Confidence checks for local police forces still far behind schedule in 60% of Mexican states

*Updated May 6*
Guadalajara -
One of the hallmarks of Mexico's National Security Strategy, implemented by former president Calderón in December 2006, was the substitution of local police forces with federal military units in the war against drug traffickers and organized crime.

Reliance on troops was necessary because internal corruption in police departments, especially at the municipal level, had reached staggering proportions. Thousands were on criminal payrolls. Mexico has about 450,000 state and local officers, and now all must pass lie detectors and background checks (Weeding out corruption is daunting task in Mexico - polygraphs await half a million). The project has proceeded much slower than anticipated, but it's critical in a country where an average police salary is $300 dollars a month (Honesty checks for Mexican local, state police proceed at a snail's pace).

The verification process was scheduled to end Jan. 3. Any officer who had not been officially certified as fit to serve by that date was to be automatically dismissed under federal law. Mexico's congress was forced to extend the program for 10 months in December. Almost 300,000 officers have been tested since January 2009, but if the examination period had not been enlarged 150,000 would have been terminated at the beginning of this year. In addition to polygraphs and criminal record checks, police officers must submit to health, psychological, physical fitness and family history inquiries.

Yesterday Mexico's lower legislative body, the Cámara de Diputados, was told that only 40% of the country's 32 jurisdictions have completed the mandatory confidence checks. The deadline is Oct. 29.

In the states of Chihuahua and Quintana Roo - both among the most violent in the nation - 80% or more of local officers had not been verified as trustworthy by the end of February. Mexican Army commander: Cancún police department infiltrated by narcotics traffickers and organized crime.

In nine jurisdictions less than half of state and local police have passed confidence exams: Baja California Sur, Chiapas, Durango, State of México, Guerrero, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Yucatán.

President Enrique Peña Nieto has announced that he'll expand Mexico's Federal Police - who are also subject to confidence checks - by some 35,000, and create a national gendarmerie of 40,000 paramilitary units. The latter will be modeled after Colombia's and those used in several European countries. The new gendarmerie is expected to beef up security in rural areas which have been particularly hard hit by narcotics trafficking and organized crime. In December the administration submitted a proposed 2013 domestic security budget of $520 million dollars, up 47% from 2012.

Apr. 4 - Mexico's Common Cause reports that only 10% of Quintana Roo's 7,280 municipal and state police officers have been subjected to confidence checks. In Sinaloa, which has 7,200 policemen but needs to increase that number to almost 10,000, the state congress has lowered the minimum age for employment from 21 to 18. Legislators there are concerned that as many as 3,000 officers whose confidence checks yielded cause for concern may have to be dismissed.

May 6 - This graphic reveals how many city police officers have been evaluated and rejected as unfit for service in every Mexican state, both by absolute numbers and percentages. Some states have scarcely begun testing, even though the nationwide process began more than four years ago and must be completed by October. Yucatán and Quintana Roo both rank low on the list for dismissal of corrupt officers - primarily because they've checked out far fewer officers than most of the states.

Federal Police ran international drug trafficking ring out of Mexico City International Airport
Aug. 19 - Federal Police reassign hundreds of Mexico City airport officers to weed out corruption
July 15 - Mexican federal cop killer arrested
June 28 - Mexico offers $5 million pesos for "traitor agents" in slaying of three fellow officers
June 27 - "Narco Feds" operating out of Mexico City airport sent drugs to U.S., Europe
June 25 - Three dead in Mexico City International Airport shooting

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