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Department of Public Security (DPS) and its dependencies and
staff are under the direction, supervision, and control of
the director of the DPS, who answers to the secretary for
multidimensional security, in accordance with the legal
system of the Organization.
The Department is composed
of the following dependencies:
Section for Promotion of Security and Harmonious Coexistence
Based on analysis, research,
and evaluation of the individual needs of the member states,
this Section develops promotion and management proposals
aimed at strengthening national institutional capacity to
respond to specific manifestations of crime, organized
crime, and violence and their impact, especially in
connection with the key thematic areas referred to below:
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Unit for Populations at Risk and Crime Prevention
a. Develops, promotes, and manages work plans aimed at
strengthening the capacity of national institutions in
the member states to design, implement, and evaluate
public policies to prevent criminal behavior and
violence.
b. Prioritizes working with specific population groups
(women, children, youth, and migrants), with an integral
approach focusing on both rights and law enforcement,
especially in connection with domestic violence, youth
violence, trafficking in persons and the smuggling of
migrants in keeping with the Migration and Development
Program of the Executive Secretariat for Integral
Development, with regard to the smuggling of migrants.
c. Puts forward proposals for joint work with other
dependencies of the General Secretariat and with
governmental or nongovernmental, national or
international organizations and assists with the
activities needed to make them viable.
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Unit
to Promote Arms Control and Humanitarian Mine Action
a. Develops, promotes,
and manages integral strategies designed to strengthen
the institutional capacity of the member states to
comply appropriately with their international
commitments with respect to the handling and control of
firearms and inhumane weapons and to foster ratification
and implementation of international legal instruments in
these matters.
b. Supports and advises member states on the formulation
and implementation of public policies aimed at combating
the manufacturing and illicit trafficking of firearms,
ammunition, and explosives by using tools to identify,
track, handle, and destroy them.
c. Provides technical assistance with the implementation
of measures designed to strengthen security with regard
to the storage of arms and ammunition and ensuring that
they are handled in accordance with international
standards.
d. Provides support and technical advice, through the
Program for Comprehensive Action against Antipersonnel
Mines (AICMA), to member states that request them, in
the area of humanitarian action against mines, both in
the design and implementation of public policies and at
the operational level through supervision and monitoring
activities carried out in cooperation with the
Inter-American Defense Board. Actions so far focused on
demining and education regarding the risks involved.
e. Promotes coordination and joint efforts with other
dependencies of the General Secretariat to assist the
populations affected by mind clearance and land
remediation, to contribute to the physical and
psychological rehabilitation of mine victims, and to
provide them with assistance for skills development.
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Criminal Justice Unit
a. Analyzes models of
effective administration of justice and puts forward
proposals for strengthening the institutional capacity
of member states in this area.
b. Accords special priority to promotion of prison and
penitentiary policies, as well as to the design and
implementation of methodologies for evaluating policies
aimed at the reintegration into society of former
convicts.
c. Develops comprehensive work plans with the
participation of legislative and justice administration
bodies and their respective authorities, with a view to
assisting member states with the design and
implementation of effective public policies for the
administration of justice.
Section for Coordinationg Cooperation
Designs the tools needed to facilitate the development of
institutional capacity to assess, prevent, confront, and
respond to threats to public security, based on guidelines
set by the political organs of the Organization and the
principles of aid effectiveness, as well as on the specific
characteristics of the member states or any subregional
needs that may be identified. To fulfill that function, the
Section draws on the analytical criteria furnished by the
Section for the Promotion of Security and Harmonious
Coexistence and on the technical and academic resources at
its disposal. The primary focus of its work will be on the
following areas:
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Documentation, Information, and Follow-up Unit
a. In coordination with the
other dependencies of the SMS, the GS/OAS, and national
or international, governmental and nongovernmental
institutions, this Unit helps gather, systematize,
analyze, and evaluate data that might prove useful for
institution-building in member states in the area of
public security.
b. Helps build and administer the platform and network
for sharing best practices that the Secretariat for
Multidimensional Security relies on to meet its
objective of promoting and coordinating cooperation,
among member states and between them and the
inter-American system and other bodies in the
international system, aimed at assessing, preventing,
confronting, and responding to threats to public
security.
c. Supports and cooperates with the efforts of national
or international institutions to strengthen their own
systems for gathering, systematizing, and analyzing data
and to facilitate their use in the design,
implementation, and evaluation of public policies.
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Capacity
Building Unit
a.
Based on the coordination
of its activities with other dependencies of the SMS,
the GS/OAS, and national or international, governmental
and nongovernmental institutions, and based on
contributions from the Section for the Promotion of
Security and Harmonious Coexistence and the
Documentation, Information, and Follow-up Unit, this
Unit helps design, promote, and execute educational and
training programs aimed at building and strengthening
the institutional capacity of the member states with
regard to public security.
b. The cooperation and
technical assistance programs are primarily designed to
attend, with an approach tailored to the specific needs
of the member states in matters relating to crime
prevention, criminal behavior, citizen insecurity, and
violence, trafficking in persons and the smuggling of
migrants; the control and handling of firearms,
ammunition, and explosives; demining and education
regarding the risks involved; effective administration
of criminal justice; and the design, implementation, and
evaluation of public policies for public security and
police management.
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