Mexican Law Enforcement
...Mexico, not only in law enforcement but in politics, government, business and social interaction, has tragically destroyed trust between people and their leaders. Law Enforcement, in any country typically acts as the most common method by which a citizen will encounter the government. Ideally, police are expected to serve and protect, but when corruption becomes more prevalent than serving and protecting, vigilantism runs rampant. This paper will explore the types of police in Mexico and their duties. This paper will also examine the challenges law enforcement faces and the importance of eliminating widespread police corruption.
Functionally, there are two types of police in Mexico: Judicial Police (policia judicial) and Preventative Police (policia preventiva). Preventative police are comparable to common street officers in the United States. The primary duty of the policia preventiva is to maintain order and public security. The policia judicial is primarily responsible for investigating crimes and the actual enforcement of either federal or local law. "It is safe to say there are more than 350,000 police officers in the country and about 3,000 different forces at municipal, state and federal levels" (Reames 2).
Federally, there are three predominant law enforcement agencies that represent both the preventative and judicial police in Mexico. The first is the Federal Agency of Investigation (Agencia Federal de Investigaciones), second is the Federal Preventive Police (Policia Federal Preventiva), and the third the Secretariat of Public Security of the Federal District (Secretaria de Seguridad Publica del Distrito Federal). The Federal Agency of Investigation is Mexico's equivalent to the FBI. It was created to deal with drug and corruption problems in Mexico and problems beyond the capabilities of local police forces. The Federal Preventive Police was created...
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