This week, six law enforcement representatives from Puerto Rico arrived in San José to share ideas with their counterparts in Costa Rica.
The idea is to help “professionalize the National Police,” according to Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal.
“We have neglected security in the country,” Berrocal said. “It’s everyone’s fault, and we all have to deal with it and not blame one party or another.”
The United States and Costa Rica are sharing the cost of the training. According to U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Evelyn Ardon, their assistance program paid for the participants’ flights and lodging and the Costa Rican government paid for food.
Berrocal said his ministry was in the process of planning a reorganization to have “a superior police academy, and efficient recruitment and retention” of officers. But he offered no specifics.
National Police spokesman Jesus Ureña said there is no specific reorganization plan yet, but he said the training session was a start toward developing one.
According to an outline given to participants, the weeklong training session is to include workshops on a police academy, human resources, investigations and program coordination.
Costa Rica shut down its old police academy in the El Dulce Nombre de Coronado neighborhood in eastern San José in 2006 because the facility couldn’t handle all of the sewage generated by the recruits, according to William Hidalgo, Firearms and Explosives Administration director.
The academy since moved to the Public Security complex in southern San José.
