The Government of Ecuador issued a regulation in support of the law on the legitimate use of force, which seeks to guarantee the actions of law enforcement entities in the fight against crime and terrorism.
“Today we take another important step in our purpose of improving the conditions and tools that the police and military have to act in defense of citizens, and protect rights and freedoms,” said the Ecuadorian president, the conservative Guillermo Lasso, when signing the document.
“The absurd that the policeman must wait for the criminal to shoot him or shoot a citizen, it’s over,” emphasized the ruler during the act of signing the regulation at the Government Palace, in downtown Quito.
The Regulations to the Law on the Legitimate Use of Force It is an instrument that clarifies confusing provisions of the norm and deepens relevant aspects for the actions of police, military and prison guards, the Communication Secretariat of the Presidency specified in a statement.
For example – added the source – clearly defines that “the materialization of the illegal act is the imminent threat or danger that can put the lives of citizens and members of the public force at risk.”
LEGAL PROTECTION FOR POLICE AND MILITARY
With this regulation, the public force can also act with the certainty that the regulations support it, since the legal instruments “will reasonably guide the performance of judges and prosecutors so that no uniformed be prosecuted for doing his job,” added the Secretariat in its letter.
For his part, the head of the National Secretariat for Public and State Security, Wagner Bravo, stressed that police, military and prison guides will be covered by the regulation.
They “must and will make use of legal and material instruments to force those people who have chosen to act outside the rules of coexistence and the law to appear before it,” Bravo remarked.
The signing of the instrument is added to other actions directed by the Government for the security of the country, after last April 27 the Council of Public and State Security (Cosepe) suggested declaring terrorism as a threat against the State and its security after a wave of actions and attacks by organized crime that were described as terrorist.
TERRORISM DECLARED AS A THREAT
On May 3, President Lasso signed an executive decree that accepted the provision of Cosepe (the highest advisory body on security matters) and ordered that the Armed Forces in coordination with the Police carry out operations to counteract people and organizations that commit acts terrorists.
At the beginning of May there were 30 alleged criminals who had been killed by the Police in 2023, compared to six in all of 2022, according to the figure provided by the commanding general, Fausto Salinas.
Among other actions to combat the wave of crimes and offenses affecting the country, the Government announced its goal of incorporate 30,000 police officerswith which the number of agents would rise to 80,000 nationwide, in addition to authorizing the carrying of weapons for civilian use for reasons of self-defense.
Likewise, the Secretariat of Communication indicated that the Government is working to provide law enforcement with more weapons, ammunition, vehicles and other equipment.
In this regard, the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, announced that next week he plans to sign an agreement with the National Court of Justice agreement for seized weapons by agents in operations against crime, can be used by the Police.