According to a report by the General Audit Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish), the Federal Argentine Police operated with antique elements, showed no relationship with the community, and was facing nearly 20,000 lawsuits driven by their own agents, this was the scenario when the Police Force was reassigned from the Ministry of Justice to Security, created by the Decree of Necessity and Urgency in December 2010. 

The watchdog ended their "field work", the analysis of the information collected in March 2010, although it was not until late last year, about 20 months later, that the details of the investigation were published (see separate article).

The document reveals that the force had 21,000 troops, officers and NCOs ¨carrying the single action gun brand FM Browning, that were 30 years old¨, adding: "These weapons are outdated by technological advance, today double action pistols with automatic firing pin safety and higher loads are used."

Also, when the report was made, the Police Force did not have enough "ballistic protection vests" as so to give one to every agent. And those who were assigned to other agencies, "had more than five years," i.e., passed their expiration date. The AGN points out that "9,273 vests were admitted in 2001 and they expired in 2006; 2,617 expired in 2008 and that 2,652 (terminates) in 2010.”

Moreover, the audit noted that "there is no relationship between the institution and the community, nor are there meetings with neighbors, or analysis of proposals to improve safety issues." To arrive at these conclusions, the watchdog had to rebuild the reports once made in the Police force, since "the institutional memory of 2008 did not comply with the regulations". In these reports no reference to financial resources used are made, nor is there a discussion of "deviations" recorded between those planned and actually performed.

In the same vein, the AGN’s research added that the force "did not have a strategic plan for the years 2008 and 2009," despite the "fundamental" importance, according to the auditors, to establish annual goals and identify ways to reach them; also not a "specific industry involved in the monitoring and control of the objectives of the police or the preparation of Management Reports¨ was detected.

At the time of the audit, working in the Force there were 38,542 agents. The power budget for 2008 was $ 1,949,255,209 and 79.9% of this amount, approximately $ 1,558,449,615, was used for "personnel expenses".
  
Metropolitan Area

In what is known as the Metropolitan Security Superintendence played at the end of the analysis of the AGN, 41.1% of all active staff, about 15,868 officers. Of these, 11,450 met the 53 functions that are subdivided in the City of Buenos Aires, and the rest in other areas.

Despite the accuracy of the data, the watchdog could not find documents proving, first, the territorial division of the Capital - "There are police stations with less than 1 km ² area and some with over 8 km ²," said the auditors, and on the other, the distribution of staff on the premises. Something similar happens with the vehicles; in this regard, the Force explained that the mobile distribution is performed based on availability and the needs of each area. In numbers, between 12 and 20 units are allocated per police station.

911

The 911 service began operation in 2006. When AGN did its report, the Superintendent of Metropolitan Security provided 30 jobs positions for taking calls. The problem was that in those offices, "half of them were not operational with trained personnel or with the equipment needed for normal operation¨. This affected the number of missed calls, that throughout 2008 reached a total of 1,410,076 out of a total number of calls of 4,716,804 (29.89%).

Trials

The Federal Police has a Directorate of Legal Affairs that represents all the agency’s lawsuits. At the end of the audit’s field work every lawyer in charge of the area, on average, had about 560 trials. The level of litigation was associated with regulations issued between 1991 and 2003 on salaries and health care.

According to the report, there are three decrees of 1991, 1993, and 2003, which incorporated features supplements of non remunerative salaries of active and retired officers. The measures led to the so-called "Trials for Laundering" of existing decisions of the Supreme Court recognizing the plaintiffs' request. On these cases , the AGN observed that the Force "do not inform the National Executive on whether to continue rejecting the administrative claims related assets¨; it’s that this situation leads to discrepancies between the salaries of staff with favorable ruling at the expense of other agents being equal, despite seniority and hierarchical position, but without a trail. Until September 30th, 2009, the auditors counted 9,769 initiated lawsuits, representing 25,182 agents. Those pending final judgment reach 6,929. Finally, “the Directorate (Legal Affairs) has no record of the completed trials."

Well-being

Another area analyzed by the watchdog was the Superintendent of Welfare which, as its name suggests, aims to "foster the moral and material welfare of the members of the institution and their families by providing social and welfare services."

By a decree of 1983, this sort of health care was financed by 3% of the assets of the personnel of the force. Because of a lack of resources in 1993, this scheme was modified by a decree establishing special assessments amounting to 5%. Since 2007, the share rose to 6%, with a chance to climb to 8% if the member included other members of the family to the benefits. The issue was that in parallel to this process, decrees that incorporated non-remunerative or supplements to be subsidized staff salaries were issued, leading to an underfunding of the Superintendent of Welfare.

This also led to the initiation of lawsuits against the Police Force. The claims seek to roll back the situation before the validity of the decree of 1993, i.e., down to 3% share of the assets, and the amounts paid reintegrated. On September 30th, 2009, the number of lawsuits filed and pending for this item amounted to 4,952, representing 8,229 agents.

The AGN’s Times 

The investigation of the Federal Watchdog into the operation of the Federal Police contains findings obtained between 2008 and the first half of 2009. Field work began on August 11th, 2009 and concluded on March 31st, 2010.

Within the AGN, once the technicians carry out the field work, and after reviewing the supervisor and the Head of Department, the report in question was referred to management level for consideration. Then advisers in the audit evaluate the work and, if no objections are made, the project goes to the audited body, in this case the AGN, to perform its release (step that happened on March 31st, 2010). The document returns to the team that did the research, which will make the appropriate changes, and the path begins once again; the Head of the Department Manager, hence the body of advisers, and then the Commission and finally it reaches the Auditor General who is responsible for the final approval, i.e. the resolution of the organism and its publication. Obviously, any special order analysis or consideration of some aspect of the research extends the deadlines.

After the end of the fieldwork, a process that took 20 months, ended on November 16th of last year, the report has been approved by the College of Auditors and published for citizens.

In the middle of this instance, in December 2010 and by a Necessity and Urgency Decree, the Ministry of Security was created and the Police went to work with the state of affairs described by the inspection body under the aegis of the then security offices.