In Their Own Hands: Citizen Security and the Police-Community Relationship in Sololá, Guatemala

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to find an answer to the question: How can we describe and analyze the police-community relationship in Sololá, Guatemala, and what can be done to improve this relationship? Therefore attention is paid to the perceptions of citizens, police officers and third parties on the police-community relationship in Sololá. An important result of the tension between the police and the community is that some people take justice into their own hands. This goes from minor punishments to lynchings.