At a news conference yesterday, Ecuadorian Police Chief General Wilson Alulema announced the launch of an anti-corruption plan that will create an intelligence department to monitor corruption within the force. The new plan, which is to take effect “immediately,” will require each of the 42,000 officers, and all future agents, to take a lie detector test. Additionally, officers will have to declare their personal assets. This is intended to facilitate investigations of bribes, peddling and corruption.

The anti-corruption measures are in part a response to the police mutiny of September 2010, in which protests by police and military groups against benefits cuts turned violent. President Rafael Correa was tear gassed and trapped in a military hospital in Quito for over 12 hours. Following the attacks, Correa’s administration took control over the force, and the president has called for its modernization.

Despite the new initiatives, General Alulema lamented the judicial re-instatement of almost 300 officers who had been suspended over allegations of corruption. His new plan will create an incentive system to award officers demonstrating proper ethics and values and to denounce internal corruption.