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Posts Tagged ‘corruption’

Mexico Continues to Struggle with Violence

1:25 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · mexico · Comments Off

1 Oct 2008

In another attempt to deal with the ever increasing drug related violence in Mexico, Mexican president Felipe Calderon, is campaigning to create a “department to monitor and tackle corruption among Mexican police.”

In Mexico, cops watch the cops

6:04 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · crime| mexico| society · Comments Off

19 Jul 2007

In Mexico City, a bribe paid to a cop can get you out of the stickiest situations. But local government is looking to change all that by keeping an eye on police who blackmail motorists into coughing up the cash. A tough job indeed, but the tactics being employed are even more curious: they are paying cops to keep an eye on cops:

For 100 days, inspectors from local police will make sure that police behave with honorable conduct in the streets when ticketing traffic violations, and that they don’t ask for nor accept “mordidas” (bribes).

It’s a case of good cop, bad cop. But who’s to say that a good cop won’t go bad? I’ve said before that one of the reasons why corruption exists in the Mexico City police force is the incredibly low salary (between 400 to 500 USD per month). They get paid so little that it’s awfully cheap to make them go bad.

A testament to that is the fact that this program says it will reward “good cops” with boxes of food and a shot at a promotion.

Via / Diario de Yucatan

Image via Ed Fladung’s Flickr page

Mexico: Corruption = poverty

9:36 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · mexico| society · Comments Off

6 Jul 2007

The practice of “la mordida” — the bribe — is as much a part of Mexican culture as tequila and tortillas. To get by, one makes no bones about slipping that cop a 20 peso bill to let you off for a minor traffic violation. After all, that’s why he stopped you in the first place. And while bribes and corruption seem in and of themselves bad enough, one expert says they are to blame for poverty and lack of economic growth in Mexico:

The culture of tolerance of “mordidas”, bribes and extortion maintains the country in poverty and makes it lose growth and investment opportunities. Families with the lowest income are the ones that feel it the most, and spend up to a quarter of their salaries on bribes when attempting to get goods or services from the State.

Literature lessons for cops in Mexico

12:08 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Culture| Education| literature| mexico · Comments Off

27 Oct 2006

Mexico City police officers are infamous for their laissez-faire attitude towards crime (some call it lazi-ness) their corruption (I once got out of being taken in by feeding this corruption myself and giving the officer what he asked for: “dos pesos pa’ un chesco”) and their overall “lack of culture”.

With officers earning about 400 USD per month, it’s easy to see why money for a Coke might be more worth their time than taking me down to the station or running after some thief. And with that salary, I probably wouldn’t be taking any trips to the symphony or the ballet myself.

The police force of Ciudad Neza – perhaps Mexico D.F.’s most infamous suburb — wants to change all that. And the first step that they are taking is to make their officers read and write, through a program called “Literatura Siempre Alerta”:

“The principle is that a police officer who is cultured is in a better position to be a better police officer,” says José Jorge Amador, Nezahualcoyotl’s head of public security.

The experiment began early in 2005 with reading and writing classes. It has since mushroomed into an entire literature course with its own constantly expanding editorial series, called Literature On Alert. All the 1,200 officers of the municipal force are now required to attend fortnightly book groups – while off duty – if they are to have any hope of promotion.

VivirLatino

Posts Tagged ‘corruption’

Mexico Continues to Struggle with Violence

In Mexico, cops watch the cops

Mexico: Corruption = poverty

Literature lessons for cops in Mexico

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