Monica Spear death: Venezuela targets corrupt police officers

Venezuela’s Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres has given out his personal mobile phone number on live television, and urged police officers to call him directly to report cases of corruption within the force.

Miguel Rodriguez Torres said rooting out corruption was the only way for the police to regain public trust.

Police corruption is seen as one reason why Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world.

His comments come amid public anger after the murder of former beauty queen Monica Spear.

Monica Spear and her ex-husband, Thomas Berry, were gunned down in their car in front of their five-year-old daughter, who was wounded.

Seven people have been arrested in connection with the crime.

“New police officers will always have some great superiors, well-prepared ones,” Miguel Rodriguez Torres said at an official ceremony in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.

“But they also are going to get some bad eggs. Report them fearlessly because their (corruption) undermines police authority for the Venezuelan people.”

“Just give me the information right away, and we will rip the head off that immoral police superior,” the minister warned, after giving the officers his mobile number.

The murder of Monica Spear, thought to have been a botched robbery, has reignited debate about insecurity in Venezuela.

Experts often cite police corruption as part of the crime crisis; most homicides go unpunished.

Last year, nearly 25,000 people were killed in the South American country, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, a non-governmental organization.

Monica Spear and her former partner were buried on Friday in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.