Policing Fractured Communities
Medellín, Colombia
The 12th Pearls in Policing Conference was hosted in Medellín, Colombia, from 23 – 27 June 2018 and was organised by the National Police of Colombia and the Pearls Secretariat in the Netherlands. The theme of the conference was “Policing Fractured Communities”.
During the Pearls conference discussions were based on the research conducted by the members of the International Action Learning Group (IALG), research done by two working groups consisting of the police chiefs themselves, inspiring interactive sessions and peer to peer consultations. The annual conference is the culmination of a year of continuous learning undertaken by the IALG. The 2017-2018 IALG has presented its findings, based on the assignment which has been formulated during the previous Pearls in Policing conference in Toronto, Canada, to the Pearls delegates at the start of the conference: All regions experience challenges, tensions and shocks related to diverse cultures, socio-economic problems, political fragmentations and evolving forms of criminality. Identify and analyze the range of problems faced by the police in each of the individual geographic regions represented within the membership of the IALG, as well as other regions of the world not represented within the IALG.
Working Group 1
Can the police find the right balance of maintaining their autonomy from government while being subjected to a growing politicization of the police?
Working Group 2
Corruption: the impact on policing in vulnerable times.