The loss of 2,500 police officers due to layoffs, voluntary losses and assassinations has weakened the municipal public security corporations of Guanajuato, which now face difficulties in building new generations of law enforcement agents, despite offering better salaries and benefits.
Data from the state government show that in Guanajuato, there are 973 municipal police officers in active service for every one million people (approximately 1 officier for every one thousand inhabitants), and the police force was reduced by one third in the 46 municipalities of the state during 2018.
Guanajuato concluded the most violent year in its history, in which organized crime expanded and diversified its illicit activities portfolio, predominating fuel theft, drug trafficking, kidnapping and theft of cargo transportation.
From January to November 2018 there were 2,367 intentional homicides, according to data from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP); In addition, there were 64 public security agents killed in the same period, an unprecedented number for the state of Guanajuato.
The lack of interest by citizens to become police officers has led municipal governments to multiply benefits, as in the case of Irapuato, where they support police agents with the purchase of vehicles, grant them access to private hospitals, give them two life insurance policies and even have a raffle of a piece of land where the winners can build their homes.
Despite the fact that Irapuato has the highest salaries, the municipal Public Security Secretariat has a workforce of 750 active members and the expectation is to reach at least one thousand in the next three years. Currently in the local police academy there are 36 cadets.
“The Single Command, created during the administration of Miguel Márquez Márquez and that was in force until December 31st, 2018; somehow blurred the police corporations in several municipalities, since in 16 cities throughout the state, agentes defected or were assigned to tasks unrelated to security,” acknowledged the PAN deputy José Guadalupe Vera Hernández, member of the State Security Council.
The legislator pointed out that before the deficit of municipal agents, the state government seeks to lure new police officers with a more attractive salary, at least 14 thousand pesos a month, and the possibility of earning up to 40 thousand as they rise in rank.
During the first week of December, at the presentation of the Military High School in Irapuato and León, the state governor, Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo, revealed that of the 8,500 municipal police agents the state had in 2012, there are only 5,700 left.
Rodríguez Vallejo said that the challenge of his government in security is to strengthen the municipal police force. Therefore, they will make an investment of 600 million pesos in equipment, protection, training and better salaries for municipal police agents.
Of the 46 municipalities in the state, Irapuato offers the best salaries, 15 thousand pesos a month; in contrast, in Cuerámaro, Huanímaro, Doctor Mora, Santa Catarina and Jaral del Progreso, municipal police agents receive between 4,500 and 4,900 pesos and don’t have social security.
The municipal president of Irapuato, Ricardo Ortiz (PAN), said that policemen from other corporations have come to Irapuato to sign up since they offer the most competitive salaries in the state and the income goes up according to the officers ranks.
Meanwhile, the city council of Leon announced that officials will review the scheme of recruitment of policemen with the purpose of reaching a base of 2,700 agents for the current administration (2018-2021).
Leon has 1,400 municipal officers and the goal is to achieve the training and hiring of 1,300 more. However, the data of the cadets in formation of the Metropolitan Academy was made public.
(Photo: eluniversal.com.mx)
The municipal police force was diminished by the dismissal of agents that failed the tests of control and confidence (pruebas de control y confianza), due to excessive pressure, long working hours and the killings of fellow officers.
From January to November 2018, 64 agents of the different Public Security agencies (including municipal police officers, criminal investigation agents and elements of the State Police Force) were killed in direct attacks, ambushes and even inside their own homes.
The figure for 2018 far exceeds that of 2017, when only 10 officers lost their lives in a violent manner, while in 2016, the number was 12.
On April 2018, the Congress of the state, in an effort to inhibit attacks on officers, raised the sentence to 60 years in prison for the murder of a municipal police officer, Public Security, law enforcement or investigating agents, judges and their family members.
SMT Newsroom with information from eluniversal.com.mx
