Vetting

From Under the Volcano, Reforma reported a couple of weeks ago that the much-heralded vetting programs for Mexico's cops are not being utilized, with only 22 percent of the nation's police having been submitted to such controls. The group with the highest proportion of vetted cops are the federales, with 49 percent. The number drops to 34 percent with the municipal cops, and 8 percent with the state police.

This is another example of a high-minded idea being undermined by a subsequent lack of will at the level of implementation. Increased vetting and monitoring of cops would be a great thing, and could be an important part of a safer Mexico, but not if no one is actually making sure that the improvements mandated from the top are actually installed at the bottom. I had a similar reaction to the judicial reform in 2008: it's all well and good, but it doesn't mean that the hundreds of thousands of security officials in Mexico are all going to be working toward a common goal. I don't know what the answer to this problem is, other than a lot of patience and persistence.