02142015Sat
Last updateFri, 13 Feb 2015 3pm

Some crimes decreasing in Jalisco, latest stats indicate

There were fewer homicides, kidnappings and bank robberies in Jalisco in 2014, although reports of extortion increased. 

According to the National System of Public Security, the murder rate dropped from 15.49 for every 100,000 people in 2013 to 10.51 in 2014. 

Kidnappings also fell dramatically. In 2013, the rate for Jalisco was 0.89 for every 100,000 people; this was cut to 0.04 in 2014. Kidnapping, however, is heavily underreported, resulting in a gap between the reality and the official statistics that is known at the “cifra negra” (black number).

The number of bank robberies in Jalisco  dropped by 50 percent, from 136 in 2013 to 61 in 2014.

Extortion appears to have become the crime of choice for many gangs. The reported extortion rate in Jalisco was the fourth highest of 31 states, compared to 11th place the previous year. According to national statistics, Jalisco registered 7.92 complaints of extortion for every 100,000 citizens, although this figure would have been higher if all cases had been reported. 

In September, Jalisco Attorney General Luis Carlos Najera decried “the wave of telephone extortion directed at politicians, public officials and citizens.” Many of these threatening calls came from outside Jalisco, especially from the crime-ridden northern state of Tamaulipas,”  he said.

The discovery of 19 bodies in a mass grave in Tlajomulco last February was the local crime story that received the most national attention.

GR staff