Costa Rica and Panama strengthen their border security

The Costa Rican minister of public security, Michael Soto Rojas, and the Panamanian minister of public security, Alexis Bethancourt Yau, have signed a commitment, along with El PAcCTO, a project funded by the European Union and managed by FIIAPP and Expertise France, in cooperation with the Italo-Latin American Institute and the Camões Institute of Portugal,  to create a Latin American Centre for Police Cooperation (LACPC).

The commitment was formalised at a meeting between the ministers of public security from both Costa Rica and Panama, together with the deputy ministers of security and the chiefs of police and border control from both countries. This formalisation allows work to commence on creating the first Latin American Centre for Police Cooperation (LACPC) in Paso Canoas.

The LACPC will be composed of police and border agents from both countries, with the aim of unifying working criteria, sharing information and fighting more effectively against common crimes and organised crime on both sides of the border. In the medium and long terms, it is expected that the centre will give rise to initiatives allowing the creation of joint patrols, the creation of bi-national analyst units and the deployment of joint investigation and hot pursuit teams.

European experience

The police cooperation centre is an initiative sponsored by the EL PAcCTO programme, within the framework of the commitments made by both countries in the Binational Action Plan, which was made part of the cooperation that EL PAcCTO provides to both countries. This initiative is based on the European experience with its Police and Customs Cooperation Centres (PCCCs), which exist at the land borders between the EU countries.