Protecting and Serving, Poorly

In a question-and-answer session before Congress yesterday, Felipe Calderón affirmed that more than half of the federal, state, and local police were "not recommendable," whether for corruption, criminal antecedents, lack of training, or other disqualifiers. Interestingly, Zacatecas (71 percent) and San Luis Potosí (65 percent), neither of which has a tremendous drug violence problem, were first and third, respectively, on the list of states with highest rate of unqualified cops. According to the president, Coahuila is second, with 69 percent failing to make the grade, which brought a swift refutation from the chief of the State Police.