IDB experts and stakeholders meet annually to review and analyze case studies at Intensive Training Clinics in Citizen Security and Public Safety. The events – which focus on innovation, research, and evaluation of security-related subjects – promote alliances and the exchange of knowledge. They create platforms to engage and train authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean and disseminate state-of-the-art expertise.

The clinics have created opportunities to learn about important experiences of a multitude of organizations. Among them are the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United Nations Latin American Institute for Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, FLACSO Chile, the International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College London, the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime , the Center for Citizen Security Studies at the University of Chile, the Fundación Paz Ciudadana (Chile), the Central American Integration System; CISALVA Institute (Colombia); the National Institute on Drug Abuse; and the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission of the Organization of American States.

More than 300 delegates, including senior country officials and Bank staff working in the citizen security field, have attended the clinics, representing most of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The clinics have resulted in important alliances among the IDB, the participating nations, academic institutions, other multilateral agencies and outside experts.

Four security clinics have been held:

1. First Intensive Training Clinic: "Citizen security management and policy innovations: New frontiers in police and prison reform and the local prevention of violence."

Santiago, Chile, November 4-6, 2008. The event provided an opportunity to examine innovative case studies through on site visits that demonstrated prison reform, policy reform and prevention policies carried out at local level with community participation.

2. Second Intensive Training Clinic: "Citizen security and public safety: New operational frontiers and management challenges."

San José, Costa Rica, October 7-9, 2009. Topics examined: Organized Crime: Can Cities Provide an Effective Response? Youth, an Alternative for Public Safety; and E-government for Citizen Security—Limits and Opportunities of New Technologies.

3. Third Intensive Training Clinic: How to apply innovative new technologies; how to measure results; what works and why?

Montevideo, Uruguay, August 4-5, 2010. This clinic focused on state-of-the art information technologies, the gathering of empirical data and systems that measure citizen security and public safety.

4. Fourth Intensive Training Clinic: Brazil and its innovative experience in violence prevention.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 8-9, 2011. The main objective of this clinic was to review the innovative experiences of Brazilian cities in violence prevention, focusing on national policy, some successful programs and inter-institutional coordination mechanisms at the national and local levels.