Panama

Neighbors' Watch

City/State/Region
Begin – End: 1995 – ongoing
Name of organization in charge: Departamento de Seguridad Ciudadana de la Policía Nacional
Type of organization in charge: government
Level: local

Impact

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Implementation: was the innovation effectively, partially or not put into practice at all?

Fulfillment of Aims: were the goals of the innovation completely, partially or not achieved at all?

Output: has the innovation generated recommendations, initiatives, decisions or policies?

Outcome: if there were a policy output, was it enacted or implemented?

Implementation: yes
Fulfillment of Democratic Innovation’s aim: yes
Output: -
Policy Outcome: -

Neighbors' Watch is a program that seeks, by means of citizen participation, to increase police efficiency in crime prevention. The program intends to increase communication and cohesion among neighbors and between them and the local police. The police designate a community police officer for each group of neighbors, who establish communication networks via WhatsApp groups (in which the designated community police officer also takes part) and, in some cases, meetings. The community police install, after prior agreement with the neighbors, bells in the houses of one or more of them, which are used to alert the local police in situations that threaten citizens? security. WhatsApp groups, too, are a channel to alert the local police so that they can act quickly. The program Neighbors' Watch serves, in turn, educational and empowering purposes, since citizens learn how to act in emergency situations. In Panama, in 2020, more than 1500 groups of vigilant neighbors are registered. In the province of Santos, the mechanism was also used to prevent COVID-19, allowing residents to report the arrival of foreigners, and monitor that they comply with the mandatory quarantine.

Institutional design

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Formalization: is the innovation embedded in the constitution or legislation, in an administrative act, or not formalized at all?

Frequency: how often does the innovation take place: only once, sporadically, or is it permanent or regular?

Mode of Selection of Participants: is the innovation open to all participants, access is restricted to some kind of condition, or both methods apply?

Type of participants: those who participate are individual citizens, civil society organizations, private stakeholders or a combination of those?

Decisiveness: does the innovation takes binding, non-binding or no decision at all?

Co-governance: is there involvement of the government in the process or not?

Formalization: only backed by a governmental program or policy
Frequency: regular
Mode of selection of participants: open
Type of participants: citizens
Decisiveness: democratic innovation yields no decision
Co-Governance: yes

Means

Deliberation
Direct Voting
E-Participation
Citizen Representation

Ends

Accountability
Responsiveness
Rule of Law
Political Inclusion
Social Equality

Policy cycle

Agenda setting

Formulation and decision-making

Implementation

Policy Evaluation