Friday, May 1, 2009

Disconcerting

I have long believed that the much talked-about lack of firepower of Mexican police is a bit of a red herring, and that honesty is the essential commodity that is too often missing. After all, one doesn't see the FBI geared up like infantrymen, does one?

However, this piece of data is unsettling: according to the Secretariat of Public Security, local police in Mexico acquired only 2.2 percent of the quantity of weapons that the SSP deemed necessary in 2007. That decimal point is not an error. The states have access to a federal public security fund, 41 percent of which went unused. 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would you mind providing the URL or a link to your source: La Secretaria de Seguridad Publica...

I find this interesting and would like to read on it myself...

pc said...

Looking, looking...

If you want to poke around on their website too, here it is:

http://www.ssp.gob.mx/portalWebApp/appmanager/portal/desk?_nfpb=false

Of course, it may be that Excélsior had access to a hard copy and that there isn't one available on the web.

pc said...

Another possibility is in the first report listed on this page:

http://www3.diputados.gob.mx/camara/001_diputados/008_comisioneslx/001_ordinarias/042_vigilancia_de_la_auditoria_superior_de_la_federacion/012_unidad_de_evaluacion_y_control/001_lo_nuevo

I haven't had time to check out the data inside of it, but there is some spending info on each of the states starting on page 36. I imagine it is contained somewhere in there.