Police training programmes in Costa Rica: progress and remaining challenges

Abstract

This article analyzes the processes of police training in Costa Rica, from its antecedents during the abolition of the army in 1949, and the evolution process of the security model that dominated until the late twentieth century, when a series of reforms aimed to consolidate and strengthen the professionalism and the civilian character of police training, were implemented. the article shows how despite several institutional efforts, especially aimed at strengthening the National Police Academy, a number of problems persists such as dispersion of the police corps, lack of doctrinal definition, weaknesses in the process of staff recruitment, and inadequate police planning processes.