Unidad Cinturon Sur. Impacts of a new security policy on a large residential complex in Buenos Aires

Abstract

The increase in crime and the sense of insecurity in Buenos Aires has become an issue that severely affects the daily life of low income groups. On July 4, 2011, as a response to the growing demand for security from the inhabitants of Buenos Aires, the local government launched Unidad Cinturón Sur, a program that implied the deployment of 2,500 police agents on neighborhoods located south of the city. This measure attempts to increase the presence of security forces as a strategy to prevent crime in areas of the city with low police per capita and high levels of victimization. This paper is a contribution to the analysis of Unidad Cinturón Sur by pointing out the sense of insecurity and the strategies of insecurity management developed by residents of the Conjunto Urbano Soldati, a large social housing complex where the fear of crime is a key dimension when it comes to structuring daily routines.