This stuff always sucks to hear about, but is the reality of this drug war. In the market of force, the police are every bit a part of that mechanism. If the states or government cannot pay more than the cartels, or at least provide a living wage to their police force, well then the decision for poorly paid cops is pretty simple.
Couple that with this Plomo O Plata concept. The cartels do pose a threat to these officers and their families, and I am sure the cartel’s intelligence apparatus is able to find out where the cops live no problem. And when they get a hold of them, the cartels usually torture them, kill them, and mutilate the body to send a message. Some message, huh?
I will say this again, the way to deal with these cartels is to create an industry out of capturing or killing them (preferably capture them, so you can find more of the scum and their loot through interrogations). The government could start issuing Letters of Marque (LoM) to companies and individuals world wide (or just North America) who could profit off the destruction of cartels. They would allow these companies and individuals to capture folks for the bounty (Mexico would fund this and possibly tap into Rewards For Justice) , and take their assets through a Prize Court system.
The state would also get their cut, and if any of the companies and individuals who were issued an LoM steps out of line based on the terms of that LoM, you put them on the list of most wanted and turn the industry on them. lol With any luck the industry would dry up within a couple of years, and LoM’s would then reach their expiration date, just like how it worked for hundreds of years pre-Declaration of Paris. –Matt
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Aug. 7: Federal police officers beat fellow police inspector Salomón Alarcón Olvera, aka “El Chaman” after accusing him of being linked to drug cartels and having participated in kidnappings, executions and extortions in Ciudad Juarez, northern Mexico.
4 Mexican federal police commanders suspended following complaints of corruption, drug links
August 07, 2010
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Four federal police commanders have been suspended from their posts in a violent Mexican border city following allegations from subordinates that they have links to drug traffickers.
The action by the Public Safety Department comes just hours after 200 federal police officers detained one of their superiors at gunpoint, alleging that he had connections to drug cartels and had participated in kidnappings, killings and extortion.
The Department said in a statement late Saturday that the commander held by officers earlier in the day was transferred to Mexico City along with three other officials. All will be investigated for “possible irregular conduct.”
The four worked in Ciudad Juarez, a city across from El Paso, Texas, plagued by drug-related violence.
Story here.
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Mexico: Cartels Pay Corrupt Cops $100 Million a Month
August 9, 2010
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – Mexican authorities said at a forum that drug-trafficking gangs pay around 1.27 billion pesos (some $100 million) a month in bribes to municipal police officers nationwide
Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna said that figure was calculated based on perceptions of municipal officers themselves and an analysis of a list of cops recruited by the cartels that was found during a police operation.
“Organized crime pays some 1.27 billion pesos a month to municipal police, because that’s the portion of the salary the government does not pay the officers so they can live with dignity,” the high-ranking official said Friday.