All 125 municipal police forces in Jalisco would be placed under centralized state control if sweeping constitutional reforms proposed by President Enrique Peña Nieto last week get the approval of Congress.
The move comes at a time when the president’s popularity has plummeted to an all-time-low, a result of the disappearance of 43 students two months ago, a scandal that has provoked nationwide protests at his government’s inability to tackle crime, corruption and impunity.
Peña Nieto said his proposal – which he sent to Congress Monday – will eventually see all of Mexico’s 2,445 municipalities placed under the control of 32 “trustworthy, efficient and professional” state police corporations.
The president did not make it clear whether municipal police officers would be rehired by states or whether they would be replaced.
The states of Jalisco, Michoacan, Guerrero and Tamaulipas will be the first to implement the reforms, Peña Nieto said.
Recent measures such as the setting up of an elite task force (Fuerza Unica) to “strengthen” Jalisco’s public security response was a major factor in the president’s decision to make this state one of the first to introduce the “Mando Unico” (single command) model, Governor Aristoteles Sandoval remarked immediately after Peña Nieto’s announcement. He said the reforms represented “a complete paradigm change.”
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