A newspaper in violence-plagued Honduras investigated why Nicaragua enjoyed a much lower homicide rate and credited its neighbor’s relatively professional and efficient police force for keeping the peace. But the answer isn’t that simple.
El Heraldo recently traveled to Nicaragua to find out why the homicide rate there is just 8 per 100,000 inhabitants, while Honduras has only recently shed its dubious title as the world’s murder capital. Despite a decline in homicides in recent years, at 57 per 100,000 inhabitants Honduras remains one of the most violent countries in Latin America.
The newspaper attributes Nicaragua‘s low levels of violence to the purging and modernization of its police force, which began in the 1990s and continued until 2007. Following the lengthy reform process, Nicaragua implemented a policy that emphasized community policing and violence prevention.
“It is estimated that the [homicide] rate is just 8 per 100,000,” a video accompanying the article reads. “That is thanks to the ‘Preventive, Proactive and Community’ police model.”