Abstract

PONTON CEVALLOS, Daniel; REDROBAN HERRERA, Juan Francisco  and  MOLINA BARREIRO, Sandra Patricia. The decentralised community-based police management model in Ecuador: assessment and future prospects. Rev. Crim. [online]. 2025, vol.67, n.2, pp.89-108.  Epub Oct 18, 2025. ISSN 1794-3108.  https://doi.org/10.47741/17943108.625.

The ‘Community Oriented Decentralised Police Management Model’ was an institutional commitment enshrined in the Modernisation Plan of the National Police of Ecuador in 2004. This model was designed to respond to crime prevention and improve the governance of security in the territories. After 20 years in force and in the context of the worst insecurity crisis in Ecuador, a debate has arisen on the need to evaluate the current management model. What is the balance of this model? What are its future prospects? The objective of this study, using a mixed methodological strategy of secondary sources, is to take stock of the decentralised community-oriented police management model and to analyse its future prospects. It will be argued that, although this management model has achieved some important objectives, they must now be contextualised in order to define new challenges and institutional goals. Analysing this process in Ecuador can be an important provision for understanding the scope of a highly diffused management model in Latin America.

Keywords : Community policing; community participation; police reform; police crime prevention; decentralisation.

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