A total of 386 checkpoints throughout the country are part of a Traffic Police effort to prevent accidents before and during the holidays. Traffic Police Director Mario Calderón said that operations would begin this week and target the busiest roads in the Central Valley, where traffic jams usually occur while people are out doing holiday shopping.
OIJ official: “Victims are being tortured or mutilated, and most of these crimes occur in the streets. Previously we had information of at least six organized groups operating in Desamparados, but our intelligence now says that these gangs have merged into two major groups that are disputing control of the area.”
Responding to pressure from residents in Costa Rica's Northern Zone, who say they increasingly have become targets for assaults and robberies, the Public Security Ministry announced Thursday that it had conducted the first of several sweeps of the area in an effort to catch the bad guys.
Residents and business owners in Nuevo Arenal, a town in north-central Costa Rica near the Arenal Volcano, are demanding a greater police presence after a spike in crime in recent months.
For an administration that was largely weighed down by scandal and perceived mismanagement, public security has ended up as President Laura Chinchilla’s most likely legacy for Costa Rica.
Area hotel owners and guides say a lack of resources for law enforcement and insufficient response from the Costa Rican Tourism Board could damage the scenic Caribbean destination's reputation with visitors.
