| Ecuador: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Law Enforcement | ||
| Indicators | Score | |
| 80 | Is the law enforcement agency (i.e. the police) effective? | 50 |
| 81 | Can law enforcement officials be held accountable for their actions? | 79 |
Indicator and sub-Indicator Details
| 80 | Is the law enforcement agency (i.e. the police) effective? | |||||||
| 80a: In practice, appointments to the law enforcement agency (or agencies) are made according to professional criteria. | ||||||||
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Comments: The National Constitution says that the President of the Republic is the maximum authority of this institution. The appointments are usually according to professional criterion, because the different police branches send delegates and the President choses from them.
References: National Constituion: Article 184 La fuerza Pública se debe al estado www.hoy.com.ec 2006/09/09 Generales de Policía ascienden de grado 2007/01/19 www.hoy.com.ec Ministro de Gobierno pide disponibilidad de oficiales
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| 80b: In practice, the law enforcement agency (or agencies) has a budget sufficient to carry out its mandate. | ||||||||
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Comments: This Institution has a lack of resources to accomplish with their goals. References: [ LINK ] 2007/09/04 La Policía plantea sus necesidades al Cabildo
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| 80c: In practice, the law enforcement agency is protected from political interference. | ||||||||
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Comments: The President is the maximum authority of the Public Force, and the heads of this institution are appointed by the President.
References: National Constitution: Article 183, 184 and 185
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| 81 | Can law enforcement officials be held accountable for their actions? | |||||||
| 81a: In law, there is an independent mechanism for citizens to complain about police action. | ||||||||
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Comments: Article 187 of the National Constitution says the members of the Public Force will be subject to judicial exemption in cases of infractions made in the exercise of their professional work. There are no special or independent mechanisms to complain about police action. The common citizen must use the normal mechanisms. In the Public Ministry citizens can present or display their denunciations against crimes, corruption acts, etc. that police officials could commit. The common citizen, can also go to the National Ombudsman, because this agency picks up denounces of violation to the citizen rights. References: National Constitution: Article 187 National Constitution of Ecuador Articles No.1 and No.2 Ley Orgánica del Ministerio Público. [ LINK ] (Defensoria del Pueblo)
Peer Review Comments: The mechanism would be filing a complaint with the Ombudsman. This office has a department in charge of human rights issues.
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| 81b: In practice, the independent law enforcement complaint reporting mechanism responds to citizen's complaints within a reasonable time period. | ||||||||
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Comments: The performance of the Police Institution is acceptable. The greatest challenge of the Police Institution is not a separation of their members when an illicit is discovered. The Nation Advice Bureau of the Police (Consejo Nacional de la Policía) carries out investigations with great details. It must show proof of corruption, like a branch of the Judicial System. The Consejo Nacional de la Policía (National Council of the Police) is an instance in charge to judge and to sanction to the police that had a mis conduct within the institution. The sanction is generally the separation of the institution. Additionally the ordinary justice acts over the normal procedure to judge a member of the Police. The National Ombudsman could also play a role in responding if a violation of human rights was involved. References: www.hoy.com.ec 2006/11/24 Ministro de Gobierno pide auditoría independiente para investigaciones sobre policía El primer punto hace referencia a la incorporación de la justicia policial a la Función Judicial.....El objetivo es implementar un Consejo Nacional de la Policía para que funcione como un organismo que vigile y sancione a quienes no cumplen los procedimientos establecidos... . 2006/11/19 ¿Y la Unidad Jurisdiccional? by Ernesto Albán Gómez.
Peer Review Comments: The organization that responds to complaints would be the Ombudsman's office.
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| 81c: In law, there is an agency/entity to investigate and prosecute corruption committed by law enforcement officials. | ||||||||
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Comments: The Civic Commission to Control Corruption (CCCC--Comisión Control Civico de la Corrupción), is in charge of watching all the civil servants who commit illicit acts. In case of finding something illicit the Public Minister (Ministerio Público) or Controller General of the State (Contraloría General del Estado) takes part. References: Article 1 and 2 Ley Orgánica de la Comisión Control Cívico de la Corrupción .
Peer Review Comments: Cases of corruption committed by law enforcement officials are investigated by the military or police courts. However, these courts tend to limit the penalties given to fellow members. Human rights organizations are trying to take the case of Paul Guañuna, who was allegedly murdered by police officers, to civil courts.
Peer Review Comments: The CCCC is not an agency specifically dedicated to investigating and prosecuting the corruption committed by law enforcement officials. No such agency exists.
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| 81d: In practice, when necessary, the agency/entity independently initiates investigations into allegations of corruption by law enforcement officials. | ||||||||
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Comments: The Public Ministry (Ministerio Público) is the institution in charge. The problems are the slowness of the judgments. References: Media Outlets Auditoria para la Democracia, Ecuador 2006 . Claudio Mena Villamar , La Policía no da más , Diario Hoy sección opinión, 2006/11/24.
Peer Review Comments: The Ombudsman's office does not have the power to initiate investigations into allegations of corruption by law enforcement officials. It can only make a public report of citizens complaints.
Peer Review Comments: No such agency exists.
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| 81e: In law, law enforcement officials are not immune from criminal proceedings. | ||||||||
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Comments: The officials who enforce the law can be objects of denunciations for abuses and violations to human rights.
References: National Constitution: Article 23 No. 3, igualdad ante la ley .
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| 81f: In practice, law enforcement officials are not immune from criminal proceedings. | ||||||||
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Comments: There are many cases in which police officials have been subject to criminal proceedings for misconduct. The National Congress of Ecuador created the Advice Bureau of Citizen Security (CNSC-- Consejo Nacional de Seguridad Ciudadana) , who will be in charge of supervising and evaluating this institution. This is contained in the law of Seguridad y Conviviencia Ciudadana . References: (www.elmercurio.com.ec 2006/047/28 Policía a rendir cuenta ). The Comandancia General de Policía removed to the head of the Policía Judicial de El Oro, the reasons were illicit acts. Subsequently the official police must challenge a Judicial Process. (2006/11/10 www.elmercurio.com.ec. Removida la cúpula policial de El Oro ). 2006/12/25 www.elmercurio.com.ec Oficiales dados de baja . 2006/07/05 [ LINK ] "Esposas de fallecidos en caso Fybeca demandarán al Estado " 2006 /11/01 www.elhoy.com.ec "Jueza cierra proceso legal en caso "Fybeca" 2007/23/04 [ LINK ] "No existe un divorcio entre la Policía y los Derechos humanos"
Peer Review Comments: Investigations of human rights abuses involving law enforcement officials tend to be long cases, and it is difficult for citizens demanding such investigations to move them to the realm of the civil courts. The law enforcement community regularly protects itself. A better information source would be the Ecumenical Committee of Human Rights (CEDHU, Comité Ecuménico de Derechos Humanos).
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