http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/international/americas/05mexico.html
Corruption Hampers Mexican Police in Border Drug War By GINGER THOMPSON Published: July 5, 2005 MATAMOROS, Mexico - A crooked cop is the oldest story in the book in Mexico. But this country has been forced to re-examine its police as it struggles against a devastating crime wave that in the last six months has taken more than 600 lives. At least half those killings have happened in the six Mexican states along the border with the United States, where drug traffickers fighting for control of lucrative drug routes empty their automatic weapons on busy streets in the light of day. Lawlessness has become so brazen, and impunity so complete, that experts on the illegal drug trade have begun comparing northern Mexico to Colombia, where powerful cartels took over large parts of the country by corrupting or killing police officers, politicians, journalists and judges. Killings and kidnappings happen almost every day in the city of Nuevo Laredo, about 150 miles north of this small town. Matamoros is quiet in comparison. The most common crime here these days, the police say, is robbery. But as recently as three years ago, this, too, was a capital of the drug war. People on the street said they are afraid that it could become one again. And here, like Colombia, society's first line of defense against the chaos - the municipal police - has proved to be its weakest. "Law enforcement in Mexico is all too often part of the problem rather than part of the solution," said Anthony P. Placido, the acting assistant administrator for intelligence at the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, in a recent appearance before Congress. "This is particularly true at the municipal and state levels of government." Interviews with four municipal police officers in this city of 500,000 people across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Tex., offer a glimpse inside a reality as harsh and persistent as Mexico's blazing summer sun. The officers - a shift commander, two squad leaders and a recent graduate of the police academy - were chosen by the minister of public security, Rubén González Chapa, to be interviewed for this article. Then Mr. González allowed each officer to be interviewed alone, on the condition that they not be identified because he did not want to jeopardize their standing among their superiors and colleagues. Not one of the officers denied that there were abuses and corruption in their ranks. They described officers taking bribes from drunks and prostitutes and accepting gifts from businessmen and residents for providing extra surveillance around their properties. One of the squad leaders acknowledged carrying an unauthorized automatic pistol, rather than the revolver that was assigned to him. And the other acknowledged that sometimes he loses his temper and beats up suspects before bringing them to the station. "I would feel ashamed to beat up a drunk," one of the squad leaders said. "But a thief, a murderer or a rapist, I have to admit, I am very tough with them." When asked, however, about the more egregious accusations by Mexican and United States officials that municipal police often serve as lookouts and hit men for the drug traffickers, the officers typically retreated into vague generalities. What they offered instead of the ugly details about police misdeeds was a look at where the abuses are born, describing a place sorely lacking incentives, not to mention basic equipment to uphold the law, and filled with humiliations that left many officers feeling loyal to no one but themselves. Money was the officers' biggest complaint. The starting salary for the typical municipal police officer is less than $350 a month, better than a factory worker but less than the average cab driver. They get only basic medical treatment if they get hurt on the job. And their families get just enough to bury them, less than $6,000, if they are killed on duty. If the officers want equipment that works - a vest that stops automatic machine-gun fire or handcuffs that cannot be ripped apart - they have to buy their own. One of the squad leaders interviewed described how he and the three colleagues pooled their money to install air-conditioning in their patrol car so they could withstand the city's 110-degree temperatures. And he said he switched his cellphone service from month to month, depending on which company offered him the best rate per minute. -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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