of lethal force that undermine the rule of law. The historical analysis begins with the adoption of professional policing, introduced to Latin America during independence processes and reinforced by international cooperation focused on establishing modern police forces. However, particularly after civil-military dictatorships that dominated Latin America by the second half of the twentieth century, several reform attempts, guided by a community policing model, were implemented but were largely unsuccessful. This article describes the causes of these failures and the resulting institutionalization of police forces. This process was characterized by militarization and political instrumentalization, which directly affected perceptions of institutional legitimacy among Latin American citizens. Therefore, the direct impacts of this process on the consolidation of the rule of law in Latin America are examined, as the police, one of the primary institutions in Latin American countries, have become increasingly authoritarian.