Gun Free Towns project cuts homicide rate drastically in El Salvador?s San Martín
Although El Salvador averages a steady 10 homicides a day, 8 of which firearms related, totaling 1.873 deaths in the first semester of 2006, (data provided by the National Civil Police), the number of homicides committed in the municipality of San Martín has been practically halved.
With the lemma “San Martín and Ilopango alive, free from guns” the National Council of Public Security (CNSP) has been running the “Gun free towns” project in both cities with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) since June 2005.
According to official data, from November 2005 to June 2006 homicides dropped by 40.7% and crimes committed with guns fell by 29%. Before this dramatic change, San Martín ranked among the 20 most violent municipalities of El Salvador, a nation with the highest crime rates of Latin America, and where much of the violence is attributed to youth gangs.
“The goal of the campaign is to spread the word that guns are dangerous and raise public awareness of the convenience of restricting their use”, said Daniel Carsana, project coordinator.
Official data also point to a 31% drop in the general crime rate. Statistics on state apprehended guns are also telling, at 147 guns, or 119% more than in the period from November 2004 to June 2005.
Raising the awareness of gun violence
The Gun free towns campaign was broadcast over the airwaves of El Salvador’s 10 biggest radio stations, and posters were carried by the public transportation system.
“We tried to reach stakeholder groups simultaneously, such as town halls, the police, leadership in the community and among youths, by organizing events that bring people together and developing activities to raise an awareness of the issue,” said Carsana.
This has meant taking back public spaces, the campaign held over 30 cultural events to date in what are considered high risk public spaces.
“And to encourage youths to join in the project, we have been able to close a partnership with Save the Children Sweden toward the end of 2005, with the goal of fostering peaceful relations among youths, by recovering and injecting life back into the public spaces deemed most dangerous in both the municipalities,” Carsana added.
The gun violence awareness campaign designed courses to encourage youths to think on the issue, and trained youths as radio producers. Youths were created a weekly radio show on the campaign topic.
Five steps to success
Daniel credits the campaign’s success to five key point: “In the first place there was the necessary political will, to impel and support the initiative. Secondly we created a detailed diagnosis of the problem that allowed us to, among other aspects, pin point the areas with the highest rates of violent crime.”
The diagnosis spotted the places where over half the gun violence occurs. The National Civil Police (PNC) and the Metropolitan Agents Corps (CAM) were trained accordingly and took on a role of inspection and monitoring .
Finally, according to Daniel the town hall created partnerships with the PNC, the National Council of Public Security (CNSP), the CAM, and other institutions and organizations of the municipality.
This has led to the approval of ordinances that restrict the right to carry weapons in the 62 high risk municipal areas such as parks, green spaces, bus terminals and microbuses.
Replication
Since its project’s results were first published the Gun free towns project has caught the attention of mayors across El Salvador, many of whom have asked to replicate the project. The project has also interested other nations in Latin America.
“You can bring down gun deaths, this initiative can be replicated, what you need is to take into account the local characteristics of each town and have the necessary political will.” Carsana said.
Translated by Lis Horta Moriconi
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