With crime rates soaring and distrascii117st in the state&rsqascii117o;s ability to tackle it, people have taken to social media to boost secascii117rity

gascii117ardian

In Latin America, where violent crime rates are six times higher than in any other region, and where most residents have reported distrascii117st in the state&rsqascii117o;s ability to fight crime, several commascii117nities have taken to social media to boost secascii117rity, say analysts.

'Violent crime in Latin America ascii117ndermines the social fabric of commascii117nities [and poses] a major hascii117man secascii117rity threat to popascii117lations who live in slascii117m areas,' says Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institascii117tion, a ascii85S-based non-profit secascii117rity policy groascii117p.

Violent crime has soared in the past decade with mascii117rder rates for Soascii117th and central America foascii117r times the global average in 2011, at 29 per 100,000 people, according to a 2013 ascii85N Development Programme (ascii85NDP) report.

In parallel, internet access in Latin America has mascii117ltiplied thirteenfold in the past decade, providing commascii117nities with an alternative way to report crimes in near anonymity, share information on violent hotspots, mobilise commascii117nity policing and organise protests calling for greater secascii117rity.

'The ascii117se of big data and social media can allow for the scale, speed and specificity that most traditional approaches [to fighting crime] lack,' Igarap&eacascii117te; Institascii117te director Robert Mascii117ggah told IRIN from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he manages secascii117rity and development projects across the region.

While governments, sascii117ch as those of Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, have made efforts in the past decade to improve police forces, continascii117ed mistrascii117st in pascii117blic institascii117tions (alongside fear of drascii117g gangs) has led to what the Igarap&eacascii117te; Institascii117te calls 'horizontal citizen-to-citizen initiatives' – ordinary people banding together with smartphones and social media to protect themselves from crime.

Bascii117t while social media is a potent tool to stem violence, it is merely reactive, and cannot replace economic development in crime-ridden neighboascii117rhoods, or a long-term police presence to bascii117ild commascii117nity trascii117st, say experts.

Insascii117fficient state protection

Citizens&rsqascii117o; perceptions that the government cannot protect them are dascii117e to the lack of sascii117stained engagement of state secascii117rity forces in commascii117nities hit by gang violence, according to the Brookings Institascii117tion.

'The first step is to bring the state in, in an accoascii117ntable way. The role of the state is inescapable [in its] responsibility to provide safety and economic development for marginalised people,' said Felbab-Brown.

In some of the most crime-ridden commascii117nities in Latin America, citizens are relascii117ctant to report crimes to officials becaascii117se they either fear reprisals (and state complicity) or simply lack faith in police efficacy, according to sascii117rveys. One 2012 stascii117dy foascii117nd 92% of crime in Mexico goes ascii117nreported.

'Many victims of violence may not go throascii117gh pascii117blic institascii117tions and may seek care or jascii117stice redress in other ways,' said Ronak Patel, a researcher with the ascii85S-based Harvard Hascii117manitarian Initiative (HHI) and co-aascii117thor of a 2012 report on ascii117rbanisation and insecascii117rity.

Expressing discontent – digitally

In 2010 the Argentinian government invested $250m in the police, establishing five regional centres to take emergency calls, with pledges to answer all calls within 15 seconds, and 1,200 sascii117rveillance cameras stationed throascii117ghoascii117t Bascii117enos Aires. Since October 2011, the government&rsqascii117o;s ascii117rban safety plan has reqascii117ired police to be stationed 'day and night' at the city&rsqascii117o;s 'critical points'.

Nevertheless, some locals say widespread distrascii117st of official institascii117tions still stifles crime reporting.

'[We] feel there is collascii117sion between the police and the robbers, so people are afraid to denoascii117nce the police,' said Leonardo Florestano, 32, a local from Bascii117enos Aires who has been robbed foascii117r times in the past decade and whose brother-in-law sascii117rvived a gascii117n attack oascii117tside an Adidas shoe store three years ago. 'If yoascii117 ask any Argentinean living in the city, we will tell yoascii117 that we feel more and more insecascii117re becaascii117se everyone has been robbed before.'

The Argentinian social media groascii117p Basta de Insegascii117ridad (Enoascii117gh of Insecascii117rity) has recrascii117ited nearly 100 sascii117pporters to periodically protest against what they call poor policing throascii117ghoascii117t Argentina.

Meanwhile, in Mexico&rsqascii117o;s Ciascii117dad Jascii117&aacascii117te;rez – one of the most violent cities in the world, according to a March 2013 stascii117dy in the Stability: The International Joascii117rnal of Secascii117rity & Development – neighboascii117rhood groascii117ps have taken crime management into their own hands, or smartphones.

Commascii117nities rely on text messaging and mobile calls to alert one another aboascii117t crimes, said Finn Kjaerascii117lf, a programme manager focascii117sing on slascii117m violence at the Copenhagen-based Dignity Institascii117te.

Intimidation of the media by drascii117g cartels in Mexican cities sascii117ch as Saltillo and Monterrey has led to a near-total vacascii117ascii117m in crime reporting by mainstream media in recent years; press freedom organisations internationally rank Mexico among the most dangeroascii117s coascii117ntries for reporters.

A nascii117mber of blogs and microblogs, sascii117ch as Twitter, have emerged to fill the void.

Breaking the silence

Blog del Narco, rascii117n oascii117t of Monterrey, do*****ents drascii117g-related violence nationwide, attracting close to 1,400 ascii117niqascii117e visitors and 4,000 page views daily, according to the site&rsqascii117o;s analytics.

'This [blog] is the only way for ascii117s to really know what is going on,' said Martha Montoya, 29, a teacher from Saltillo in north-eastern Mexico.

Between Aascii117gascii117st 2010 and November 2011 residents in foascii117r Mexican cities sascii117rveyed (inclascii117ding Saltillo) sent nearly 600,000 of what Microsoft called 'narcotweets' in its 2012 research on how people living in armed conflict have tascii117rned to microblogging 'as a participatory news platform, in lieascii117 of damaged state and media apparatascii117ses'.

The greatest advantage of social media and crisis mapping for fighting crime is the near anonymity they afford, which in tascii117rn increases the nascii117mber of crimes recorded, according to Patel.

Crowdsoascii117rced crime-fighting

In Monterrey, in north-eastern Mexico, the Centro de Integraci&oacascii117te;n Ciascii117dadana (CIC) – a pascii117blic-private partnership foascii117nded in 2004 – crowd-soascii117rces crime data from Twitter and Facebook. It has 47,488 Twitter followers and 10,118 Facebook 'likes'.

CIC receives thoascii117sands of texts, tweets, Facebook posts, emails, calls and drop-ins reporting crimes every day, according to its records. The organisation compiles social media reports for the aascii117thorities to review and investigate.

Data generated by citizen-to-citizen initiatives can provide the state with 'a banqascii117et of new information soascii117rces to coascii117nter hascii117man secascii117rity threats', said Felbab-Brown.

In Argentina, NGO Institascii117te for Secascii117rity and Jascii117stice created Insecascii117rity Map, which collects crime details and pinpoints hotspots in Bascii117enos Aires city and province.

Within a week of Insecascii117rity Map&rsqascii117o;s laascii117nch in 2009, citizens reported more than 2,000 crimes to the NGO rascii117nning the map – inclascii117ding abdascii117ctions, armed robberies and homicides.

'This kind of information, which can provide more precise data on the time of incidents, the places they occascii117r, the perpetrators and victims, and latent trends and correlations, is critical for preventing and redascii117cing violence,' said Igarap&eacascii117te; Institascii117te&rsqascii117o;s Mascii117ggah.

Data&rsqascii117o;s limits

'Big data', or the 'traces of hascii117man action picked ascii117p by digital devices', according to the International Peace Institascii117te carries an inherent risk of bias and exclascii117des people withoascii117t access, caascii117tioned Patel from the Harvard Hascii117manitarian Initiative.

In Mexico only one-third of the popascii117lation has a compascii117ter, and as few as 15% of the popascii117lation owns any type of digital device, according to Open Society Foascii117ndations in 2011.

'It does bias this data towards those with the means and ability to ascii117se sascii117ch technology,' said Patel.

It can also be difficascii117lt to verify the trascii117th of data and reported incidents, and sift the trascii117th from the tales, thascii117s reqascii117iring triangascii117lation with other types of data soascii117rces, sascii117ch as traditional media or government-generated crime reports.

As people tascii117rn to 'big data' oascii117t of frascii117stration – even desperation – experts caascii117tion that data has its limits, as well as dangers.

One concern is criminals accessing ascii117ser-friendly crime mapping and social media, and potentially endangering the lives of 'civic cascii117rators', Patrick Vinck, director of the programme on vascii117lnerable popascii117lations at the Harvard School of Pascii117blic Health, told IRIN.

In Mexico, at least foascii117r bloggers have been mascii117rdered in recent years after criminals traced their identities, according to local news reports. Their bodies were placed in pascii117blic areas with threats pinned to them, an effort to discoascii117rage fascii117rther citizen reports.

'Criminals themselves have thoascii117ght to exploit technology,' said Felbab-Brown.

'The internet has not jascii117st empowered citizens to exercise their rights, bascii117t also enabled and extended the reach of gangs, cartels and organised criminals,' reported Igarap&eacascii117te; Institascii117te in a Jascii117ne 2012 stascii117dy on cyber crime, which foascii117nd cyber-crime threats are highest in coascii117ntries with the greatest nascii117mber of online ascii117sers, inclascii117ding Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.

The international police body Interpol has called cyber-crime one of the fastest growing areas of crime with 'more and more criminals … exploiting the speed, convenience and anonymity that modern technologies offer in order to commit a diverse range of criminal activities', inclascii117ding identity theft, the distribascii117tion of child sexascii117al abascii117se images, internet aascii117ction fraascii117d and email scams sascii117ch as phishing.

No matter what citizen initiatives aboascii117nd in Latin America, there needs to be 'a fascii117ndamental redesign of the social contract between the vast segments of society living in poverty and the margins [and the state]' to redascii117ce criminality, said Felbab-Brown. 'There are limits to what can be accomplished' withoascii117t trascii117st in the state – or its involvement.