One thing about Mexico that everyone can agree on is this: many if not most police officers are corrupt. Last week here in Monterrey these two officers were arrested as being part of the Gulf cartel. They were used as hit men and were arrested in uniform while at a house where several kidnapping victims were being kept. Once again, the army to the rescue. But the army, as I've said again and again, is a short-term solution. In the long-term the government has to restructure Mexico's 2,022 municipal police forces. I was delighted to hear the news on Friday that Mexico's secretary for public safety, Génaro García Luna, who probably has the most dangerous cabinet position on the planet, announced a proposal to disband the 2,022 local police forces and combine them with the state level law enforcement. Although I've yet to read the proposal, it definitely sounds like a step in the right direction. Here's the article in full:
Mexico's top security official on Friday proposed disbanding Mexico's 2,022 municipal police forces and combining them with state law enforcement agencies to better combat corruption and crime.
Local police have fewer resources to fight crime, and their lower salaries make them more susceptible to corruption, Mexican Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna said.
"Public safety should be a state policy," he added.
Consolidating police forces would improve communication among officials, he said, and bring greater security to areas where local police have traditionally lacked the means to fight crime. Nearly 90 percent of the country's municipal police forces have staffs of less than 100 people, he said.
Garcia Luna spoke to reporters at the end of a meeting of public safety chiefs from Mexico's 31 states and the capital, where officials presented a report titled "A New Police Model."
The report describes local police as "an easy target for corruption," with more than 60 percent of them receiving monthly salaries of only 4,000 pesos (about $300). Most of them have completed less than 10 years of schooling and are either at basic education levels or illiterate, according to the report.
Incorporating them into state forces would help prevent organized crime from corrupting them, the report said.
Garcia Luna said federal legislators would have to approve any changes to the country's police structure.
President Felipe Calderon has acknowledged that corruption permeates Mexican police at all levels. He has relied on the army to fight ruthless drug cartels, deploying tens of thousands of soldiers across the country since taking office in late 2006. Gang violence has since surged, claiming more than 13,800 lives.
Crackdowns on local police have also become an increasingly common part of the drug war.
In September, the Pacific coast resort city of Cancun fired 30 police officers in an effort to clean up the image of a force long plagued by corruption. In June, nearly 80 police officers suspected of working with drug smugglers were arrested in 18 towns across the northern state of Nuevo Leon after soldiers found lists of police names in the possession of traffickers.
Mexico's 159,734 municipal police make up nearly 40 percent of Mexico's police forces.
Hola, hermanos! I have a question for you guys -- I just got a rather disturbing email from a church in the US. It's disturbing, because like so many "forwards" it has the flavor of "sensation" with no foundation, and becuase I have a feeling it's being sent out to hundreds of people (since I got it twice within only a few minutes.) I want to email it to you and then you can tell me if it's "real" and if it's your area they're talking about. I know I have your email somewhere (at least I thought I did!) but can't find it. Send me a note if you have a minute. allcreationsings@hotmail.com Que Dios les bendiga a uds!!!
Posted by: Rebecca Coult | 2009.11.10 at 06:45 PM