The ‘militarisation’ of policing has become a matter of concern in much of Latin America, where the recourse to the military to deal with internal security matters has been spreading. Fears have been voiced by some about the potential for abuse and violation of human rights, by others about its adverse effect on efforts to reform policing — so far not counterbalanced by plausible evidence of positive effects. Recourse to the military is usually justified in terms of the inadequacy of existing police capabilities to deal with ‘new’ internal security threats of a previously unimagined magnitude that have resulted in…