A Panama Judge Warns that the Municipal Police from the Mayor’s Office May Well Violate the Constitution

Supreme Court Magistrate Maribel Cornejo Batista warned that the Municipal Police created under Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi’s Municipal Agreement 162 may violate the Constitution. She noted that establishing police force structures and functions requires a formal legislative law rather than a local municipal norm.

Context and Legal Concerns

• Creation of the Force: Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi transformed the former surveillance department into a full municipal police unit.

• Constitutional Warning: Magistrate Maribel Cornejo Batista issued a dissenting opinion noting that organizing police bodies belongs exclusively to national lawmakers, not local municipal councils.

• Government Pushback: The Ministry of Public Security has filed legal actions with the Supreme Court to annul the municipal police structure, arguing it encroaches upon exclusive national security jurisdictions.

• Public Incidents: Scrutiny over the unit intensified following violent public altercations and protests outside the Hatillo municipal building involving municipal agents.

Mayer Mizrachi, mayor of Panama City, during a training session with the Municipal Police

Supreme Court Justice Maribel Cornejo Batista warned that Agreement 162 of 2025, which created the Municipal Police of the Municipality of Panama, could violate the Constitution by establishing through a municipal regulation a security structure whose functions require a formal law.  “The plaintiff raised claims of violation of Articles 310 and 242 of the Constitution with a degree of clarity that warranted a substantive examination. Regarding Article 310, he stated that it establishes a legal reserve for the organization of police services, and since the agreement is not such, it is therefore violated,” he wrote verbatim.