NCJ Number
153227
Journal
Police: The Law Enforcement Magazine Volume: 18 Issue: 11 Dated: (November 1994) Pages: 59,62-63,74
Date Published
1994
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Corruption within the Mexican police force is being confronted by officers in Mexico City. The efforts of a valiant few are commendable, but the possibility of reform remains a longshot.
Abstract
This article, which is based on interviews with five front- line officers in Mexico City, focuses on the patterns and causes of widespread police corruption. The corruption consists primarily of bribery and payoffs the police exact from citizens and tourists. Each officer is then expected to pay commanders. The root of the corruption is the paltry salaries of officers. Their gross pay every 2 weeks is between 600 and 700 pesos ($175- 200). Bus drivers make more. From their own, pay officers must maintain their patrol cars and other equipment. Officers who do not comply with their commander's dictates are harassed and given undesirable assignments. The officers interviewed also advocate better training for police. Academy training consists primarily of firearms training. These inadequately trained officers are thus more likely to resolve conflict with violence, since they are not taught communication and humans relations skills. The image of the police officer with the public is so negative that officers who quit the force in disgust have trouble finding jobs because they have been police officers. The prospects for police reform are not good, since the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which has been in power for 65 years, remains in control. Old- line political bosses, many of them police administrators, have no incentive to institute reforms.