Law enforcement in Mexico

Mexico law enforcement is distributed among three distinct powers of authority and jurisdiction: federal, state, and municipal. With the reform of former President; Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico’s Federal Police, the agency was replaced with the new National Guard (Guardia Nacional — GN), which serves as a federal ‘military police.’ The main goal of the National Guard is to bring justice and peace to the country. The National Guard was created because some sections of the Federal Police were involved in organized crime, corruption, and similar issues.

Law Enforcement Organizations & Its Structure

Regarding federal law enforcement and national defense, Mexico's government owns the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection (Secretaria de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana - SSPC), the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Marine Corps and Navy (Secretaria de Marina - SEMAR). The Mexican Army and Mexican Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Mexicana) is administrated by the Ministry of National Defense, commonly known as ‘SEDENA’ in Mexico. The National Guard, Service of Federal Protection (Servicio de Protection Federal - SPF), National Center of Intelligence (Centro Nacional de Inteligencia - CNI), and other law enforcement agencies are overseen and managed by the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection.

State and municipal law enforcement is divided into groups/teams/units in the Governor or Mayor's Ministry of Public Security (Secretaria de Seguridad Publica—SSP). State and municipal law enforcement possess transit, special operations, proximity, and investigation—so it is called in Mexico. This information is generalized and can vary depending on each agency structure.

Mexico's Struggle for Public Safety: The Role of Militarization and Law Enforcement Challenges

With the current drug war in Mexico, the government has struggled with maintaining public safety in Mexico. Mexico’s government efforts in militarization in states and municipalities have resulted positively in citizens’ security, however, homicides, robberies, and other criminal activities are still ongoing due to various factors such as corruption, ineffective strategies, or simply lack of police presence, etc.

Law enforcement in some states and municipalities lacks resources and training. In certain states and cities, a shortage of police forces necessitates federal authorities, such as the National Guard, to perform law enforcement duties as a substitute. Checkpoints in Mexico are very common, especially with the military. Police forces have recently obtained tactical trucks for patrol and combat. Officers with tactical gear are also very common due to high crime levels in some municipalities across the republic.

Police in states and municipalities are usually underpaid and in some cases, bribes are often seen with Mexican police officers. This is generalized and it doesn’t mean that it happens with all regions.

The Mexican Army or Navy often do patrols along with the National Guard. This doesn’t mean that there’s terrorist activity or cartels nearby. This strategy is to eradicate the threat of organized crime and terrorist activities of cartels in Mexico.

Mexico’s relations regarding law enforcement with the United States include border protection and Americans. Additionally, the eradication of cartels and illegal activity happening in the USA such as the contraband of drugs and the deaths of teenagers and adults because of fentanyl.

Former President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the Secretary of Security & Citizen Protection have shown positive results regarding national defense and public safety during his administration according to morning meetings in the National Palace (Palacio Nacional) which is the presidency office of Mexico; equivalent to the White House in USA. Concerns have come to the attention of Americans and Mexicans, regarding the new strategy of Mexico’s federal government of militarization in states and the Marine Corps and Army doing police operations. Studies say that citizens trust the military and National Guard rather than the state/municipal police in Mexico, however, this problem is currently being dealt with by government officials.

Mexico's Law Enforcement Branches

Investigations in Mexico are crucial, the federal government has the Criminal Investigations Agency (Agencia de Investigaciones Criminales - AIC) under the Prosecutor General Office (Fiscalia General de la Republica - FGR) These law enforcement ‘detectives’ are commonly called “ministerial officers” (ministeriales) in Mexico. They respond to criminal and cartel activity for investigation. Other agencies under the Prosecutor General Office have specialized functions such as the Prosecutor's Office Specialized in Organized Crime Matters (Fiscalía Especializada en Materia de Delincuencia Organizada - FEMDO). Additionally, in some cases, investigations in Mexico take a long period, and some are being left behind according to studies, however, this is generalized.

Traffic law enforcement is also a major issue for municipal and state governments. Although traffic laws are rarely enforced, the government is still dealing with them. Traffic law enforcement in Mexico is a division of the National Guard, a Mexican federal law enforcement agency, and it is called by a Mexican slang term "el transito". Their job is to manage traffic, respond to traffic collisions (vehicle crashes), and enforce the speed limit.

Organization

National Guard

Mexico maintains two primary federal law enforcement agencies: the National Guard, the uniformed paramilitary force; and the Policía Federal Ministerial, a civilian investigative force. Federal law enforcement officers in Mexico are sometimes referred to, especially by Americans and in media, by the slang term "Federales".

Ministerial Federal Police

The Ministerial Federal Police (Policía Federal Ministerial, PFM) is the premier investigative arm of the Attorney General of Mexico (FGR).

The PFM replaced the earlier Federal Investigations Agency (Agencia Federal de Investigación, AFI) after much of its force was transferred to the new Federal Police (PF).^[1]^[2] The Federal Investigations Agency itself had replaced the notoriously corrupt Federal Judicial Police (Policía Judicial Federal, PJF) by the presidential decree of former President Vicente Fox on November 1, 2001. In May 2008, the previous acting chief of the AFI, Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, was assassinated.

Federal Police (former)

Former headquarters of the now-dissolved Federal Police in Mexico City

The Federal Police (Policía Federal, PF) was the most prominent police force in Mexico. It was under the guidance of the Secretariat of the Interior (SEGOB), the PF was nominally a "preventive" police force with significant powers of investigation to prevent crime.

The PF replaced the Federal Preventive Police, which was created in 1999 combining several police forces into one, but lacking any investigative powers. When the PF was created a large number of investigators from the Federal Investigations Agency (AFI) were transferred and the AFI was replaced by the Ministerial Federal Police. In 2019, the PF was merged into part of the now reactivated National Guard.

Mexico City Police

Secretariat of Public Security of Mexico City officers with their cruiser

Mexico City police officers with riot gear

The Secretariat of Public Security of Mexico City (Secretaría de Seguridad Pública de la Ciudad de México – SSP), unlike the previous two, does not have national reach, but it does manage a combined force of over 90,000 ^{[citation needed]} officers stationed all over Mexico City. The SSP is charged with maintaining public order and safety all over Mexico City.

The investigative Judicial Police of Mexico City (Policía Judicial del ciudad de México – PJCM), are organized under the Office of the Attorney General of Mexico City (Procuraduría General de Justicia de la ciudad de México). The PGJDF maintains 16 precincts (delegaciones) with an estimated 3,500 judicial police, 1,100 investigating agents for prosecuting attorneys (agentes del ministerio público), and 941 experts or specialists (peritos).^{[citation needed]}

The principal police force of Mexico City is the Protection and Transit Directorate, also known as the Traffic Police, which consists of some 32,000 officers^{[citation needed]} organized into thirty-three precincts. It is the largest single law enforcement organization in Mexico.

The Bank and Industrial Police of the Ministry of Public Security of Mexico City provides specialized services for the protection, custody and supervision, not just banks and lending institutions, but also dependencies and pawnshops, among others.

Other

The Secretariat of Government (Secretaría de Gobernación) has immigration officers who, directed by the Mexican Immigration Service, have the right to detain suspected undocumented aliens and, under certain conditions, may deport them without formal deportation proceedings.

The Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit (Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público, Crédito) Customs officers are deployed at borders and at international airports to interdict contraband entering Mexico.

The Bank of Mexico (Banco de México) also operates its security division, which is charged with enforcing banking and monetary laws, including cases of counterfeiting, fraud, and money laundering.

State police

Police officers patrolling outside in Monterrey

Each of the country's thirty-one states maintains both preventive and judicial police called the State Judicial Police. State police are under the direction of the state's governor. The distinction between crimes investigated by State and Federal Judicial Police is not always clear. Most offenses come under the state authorities. Drug dealing, crimes against the government, and offences involving several jurisdictions are the responsibility of the federal police. The state-level preventive police forces are together perhaps 90,000-strong, and the state-level judicial police perhaps 25,000-strong.

State police (Spanish: Policia Estatal) forces operate from precinct stations, called delegaciones with each delegación having an average of 200 police officers attached to it. The ranking officer is known as a comandante, equivalent to a first captain in the military. Most of the remaining personnel hold the ranks of first sergeant, second sergeant, and corporal.

Municipal police

Traffic police officers and vehicles outside a municipal police station

Some of the municipalities of Mexico have their own preventive and municipal police forces (Policia Municipal), which are responsible for handling minor civil disturbances and traffic infractions. Of the 2,457 municipalities, 650 have no police forces. However, some of the municipal forces are large and important.

History

There have historically been multiple government departments with varying levels of responsibility for law enforcement, a situation criticized by experts who suggest that all their functions should be merged into the Public Security Ministry.^[3]

Private security

Private security and private police have grown significantly in Mexico into the 21st century, in response to perceived government failures to provide security. Mexico holds third place worldwide in the purchase of security equipment. Between 1998 and 1999, security companies increased some 40 percent. The Mexican government has had serious problems in regulating these companies, most of which are illegitimate since they lack the necessary legal permits. It was estimated in 1999 that about 10,000 private security firms operated in Mexico, yet only 2,000 had some form of official permit.

According to official figures in December 2000, there were 2,984 private security companies registered with 153,885 employees. The inability to regulate or control these forces creates a potential security problem. Since many of these companies are unregulated, some will engage in criminality instead of (or as a means of) protecting their clients, thus exacerbating the problem of insecurity. According to a study by the Mexico City legislative assembly, in 1998 there were more private security guards than police. A substantial number of private security guards were formerly police officers or presently work as security guards while off-duty; these dynamics increase the likelihood of police corruption.

References

^ Méndez, Alfredo (2009-11-12). "Ratifican a Nicandra Castro en la PFM". La Jornada (in Spanish).
^ Torres, Ruben (2009-11-11). "Ratifican a Nicandra Castro". El Economista (in Spanish).
^ "On the trail of the traffickers". The Economist. 2009-03-05. Retrieved 2009-03-07.

External links

Mexico City Public Safety

[1] Méndez, Alfredo (2009-11-12). "Ratifican a Nicandra Castro en la PFM". La Jornada (in Spanish).

[2] Torres, Ruben (2009-11-11). "Ratifican a Nicandra Castro". El Economista (in Spanish).

[Economist_5/3-3] "On the trail of the traffickers". The Economist. 2009-03-05. Retrieved 2009-03-07.

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