Proactive policing approach to recent crime changes during the Covid-19 pandemic scenario

Based on historical institutionalism, the actions developed by the National Police of Colombia in 2020 regarding the police service are delineated, on the occasion of the health emergency scenario generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which changed the criminogenic framework and the behaviour of criminal actors and crime in the country. Hence, the police used a proactive policing and tactical criminology approach to crime containment in Colombia, which is explained in this chapter. Among the main results, we underscore the use of scientific evidence and tactical criminology as support for police service planning, for the design of actions that were associated with a 4.2% decrease in homicide in Colombia, evidencing the containment of rebound crime as an effect of the reconfiguration of crime at the critical juncture of the confinement. Likewise, this chapter can be a reference for security agencies, providing a reflection on the lessons learned in the application of a proactive policing approach towards the recent changes in crime during the COVID-19 pandemic scenario.

Criminality in context COVID year 2020 and approach of a proposal in neurocriminology

The criminality behavior during the year 2020 evidenced variations associated with changes in population dynamics throughout the country. This article, using descriptive elements, exposes the characteristics of crime in Colombia during the year 2020 and the criminogenic context associated with the transformations of crime, with emphasis on homicide. In particular, the article includes a section that reflects on the contributions of neurocriminology to the understanding of criminal behavior. Among the conclusions are: 1) a significant reduction in homicide, which represented the lowest rate of the last 46 years in Colombia, equivalent to 23.8 homicides per one hundred thousand inhabitants. 2) a decrease equivalent to 29% of impact crimes occurred in the country when comparing 2019 with 2020. 3) associated with a year of health emergency the National Police captured 173,217 subjects for the commission of different crimes and according to analytical exercises carried out in territories, police units increased their workload with new tasks derived from COVID-19 attention and prevention measures.