Peru isn't Guatemala by a long shot and hasn't been plagued with the type of gang violence present in Central America in over a decade but... I've spent a lot

Peru isn't Guatemala by a long shot and hasn't been plagued with the type of gang violence present in Central America in over a decade but... I've spent a lot of time in Peru (particularly Lima) since most of my family is Peruvian and I was born there myself but was raised almost entirely in the States. As I got older I became more aware of the differences between my life in the States and that in Lima. One thing that particularly struck me is that upper middle class neighborhoods like Miraflores or San Isidro are frequently patrolled by private security holding submachine guns. Not cops, just private security, hired by individuals or community organizations. People in Peru don't have faith in the police. People's homes are usually walled off with 'murros' covered in barbed wire, ornamental fence spikes, or shards of glass sticking up. These houses end up looking like boxes on the street obscuring a normal looking home behind the murro. You sometimes see similar architecture in parts of San Francisco. People less wealthy might not have the resources to build murros or hire private security so this sort of attitude towards policing is not totally surprising but terrible to think about.