Policing in Mexico

Policing in Mexico is divided between federal, state, and municipal police forces. Estimates range between 1,600 and 3,000 different police forces in total. There are over 350,000 police agents in Mexico.

Police forces in Mexico are normally poorly trained and paid, and perceptions of systemic corruption persist among the public. There is an increasing tendency towards militarisation of policing.

At all levels, policing in Mexico tends to maintain separate forces for patrol/response ("preventive") policing on the one hand and investigative ("judicial") policing on the other.

Federal Policing

The most respected Mexican police forces are those of the federal government.

The federal force for preventive policing is the Federal Preventive Police, which is an essentially military force. In May 2008, the acting chief officer of this force, Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, was assasinated.

The federal investigative force is the Federal Investigations Agency (AFI) which replaced the notoriously corrupt Federal Judicial Police ("Policía Judicial Federal" – PJF) by the presidential decree of Vicente Fox (2000-2006) on November 1, 2001. The AFI is not entirely free from corruption, but is less corrupt than other Mexican forces.

Federal District Policing

The Secretariat of Public Security of the Federal District (Secretaría de SeguridadPública del Distrito Federal – SSP), unlike the previous two, does not have nationalreach, but it does manage a combined force of over 90,000 officers in the Federal District(DF). The SSP is charged with maintaining public order and safety in the center ofMexico City.

The investigative Judicial Police of the Federal District ("Policía Judicial del Distrito Federal" – PJDF), are organized under the Office of the Attorney General of the DF (the Procuraduría General de Justicia del Distrito Federal). 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).

tates

The 31 states maintain both preventive and judicial police. The state-level preventive police forces are together perhaps 90,000-strong, and the state-level judicial police perhaps 25,000-strong.

Municipalities

Municipalities ("municipios") only have preventive police, but not all do. There are 2,395 municipalities; 335 have no police forces. However, some of the municipal forces are large and important.

Training

Since 2007, all senior police officers from state and federal forces must complete a common year-long training program. However, training at lower levels remains poor.

ee also

*Crime in Mexico