Carabineros de Chile

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The Carabineros de Chile (Carabiniers of Chile) are the uniformed Chilean national police force, created on April 27, 1927. Their mission is to maintain the order and create public respect for the laws of the country. They depend on the Ministerio de Defensa Nacional (Ministry of National Defense) through the Undersecretary of Carabineros and the Ministerio del Interior (Ministry of the Interior). Chile also has an investigative police force, the Policia de Investigaciones.

History

The origins of the Carabineros de Chile are found in night watchmen, such as the Queen's Dragons (created in 1758 and later renamed the Dragons of Chile in 1812) and other organizations that fulfilled functions such as the watch and local policing.

Later, cities such as Santiago and Valparaíso created their own city police forces. In 1881 the Policía Rural (Rural Police) was created for the rural areas of the country. However, the main problem with these police services was that they were dependent on local authorities for day-to-day decision making. This led to local officials abusing this power for their own political ends. In 1896 the Policía Fiscal (Prosecuting Police) was created to serve the cities.

The first policing organization with the name "Carabineros" was the Cuerpo de Carabineros (Carabinero Corps), formed in 1903 to bring law and order to the Araucanía Region of Southern Chile (then much larger than is geographically denoted today). In 1908 the Carabineros School (currently located in Providencia) was created as the commissioning organization of police officers. In 1927, the dictator Carlos Ibáñez del Campo merged the Policía Fiscal, the local police, and the Cuerpo de Carabineros into one unified institution under the direction of the national government. The organization still carries the name Carabineros de Chile that Ibáñez gave it.

In 1973 the Carabineros joined the Chilean coup of 1973 under the direction of General Augusto Pinochet that overthrew President Salvador Allende.

Today

The current mission of the Carabineros is to maintain or re-establish order and security in Chilean society through civic education, service to the community, and the preservation of order and public security. Under the current Chilean constitution the Carabineros are integrated directly into the armed forces in a state of emergency to better guarantee order. Carabineros are commonly informally called "pacos", akin to English "cops".

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