He campaigned on this and he's sticking to his word. CS Monitor had a decent article about this before Maduro won the elections.
Venezuela's interim President Maduro addresses a topic Chávez largely avoided – crime
Chávez increasingly engaged in citizen security initiatives starting in the mid-2000s. But he often skirted discussing crime, an issue that plagues Venezuela.
By Rebecca Hanson, WOLA / April 6, 2013
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Differentiating his campaign from those of his predecessor, Nicolás Maduro has made crime and violence in the country a major talking point so far. Roberto Briceño and others have suggested that the Interim President, unable to hide behind a charismatic personality, has been forced to take on the issue in a way that his predecessor was not. However, these comments are not totally accurate, in that the Hugo Chávez administration, since the mid-2000s, was increasingly engaged in citizen security initiatives, especially in lower-class areas of Caracas.
As we have noted in previous blogs, these initiatives relied on both a militarized presence in high crime areas (exemplified by the Bicentennial Citizen Security Presence, or the Dispositivo Bicentenario de Seguridad Ciudadana (DIBISE) and preventative approaches that advocate for a “decriminalization of poverty” (represented by the National Experimental Security University (UNES) and the General Police Council). While Maduro has been more vocal on the issue, his rhetoric, as we will discuss below, has not diverged drastically from Chávez’s. Rather, he has continued to pull from “social movement” strategies—promoting culture, sports, and arts in popular sectors—and mano dura solutions for those who do not “respond” to these approaches.
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Recently, Maduro announced two initiatives to reduce crime in the capital, the construction of “territories of peace” and the “Movement for Peace and Life,” which will link government resources with social movements and cultural activities. These announcements are especially interesting given the strong mobilization capacity the Chavez government has demonstrated in the past as well as the active relationships the government has cultivated with social movement groups and actors in popular sectors since the mid-2000s.
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... in the same speech Maduro warned that his administration would “tighten the mano dura to protect the decent people (el pueblo decente) that have not been penetrated by the evil of violence. I extend my hand and if [the criminals] do not take it…we will go up [into the barrios] with the police and the National Guard because this has to end.” In another speech Maduro stated “With one hand we will be constructing education, culture, sports, and youth, but with the other hand there must be authority…citizens are guaranteed education (and) work in order to live a healthy life. The state says: For those who step outside of these rules, here is the law, here is authority.”
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http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2013/0406/Venezuela-s-interim-President-Maduro-addresses-a-topic-Chavez-largely-avoided-crimeI like the paragraph that notes how many citizens don't have a negative perception of the military because it's been involved in helping people all along, like heavy involvement in "housing construction after natural disasters". Much better that than invading other countries and killing innocent people.
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