Shortage of police, a factor for continued impunity: IGI 2022

The Global Impunity Index (IGI) Mexico 2022 from the University of the Americas (UDLA) Puebla reveals that 18 of the 32 states have “high” to “very high” rates of impunity.

According to the third report on the matter, on a scale of zero to 100 points, the State of Mexico stands out as the one with the highest rate of impunity with 74.55; the second place corresponds to Baja California (69.84) and the third to Veracruz (65.56).

“Mexico needs to reduce its high levels of impunity and this requires building better institutional capacities.

“Throughout our different reports we have highlighted that both the federal government and the state authorities must invest in improving the capacities and functioning of their institutions, especially in the administration and administration of justice,” the report states.

Security elements

The measurement highlights that there is a deficit of approximately 42% of professional state police officers.

“This means that Mexico has just over half of the state preventive police that it should have, according to what is established by the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP) in what it calls the minimum national standard, which should be of 1.8 police officers evaluated per 1,000 inhabitants.

“However, the most recent data indicates that Mexico has only 0.9 police officers per 1,000 inhabitants, considering the purge of elements with a non-approval result in trust control.”

It also details that according to the figures of the National Census of State Public Security 2021, except for Mexico City, which has 3.5 police officers per 1,000 inhabitants, the 31 states of the Republic are below the national standard of state police officers evaluated.

“The actual status of the operational force is 130,500 state police officers. Mexico needs a state of real operational force of state police of, at least, 245,944 elements”, cites the document.

As part of the structural measurement of security, taking into consideration the operational personnel assigned to public security functions per 100,000 inhabitants, he adds, at the national level the figure dropped worryingly from 150.68 to 83.35 police officers.

Hence, the 10 states with the lowest number of elements assigned to public security functions are, in strict order, Veracruz (39.07 elements), State of Mexico (40.26), Yucatán (47.87), Puebla (48.53), Jalisco ( 52.68), Michoacán (59.93), Nuevo León (61.20), Querétaro (61.77), Durango (63.90) and Sinaloa (65.08).

Miscellaneous causes of scourge

After the formal presentation in the Senate of the last IGI-Mex by Juan Antonio Le Clercq Ortega, general coordinator of the Center for Studies on Impunity and Justice (Cesij) of UDLA Puebla, Azucena Chaìidez Montenegro explained that impunity is a multicausal and multidimensional chain. , and it cannot be understood solely as a crime that goes unpunished.

“Each gap in the path of security and justice promotes that crimes continue there without punishment,” said the director of the aforementioned center.

“If today we know that there are two Public Ministries (MP) for every 100,000 inhabitants, it is a huge problem. For every 1,000 crimes committed, there are 8 MPs to solve them. It is insufficient where we see it.

“There is no way for an MP to solve around 125 crimes because it is a lot of work; it’s not viable,” she summarized.

rolando.ramos@eleconomista.mx