The mandate of Claudia Sheinbaum started and alongside the president of Mexico are a series of personalities from Mexican politics with whom she will coordinate the course of the country in the next six years. To the surprise of many – or not so much -, the leader of the Executive appointed Omar GarcÃa Harfuch as holder of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC).
It was the night of September 30 when The official assumed his new federal position and consolidated himself again as the president’s right hand in one of the issues that most afflicts Mexico: public safety.
And, during her tenure as head of government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum coordinated multiple activities with Omar GarcÃa Harfuchwho then served as Secretary of Citizen Security.
On several occasions, the president highlighted that thanks to this collaboration high-impact crimes were reduced in the Mexican capital and increased the perception of security among citizens. The challenge now is to take those same successes to the federal level.
The security strategy of Claudia Sheinbaum’s six-year term
From the presidential debates to her inauguration, Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum aired the strategy that his government will continue to pacify the country.
These ideas were formalized on October 8, 2024 when during the Mañanera del Pueblo, the now head of the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) reported the four axes that will be followed:
1) Attention to the causes
2) Consolidation of the National Guard
3) Strengthening Intelligence and Research
4) Absolute coordination in the Security Cabinet and with the Federal Entities
From his work at the head of the Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSC), Omar GarcÃa Harfuch opted for police intelligence as one of the axes of its strategy. However, it also added the vindication of the trust of citizens in the police as well as the support so that they fulfilled the commitment in the institution.
These factors could be key to a structural change in the police schemes of the country, a factor little explored in security strategies of previous administrations.
Security, police and current panorama
During the first days of 2024, data from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP) and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) indicated that, in five years of the Fourth Transformation government, Intentional homicide in Mexico fell by 20%.
Although the decrease in the incidence of high-impact crimes is a result that Andrés Manuel López Obrador held during your traditional morning conferences, one of the adverse consequences of your security strategy could be located in the number of police officers killed that were registered in the country.
According to data from the civil organization, Common Cause, From December 1, 2018 until September 30, 2024, they added, at least, 2,456 police homicides in Mexico.
The figure could be translated into institutional weakness that permeates different state security forceswhich becomes a great problem when considering the sophistication and expansion that criminal organizations have achieved in recent years.
During the six-year term of the former president @lopezobrador_ We recorded at least 2,456 murdered police officers. An average of 1 each day.
And so far in 2024 we have counted 233 cases.
So far in the six-year term of @Claudiashein (from October 1 to 3, 2024), we register, at least,… pic.twitter.com/Cpsanh1dli— Common Cause (@causaencomun) October 4, 2024
Although the problem of public safety is multifactorialhe strengthening and changes within the agencies in charge of protecting citizens appear as an element that The current government could consider it as a tool that turned out to be successful in the Mexican capital.
Municipal Police or Metropolitan Police
The police represent one of the main tools with which the State seeks to guarantee the security of citizens. In an article by Iztapalapa Magazine of Social Sciences and Humanities published by the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM) indicates that, despite the fact that federal and state authorities have carried out numerous reforms hoping to improve police performance, there is a clear gap between the sustained growth of crimethe responses of the security forces and unforeseen consequences.
​A clear example of this are the municipal policeof which their institutional weakness and police response have been questioned on more than one occasion, in addition to being the ones that they accumulate a greater number of murdered elementsaccording to Common Cause.
“The functioning of the municipal police in almost the entire country is very limited, It is very poor, with few results. It seems that we must evolve, the scheme we have for municipal police is copied from the American model and is dysfunctional completely. It seems to me that this public security function should be withdrawn from municipalities as they do not have the resources, training and legal instruments to confront macro crime groups like those in Mexico,” he indicated. David Saucedopublic security analyst in interview with MILLENNIUM.
With this precedent, the public security expert considered it a viable option in the country change municipal police forces to metropolitan police forcesa model that has been applied both in Mexico City and in the metropolitan area of ​​Altamira-Tampico-Ciudad Madero in Tamaulipas at the beginning of the 2000s.
“While institutional aspects can be important in reducing crime, also the socioeconomic characteristics and good determination and security budget allocation “must be taken care of so that in a comprehensive manner there is congruence between the different ways to reduce crime,” reads part of the article. Intermunicipal Agreements: The effect of the Metropolitan Police on the Almatam metropolitan area published in Volume XX of Management and Public Policy of the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE).
In addition to the change in the police scheme, the aforementioned article also points out a increase in law enforcementimprovements in equipment and infrastructure, human resources professionalization and means that increase the probability of arrest, sentence and fulfillment of sentences marked by law as measures that can be implemented to reduce crimes.
And the National Guard?
The creation of the National guard During the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador it was one of the decisions that earned him the most criticism. However, it was also considered by some as atrue in terms of security.
“In part, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s strategy of removing resources from state and municipal police goes in the direction of creating a great National Guard (…) it seems difficult to me that municipalities can apply their public security responsibilities, but I think so it can sensibly evolve to a Single State Police scheme like the one that exists in Mexico City, which has proven its effectiveness,” said analyst David Saucedo in an interview with MILLENNIUM.
With the arrival of Claudia Sheinbaum to the presidency and based on the strategy presented by Omar GarcÃa Harfuchthe National Guard is poised to become the main federal security body in the countryHowever, the public security expert acknowledged that there is still much to polish within the functions that have been assigned to him.
Currently, the agency created during the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador does not carry out intelligence tasks and is limited only to doing tactical-operational deployments of territorial presence, whether routine patrols or the support they provide to other institutions such as, for example, the Armed Forces.
“What we have is a dysfunctional scheme that it will take five or six years to acquire these investigative capabilities to train experts, investigation agents, forensic anthropologists and all these elements that the National Guard does not have and that it will take some time to train academically and have experience in the field,” said the public security analyst.
The strategies and police schemes implemented in Mexico have had a series of successes and errors that the next government in power must apprehend to consolidate its own project, however, coordination, cooperation and exchange of information between the three powers of the Union and the three levels of government also appear as an essential condition for ensure public safety, a challenge that Omar GarcÃa Harfuch and Claudia Sheinbaum face.
ATJ
