Opinion Archive

What to Make of Mexico's Security Dysfunction

August 6, 2008

This past week saw major changes at the office of the Attorney General, signalling the Calderón regime's frustatration with its own efforts to combat crime. Meanwhile, violence continues unabated in many communities throughout the country. Most of Mexico is still safer than the world assumes, but that does not mean that what is happening is not unacceptable. As it turns out, it is also unnecessary. But the Mexican governing class needs a "paradim shift" in its approach to security. It needs to shun the "preventive police" model, which separates investigation policing and ignores intelligence.

Narcoviolence, which tends to be incestuous, and other types of crime, which affects society at large, intersect in two ways. First, narcotraffickers corrupt what are weak institutions with the "silver or lead" business model. This opens the way for criminals to establish "businesses" based on extorsion, kidnapping, etc. This "spillover effect" intensifies when government crackdowns disrupt the business. Hardened, well-armed criminals venture into the "soft underbelly" of society - its unarmed citizens. This is what is happening today.

Second, it becomes a part of the anti-social behavior that Mexicans are all-too-complacent about. Graffiti and other forms of public vandalism, as well as public demonstrations, add to the perception of lawlessness.

What part of "control" do you not understand?

Public security is all about control, which is related to political will. Americans have understood this for years. It is why adjacent neighborhoods in that country are radically different in terms of security. The University of Chicago, for example, has traditionally prided itself in having the largest non-governmental security force outside of the Vatican. The U of C is in the dangerous South side of Chicago and their message is clear: once you cross into our territory, the political will exists to do everything necessary to keep you from hurting people. There is effective "control" over a specific territory. The political will does not exist on the other side of the road, so there is much more crime.

Some have tried to suggest that this has been an example of the "establishment" not caring for those on the "wrong side of the tracks". The truth is that, whatever the economic situation, criminality thrives where people just "look after their own", without caring for their community. This is what happens in Mexico. People solve (or pretend to solve) their security problems at the family level, but by opting out of real solutions (hiring bodyguards, etc.), they contribute to the problem in the long run.

To really fight the drug war, this column has argued in favor of a binational police force made up of Mexican-Americans with dual nationality and a separate, binational, judicial system, paid for according to each country's GDP. The idea would be to sever the narcotraffickers' relations with Mexico's overwhelmed system of justice, giving the country's beleaguered institutions a chance. But, independent of the lack of imagination and boldness on behalf of both our governments, at the very least, if you're going to fight a dirty war, you need intelligence... and a plan.

For the last 14 years, since the beginning of the Zedillo administration, Mexico's government has relied on the "brute force" model of law enforcement. This has meant that the beleaguered "preventive" police, and now the military, are constantly reacting to violence by simply moving into an area. This modus operandi has cost thousands of public servants their lives. What is needed is a coordinated, stealth, approach, based on intelligence, that establishes control over a specific territory before moving on to another territory. Our security apparatus needs to investigate in secret, move in quickly with deadly and effective force, establish control, and not leave the area before leaving clean local institutions that can "hold" their positions. Only then should they move on to the next crime-ridden community.

Whether one is talking about Iraq after the "surge", the Johannesburg business district post-Apartheid, New York in the 1990s, or Bogotá in the 2000s, success against crime is measured one street at a time. In the long run, it is about monitoring and community outreach programs that maintain police presence.

Mexico lacks even a basic system for identifying its citizens, so criminals are able to use multiple names to skirt the law. When high-level security meetings take place in Mexican border cities, they do so on the US side. This is because the border provides a control mechanism that guarantees the participant's personal safety. The US visa system acts as an effective identification system, proving that security is not "rocket science", but simply a result of vigorous application of basic rules. There are too many international success stories for the Mexican government to keep feigning ignorance: intelligence and control need to be our rallying cry.

For the latest thought-provoking article by Agustin Barrios Gomez please go to our Opinion Column page

Return to top