Whitney Eulich: Can Reforms Change Mexico's Corrupt Police Culture? Whitney Eulich - The Christian Science Monitor
go to original December 7, 2014

Mexico's president promises to overhaul the nation's police forces after officers were accused of the suspected massacre of 43 students. Paul Chapman reports. (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Neito was in Guerrero last week for the first time since 43 students were kidnapped and likely murdered there more than two months ago.

Farther north, in Mexico’s capital, Congress spent the week debating security reforms, including a provision that would replace the most corrupt local police forces – like those brazenly involved with the students' disappearances – with ones under state control.

The reforms, part of a 10-point plan recently announced by President Enrique Peña Nieto, were in response to the Iguala case in Guerrero state, which displayed such extreme levels of corruption that demonstrations against the government have swept the nation for more than two months.

But the decision to move toward a “mando único,” or single police command, is coming under scrutiny in a country where corruption has been found at all levels of the police.  Some say professional standards for all police must rise, as opposed to simply changing jurisdiction, while others advocate focusing more on the justice system and putting a dent in high rates of impunity.

The concern is not limited to Mexico.

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