Honduras
| Author | George Kurian |
| Pages | 465-467 |
Page 465
Official country name: Republic of Honduras
Capital: Tegucigalpa
Geographic description: Country in Central America, bordering the Caribbean Sea between Guatemala and Nicaragua and bordering the North Pacific Ocean between El Salvador and Nicaragua
Population: 6,975,204 (est. 2005)
Until 1963, the Honduran police force was known as the Civil Guard. After a military coup in that year, the name was changed to Special Security Corps. It later became the Public Security Force, which, in 1997, became the National Preventive Police and was placed under civilian control.
Technically, the National Preventive Police commander, an army officer, is the minister of security, but day-to-day operations are under the immediate control of a director general. Most police personnel are drawn from the army. The director general is assisted by a staff consisting of subdirector general, an inspector general, a legal adviser, and a public relations department. Administrative and logistics sections, a finance office, telecommunications service, and a medical service complete the headquarters. Police handle public security, counternarcotics, and border patrol duties. Police are supported by themilitary upon presidential authority, and the military participates in joint patrols with police in an attempt to control the high levels of criminal and gang activity.
The police forces are underfunded, undertrained, understaffed, and corrupt. They are ineffective in controlling gang violence, kidnapping, and other forms of crime.
The National Preventive Police training school in Tegucigalpa conducts a variety of courses for both recruits and career officers. Subjects taught include police communications, patrol, investigation, first aid, control of civil disturbances, infantry instruction, civil procedure, the criminal code, interrogation, and control of contraband. From time to time, senior officers are sent to the United States for further study.
Total Police Personnel: 6,308
Population per Police Officer: 1,105
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