Incensed by a teenager's death in police custody, an angry mob chased police from their command post, set it afire with gasoline and prevented firefighters from extinguishing the blaze as it raged through the building.
Neighbors stopped and stared on Thursday at the ruins -- the latest show of public outrage over rampant violent crime and crooked officers who are viewed as being a big part of the problem in Venezuela.
The shooting death of 17-year-old Carlos Guerrero, purportedly at the hands of police, prompted a crowd to burn the station in Caracas' 23 de Enero slum after his funeral on Wednesday. Witnesses said more than 100 people surrounded the station chanting "Get Out!" before their protest turned violent.
Faced with rampant crime and complaints that police are sometimes the culprits, President Hugo Chavez has promised to radically transform all of Venezuela's underpaid and understaffed police departments into a single nationwide force capable of regaining the public's trust.
But remaking the police promises to be a daunting task, and some Venezuelans seem to be growing impatient.
Police tried to disperse the angry mob on Wednesday by firing plastic bullets into the crowd, said Mirium Marquez, a street vendor who said she closed her kiosk next door during the melee.
"It's sad that people demanded justice in this way, but I understand why they did it," she said. "The police here are just as dangerous as the criminals."
Though the circumstances of the teenager's death on Monday remain unclear, newspaper reports said he died from a gunshot to the chest. The Venezuelan daily Ultimas Noticias quoted Caracas Police Chief Francisco Romero as saying that an officer accidentally shot Guerrero.
The authorities have acknowledged that abuse and extrajudicial killings by officers -- along with graft and a general lack of training -- are pressing problems that must be resolved.
Polls have also shown that crime is a leading concern among Venezuelans. Caracas is considered to be among the most violent cities in Latin America, with armed robberies common on its streets by day and gunfire often ringing out in hillside slums at night.
Venezuela's Justice Ministry recorded 9,402 homicides in the country in 2005. The authorities have yet to release figures for last year.
Pledging safer streets in the long run, Chavez has tapped Vice President Jorge Rodriguez to take a leading role in considering ways to improve security and professionalize the police.
A recent survey conducted by the government found that nearly 40 percent of more than 11,000 Venezuelans who answered the questionnaire said corruption was the biggest problem among police, followed by lack of training and use of excessive force.
Distrust of the police runs deep, and there's a saying in Venezuela: "If you get robbed, don't shout. The police might show up."
Ramon Morales, an official in charge of citizen security at the Caracas mayor's office, said police reforms must change the negative view of police.
"The population has never seen the police force as a helpful, supportive body. We know this isn't easy to change," Morales said.
Morales said tens of thousands of new officers should be hired and training must be improved -- though in what ways it has yet to be decided.
"There's a deficit of police in Caracas. If we take international norms into account, we should have 100,000 police," Morales said, adding that fewer than 3,000 of the city's estimated 15,000 police are patrolling the streets at any given moment.
The lack of a strong police presence forced residents in Los Chaguaramos, a middle class district of Caracas, to pool their money and hire private security guards three months ago.
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