Mobile Anti-Disturbances Squadron or Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios (ESMAD) in Spanish is a Colombian

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riot control Riot control measures are used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful demonstration or unlawful protest. If a riot is spontaneous and irratio ...

unit specialized on preventing and/or controlling public disturbances and riots, as well controlling vandalism in cities. This unit is under the command of the Operative Directorate of the Colombian National Police.

History

The ''Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios'' (ESMAD) was born as a decentralized unit from the Colombian National Police on February 24, 1999, by a transitional directorate, beginning with 9 officers, 8 non-commissioned officers and 200 patrollers mainly to support Colombian Departments and Metropolitan police forces to control and/or neutralize population disturbances or public events when their forces seem outnumbered or incapable to handle their action capacity. It was later legalized by resolution 01363 of April 14, 1999. The unit is said to be trained on

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issues however in 2006, it was largely criticized and questioned for some of its actions during the National University of Colombia riots. This riot police unit was also questioned by the

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after the death of six protesters. Nonetheless, the Colombian government continues to invest money in this unit. Senator Wilson Arias denounced the investment of around 8,000 million pesos. In the midst of the

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health emergency, the Colombian government prefers to invest in a force that has injured more than 800 people and from which 43 victims have been confirmed before 2021.

Regional Operational Divisions

There are seven active mobile squadrons operating in Colombia: *

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

: Mobile Group I, Mobile Group II, Mobile Group III *

Medellín Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...

: Mobile Group IV *

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

: Mobile Group V * Barranquilla: Mobile Group VI *

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and has the ninth-largest population in the country, with 6 ...

: Mobile Group VII

References

External links

EL TIEMPO newspaperPolicia Nacional de Colombia
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Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadron Mobile Anti-Disturbances Squadron or Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios (ESMAD) in Spanish is a Colombian National Police riot control unit specialized on preventing and/or controlling public disturbances and riots, as well controlling vandalism i ...

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