Panama

Traders' Watch

City/State/Region
Begin – End: 2001 – ongoing
Name of organization in charge: Departamento de Seguridad Ciudadana de la Policía Nacional
Type of organization in charge: government
Level: local

Impact

?

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: unknown
Output: -
Policy Outcome: -

Traders? Watch is a program that seeks, through the cooperation of local businesses, to increase police efficiency in crime prevention. The program intends to increase communication and cohesion among local traders and between them and the local police. The police designate a community police officer for each group of traders, who establish communication networks via WhatsApp groups (in which the designated community police officer also participates). WhatsApp groups serve to alert local police regarding a situation that threatens citizens? security in local stores, so that the police can act quickly. Additionally, as part of the program, the application ?vigilant businesses? was developed, a digital platform linked to the stores? security cameras. In the event of a robbery or other emergency, merchants can alert the police on the app, and the police can quickly access the shop?s security cameras to become aware of the situation and respond to it. The program Traders? Watch serves, in turn, educational and empowering purposes, since local traders learn how to act in emergency situations.

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: private stakeholders
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