In Guanajuato, starting this year, all police institutions in the state are committed and participating to obtain their Planet Youth badge.

Guanajuato/Gto News

“In Guanajuato, starting this year, all police institutions in the State are committed to participate in Planet Youth, to obtain their own emblem. We have to start by training municipal police officers, and without neglecting them, they can also be able to prevent some early addictions in their homes, and this has given very good results”, said Sophia Huett López.

Huett participated in the Third International Congress on Addiction Prevention 2023, Planet Youth, by emphasizing that if we aspire to have more and better police officers, we have to empower, train and work with them, in addition to the political will and support of the authorities and commanders, as well as eliminating internal and external resistance to change paradigms.

“When we empower police officers, they can become leaders who support not only older people but also young people in complicated situations; and that is precisely what we are talking about, changing a repressive policy to a community policy, where police officers become social factors and leaders in support of the community”, said Huett Lopez.

The participation of municipal corporations in the Planet Youth program is part of the 46 security commitments, approved by the State Public Security Council, “because prevention and this type of family dynamics have to start from the homes of police officials, from the police institutions themselves, knowing that they have had very good results, and as the benefits of the program become known, there is more participation and interest”, said Huett.

In the prevention of addictions, the connection between different institutions, the police, the school, the community, is necessary to cover different angles, in addition to taking on the challenge of calling for community participation to identify and prioritize possible problems in the environment.

“In that sense and in the field of security, it is not necessary to “securitize” the municipality’s agenda, but rather to train and sensitize its members of the municipal corporations so that when a problem of violence is detected, they are aware of the possible impact”, said Huett.

The Municipality, said the Official, is the actor with the greatest relevance in terms of security, since it has greater knowledge of the territory, the population, social capital and resources, but it has to take on the challenge of calling for community participation to identify and prioritize problems.

“We have to relearn how to relate, since young people are not the cause of violence, but rather a group where it is possible to intervene early and achieve a family and social impact,” said Huett.