WOLA Briefing Paper - Reforming the Ranks: Drug-Related Violence and the Need for Police Reform in Mexico
1 August 2007
WOLA Briefing, July 2007. Mexico's accelerating drug violence has highlighted the limits of police effectiveness and the problems of police corruption. At least 1,400 people have died in attacks since January 2007, figures that far exceed those for the same period in 2006 and 2005. The Calderón government has been quick to call out troops but slow to start the necessary process of professionalizing police forces. Long-term remedies to drug-related violence require strong, accountable police forces - with the support and trust of the civilian population.