Last month, the mayor of Salamanca, Guanajuato, hired a private security company to bolster the city’s law enforcement capabilities amid an upsurge in violent crime.
The private security guards are carrying out similar duties to those of police including patrols of Salamanca’s streets and parks, but they are not armed.
State Governor Miguel Márquez said the state’s police force is unable to assign more officers to Salamanca due to security commitments in other areas.
However, he added that the Federal Police and the army have sent more personnel to the city, affirming that state police “have not been left alone.”
Márquez also said that between 250 and 300 new officers will soon graduate from the state’s policy academy.
Salamanca, located about 70 kilometers south of the capital, and several other Guanajuato municipalities are currently under state police control as part of the mando único (single command) security strategy.
The governor said that municipal authorities informed him that the private guards have been employed to work in close proximity with Salamanca residents. The guards must have passed confidence tests and the firm that employs them must have state authorization, he said.
Source: Mexico News Daily