Considering that it is made up of more than 52,000 officials and despite the fact that the departure of nearly 1,300 carabineros in almost two years is still not enough to destabilize the institution, an increase in voluntary withdrawals causes concern in the internal, because for the police to hang the uniform is never good news.
In detail, 106 Carabineros officers left the institution this year, under the voluntary retirement modality. According to slogan Thirdreported work overload – for example, in the Meiggs neighborhood, where the presence of officers who are still studying has been required to reinforce security tasks – and denounced mistreatment in the streets from the social outbreak.
There was also an exodus of non-commissioned officers, in the same modality. If between January and July 20 of last year 478 troops broke ranks, this year, in that same period of time, 597 did so.
Thus, between officers and non-commissioned officers, during this year, 703 carabineros have already accepted voluntary retirement. In short, during the same period, but in 2021, the figure reached almost 560. This increase has the police institution on alert.
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“People are leaving. We don’t know if we are going to be intervened by the civil power, if we will continue to exist or not. The colleagues’ chats are full of uncertainty due to the plebiscite, and the bosses don’t tell us anything,” he tells the morning newspaper. a retired officer, who ended 28 years of service.
“With the new provisions for reinforcement in the streets, we have to be outside almost all day, exposed to everything. It is something to see what happened with Corporal David Florido. Does anyone remember what happened to him today? “Nobody. It was already, ah, but if it had been the other way around, that same policeman would be in prison,” adds the retired policeman, who still has his wife in the institution.
It is worth mentioning that the Carabineros statute establishes that all policemen can opt for voluntary retirement once they complete at least 25 years of service. By availing themselves of this prerogative, the uniformed officers leave with their full pension, depending on their rank.
Along with a greater requirement for police officers by the private world, one of the most recent issues that has caused internal wear and tear on the institution is the plan for the intervention of the Meiggs neighborhood; where twice a week about 140 officers who are still studying to reinforce security work are transferred by bus.
“I have had to spend 10 hours a day standing in Meiggs, in charge of about 20 non-commissioned officers, who are also taken from the Police School that is in Macul,” a major told the media previously reported.
High-ranking police sources told the newspaper that one of the reasons that influenced poor operational decision-making during the social outbreak had to do with the physical wear and tear of those days. They fear, the same interviewees warn, that this could be repeated.
Both the entry and the voluntary exit of the carabineros was something that was being analyzed by the Coordinating Unit for the Reform of the Carabineros, which worked until March of this year. The issue had two foci. In addition to voluntary withdrawals, there has been a drop in applications for Carabineros in recent years, falling to 57% between 2019 and 2020. For this reason, according to one of the documents that observed the status of the reform, they were evaluating provide “incentives in the police career”, “improve salaries, mainly in the young grades, and allow them to stay longer in activity”.
