In Bogotá's Unir neighborhood, they have alarms in some blocks to alert about theft

Three years after the communities of the Unir I and Unir II neighborhoods, in the town of Engativá, decided to install alarms in some blocks to alert neighbors and authorities about criminal acts being committed in the area. Today, the noise of the device can be repeated up to four times a day.

In dialogues with the newspaper El Tiempo, Edmundo López, a resident of the sector that goes from 72F to 77th Street, and between the Jaboque wetland and the Bogotá River, pointed out that, “that sound is the evidence that we live in fear, the proof that insecurity took over the neighborhood and the signal that we need the intervention of authorities”.

Inhabitants of this neighborhood and surrounding areas (Gran Granada, Villas de Granada, La Perla, among others), denounce that there is not a single day when crime does not leave them alone and that the police presence is insufficient.

Even in December last year, the authorities directly witnessed the insecurity when a group of police uniformed personnel, who were carrying out control and security patrols to the sector, were shot into the neighborhood.

According to figures from the Ministry of Security, in the jurisdiction of Villas de Alcalá (of which the two sectors of Unir are part), crime in the area is decreasing. The theft of people (-2.54%), of cell phones (-27.1%), of automobiles (-81.2%), of bicycles (-16.6%) and residences (-35.7%) decreased from 2020 to 2021.

There are gangs that have been dismantled during the last security councils held by the District in the locality, however, there are many people who do not report and it is thus difficult for the progress to be noticed in the streets.

The local mayor's office of Engativá indicated that it is carrying out actions to address these complaints, “along with the Engativá Police, the Secretariat of Security and the National Army, have been carrying out beacon plans, mixed patrols, bike rides along the edge of the canal. Police of Carabineros is being managed to carry out rounds along the Bogotá River and the mall that borders Gran Granada and Unir”.

For her part, María Martínez, community leader, the problems of the neighborhood have their origin in two factors: the location and the little support of the authorities. “When this project was conceived, it was intended to attract workers and investment, today it is a group of houses where dozens of businesses that should not exist in one area operate residential”, he stressed.

The Unir and Unir II neighborhoods were built in 1993 and partially legalized 26 years later. Today, the situation is more critical due to the lack of roads and basic services and the arrival of people who use the facade of waste pickers to commit crimes.

KEEP READING: