There Needs to Be Less of These Reports

Ten Federal Police troops have been arrested in Juárez for extorting protection payments from local businessmen. This is awful and probably not particularly uncommon stuff. The officers were arrested after being denounced by the locals from whom they'd been extracting the cash, which serves as an obvious example of the importance of the cooperation of the civilian population in improving security. One thing I've heard from people who've been wronged by police is that they fear making an official complaint, because it would make them a target for retaliation, and they have little confidence it would bear any fruit. I'm not sure if publicizing more of this sort of news would allay those fears, but the government should always be encouraging more participation from citizens.