Police Chiefs in 25 States Who Failed Tests of Trustworthiness Continue On the Job Arturo Angel - Animal Politico
go to original January 26, 2016

In March, 2014, striking Mexican police fought other officers in Villahermosa (ODN)

On January 11, five young people returning from a Veracruz beach vacation were stopped by a group of state police officers. That was the last time they were ever seen, and seven officers were arrested and remanded for forced disappearance.

But what did the officers have in common aside from their uniform? That four of them had not passed trustworthiness control tests, including their boss, Chief Marco Conde Hernandez, in charge of coordinating state police in the Tierra Blanca zone. By law, said officers should not have been working, but the reality is very different.

Official data, updated by the National Public Security System and reviewed by Animal Político, shows there are senior police officers in 25 states, line managers in charge of one or more officers, still working despite not having passed the evaluations. Veracruz, Jalisco, Zacatecas, Sinaloa and Michoacan are the states with the highest proportion of untrustworthy officers in charge: at least 30% of all public security chiefs have not passed the exams.

Aside from the chiefs, all states have officers in their ranks working the streets despite having failed the trustworthiness controls. In this respect, Veracruz has the largest proportion: one of every three officers in untrustworthy.

That data corresponds to state officers, that is, officers controlled directly by the states and not municipal police. The current federal administration, and the states, have stressed the importance that all public safety come under state control [replacing municipal police with a single police command], as a step towards having more efficient and trustworthy police officers.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Translated by Ruby Izar-Shea

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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