This article was written by Marcela Figueroa Franco, Undersecretary of Institutional Development, Secretariat of Citizen’s Security, with support from MarĂa Fernanda Sánchez Montero in the Office of External Affairs, Mexico City government.
In Mexico City, under the lead of Mayor Claudia Sheimbaum Pardo, there is an integrated strategy for peace building, based on four core pillars: attention to the cause of violence and insecurity; improving capacities to investigate and use police intelligence; professionalisation of the police corp; and improving coordination across all policy and justice departments. With this new approach, security has improved substantially in the city. In three years homicides have decreased by 56% (in relation to 2018 with the previous administration), high-impact crime decreased by 53% and the perception of security among the people living in Mexico City increased.
For the Government of Mexico City, citizen’s security requires an integrated, multifactorial approach with interventions from all government departments, not only the police responding to criminal incidents. A reactive police response to crime is not effective in eradicating violence in the long term, and it has a very high cost for citizens in terms of collateral damage and unjustified police activity. There are four core anchors of the security strategy in Mexico City:
1. Attention to the cause of crime and violence
Attention to social inequality is essential to any strategy to guarantee security. The social movement that led to the election of Mayor Sheinbaum has placed the emphasis on guaranteeing people’s rights: a society that guarantees citizens access to education, health services, decent work, housing, arts, and culture for all is a society addressing the root causes of violence.
For almost four years, we have developed a comprehensive strategy to expand quality social programmes, especially designed to reach marginal communities. Today, 1.2 million children attending a public school have a monthly scholarship, from preschool to middle education. There are programmes specifically designed to reach young people at risk of falling into circles of violence. Strategies such as Cease Fire, Barrio Adentro, or Reconnect with Peace are programmes where policy officers collaborate with all of their areas of the government to expand the opportunities of people in highly marginalised areas. To do this they have introduced education and job programmes, recreational activities, and created sports and cultural spaces. Additionally, they have attacked social problems such as gender and family violence, addictions, and incidences of young non-violent offenders through mental health programmes.
2. Intelligence and investigation
In December 2019, Congress in Mexico City approved a legal reform sent by the Mayor to grant intelligence and investigation attributes to the Police Department (the Secretary of Citizen’s Security is its legal name). In the past, the Police Department did not have Intelligence attributes, posing a serious limitation to their capacity to identify individuals and organised groups involved in criminal activities. With better intelligence, the Secretary of Citizen’s Security has been able to disarticulate organised crime and individuals generating violence in the city.
Today, the police have an Under-Secretary of Intelligence and Investigation who produces relevant information reinforcing police activities and crime prevention. Today the city has a wealth of solid investigations and police files, leading to the arrest of criminals and weakening the most important criminal organisations operating in the city. This new strategy has made a significant contribution to reducing the level of violence, and has helped produce the lowest rate of homicides in history since systematic statistics of criminal incidence started in the country in 1997.
3. Police development (more and better police)
Professionalisation of police and decent working conditions for the women and men in uniform are the basis of a good police corp. In the past four years, the City Mayor has increased the budget for improving equipment, police cars and tools in order to offer dignified material conditions to perform their work.
Most importantly, the city government is implementing a comprehensive plan for the professionalisation of police, laying the foundations to guarantee a police career based on merit, eradicating corruption within the corporation, and improving the conditions of police personnel.
For three consecutive years all police personnel have received a 9% increase in their annual salary for an accumulated salary increase of 45% between 2018 and 2022. For the first time there is open competition for career promotions and we introduced a well-established system of incentives, awards, and decorations to recognise merit. From no police certification in 2018 to today, nearly 90% of police officers have been certified in their preparation and skills through an unprecedented investment in the Police University, and the introduction of human-rights and gender perspective training in all police career processes.
To date, there are a greater number of policewomen–historically discriminated against and made invisible in the institution–and there is a policy of zero tolerance for violence and discrimination against women in the police force.
We are making sure citizens have the police corps that they want for a safe and secure city; better paid, better trained, better supervised, certified, and equipped with opportunities for growth within the institution.
4. Coordination
As obvious as it is, coordination among police and security institutions is one of the most challenging tasks in any context. Mexico City is no exception. Autonomy of security and enforcement institutions are essential for transparency in the procurement of justice. Autonomy, however, does not mean silo management of responsibilities. The only way to improve security and crime prevention is making sure there is proper coordination for effective delivery of results.
In Mexico City, by constitutional mandate, the Mayor is the person responsible for security and has the authority to act as a single command for all security enforcement institutions. For almost four years now, Mayor Sheinbaum has held daily sessions (Monday through Sunday) of the security cabinet, ensuring proper coordination of activities among the Secretary of Citizen Security, the Office of the Attorney General, the Superior Court of Justice, and federal law enforcement institutions with operations in the city, such as the National Guard.
The daily work of the security cabinet has been most effective in identifying security priorities, exchanging information (as allowed by current laws), following-up on high-impact criminal activity, and coordination of operations.
Coordination, when needed, includes the transfer of technical capacities, and specialised training across institutions with the sole objective of improving effectiveness to guarantee security and justice for the people.
Final words
The Secretary of Citizen’s Security, Omar GarcĂa-Harfuch, has a saying, “we have made much progress but there is still a long way to go”. Improving the institutional operations of law enforcement institutions after years of abandonment, is one of our greatest challenges. The decrease of violence and crime in the city, as shown by statistics, confirms the effectiveness of the strategy adopted. We will continue working to gain the trust of people in their police through better trained and professionalised police officers, proper coordination and better results for the construction of a city in peace and prosperity.
All information found in the article is part of the IV Report to Congress of Mayor Sheinbaum and can be consulted here.
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