Tamaulipas, a State with few Police

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from an El Debate article

Subject Matter: Policing in Tamaulipas and or the lack of it
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

In one of the most violent States in the country with allegedly 2000 officers every year, however only 30% of those pass the polygraph test, and because of that they are seeking candidates in other States in the country.

The narco violence in the State and the rigorousness of the confidence exams has impacting the recruitment of new aspirants in the Tamaulipas Police, where there is a deficit of 7300 State elements

Actually the Tamaulipas Force in in charge of security in the 43 towns, with 2700 accredited police officers, and the support of the Army and the Marines under the Mando Unico.

"We are working to have our own police, and the State requires 10000 elements to Police the number of habitants, today we have 2700, it is a titanic job, but possible", said the governor Francisco Javier Garcia Cabeza de Vaca in pronouncing the permanence of the military forces in his State, in all that he doesn't have the number needed. (Otis: its fairly clear now why CdG can shut down the whole city of Reynosa, in one night without much effort).

To achieve the necessary levels, the State authorities plan on recruiting 2000 accredited police every year, however the principal problem is recruiting suitable candidates.

The Secretary of Public Security, Luis Felipe Lopez Castro, admitted the difficulty is them passing the control and confidence exams, that include a polygraph test, psychological profiling and toxicology reports. "There exists a rigour in the control and confidence exams, and from the toxicology reports, there have been users of non authorised drugs, as well as poor polygraph examinations. The psychological examinations permit us to know if an individual can show the propensity we need and the rectitude that we want within this body".

According to the statistics, there are many aspirants that seek to join the State Police, but only 30% of them pass the tests.

The government of Tamaulipas has extended its search to other States, while the majority of aspirants come from Tamaulipas, Mexico City, State of Mexico, Chiapas, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz and Puebla.

The rector of the University of Security and Justice, Gabriel Reyes Galvan recounted that under the new police system, recruitment is more difficult. The situation that people live in in matters of security make the boys think twice, their own family and their community tell them not to join up.

They kill cops in Nuevo Laredo

Former Governor Eugenio Hernandez Flores (2005-2010) lived during his administration a bloodbath, mainly in Nuevo Laredo. During 2005, 20 police were executed, including 17 Municipal Police Security agents and three others from the then State Ministerial Security agents and three others from the then State Ministerial Police.

One of the cases of greatest impact was the murder of Alejandro Dominguez Coello, on June 8th of that year, seven hours after being appointed Director of Public Safety in Nuevo Laredo.

The same corporation was again involved in a scandal on June 11th of that year, when municipal police attacked a group of Federal agents of the Federal Investigation Agency, who arrived from Mexico City to reinforce the Federales; for that reason 41 municipal police were transferred to the capital to be investigated by the PGR.

The situation caused one of the worst credibility crises in the Tamaulipas police corps; was when Governor Hernandez Flores spoke of the need for an alleged purge and training of police officers. Near the end of his administration, in August of 2010, with the massacre of 72 migrants in San Fernando occurred. These facts originated more investigations so that in 2011 led the finding of 145 corpses in clandestine graves; 17 of the 25 police officers of San Fernando were arrested and accused of having links with the criminals.

On April the 1st, 2013, the official disappearance of the municipal police officers entered forcefully into the 43 municipalities of Tamaulipas. The preventative agents were submitted for evaluation and those who were able to approve the processes received their certification and became part of the State Accredited Police. In a first stage operated the Mando Unico in 22 of the 43 Municipalities of the State. The remaining 21 were progressively added.

Egidio Torre Cantu said in his third report on November 25th, 2013, that the inauguration of the State Centre for the Evaluation of Control and Confidence, which took place four days ago, would allow us to have more professional security corporations, " we will do better, because we now have an effective coordination with the Federal Government", at the conclusion of his administration, Torre said that from 2011 to 2016, the State Centre for the Evaluation of Control and Confidence, carried out 25000 evaluations, with toxicological, psychological, polygraph and medical exams, better salaries for state police officers, scholarships for their children, access to credits housing, and one million pesos life insurance.

A team from El Universal went to the training facilities of the University of Security and Justice, where new recruits for the Tamaulipas police are trained.

In a walk through of the facilities, the chief Gabriel Reyes Galvan that it functions in two ways,preparing the accredited state police, with an initial training period of six months, that is split into two courses, one on public security and the other in police sciences, in all they take four years and lead to a degree in criminology.

They operate with a budget of 30 million pesos and with 120 personnel, the 120 made up of professional instructors and personal administration. We generate income from the courses we give, we started the training course in Santiago, Nuevo Leon.

With experience of training in the Federal police in Sidepol, Mexico, and as director of an academy, Reyes said that there is a big difference from two decades ago with the current training. It was abysmal, I came across active police officers who had never discharged their weapons in their lives, and were obese with serious health conditions.

Another example he said, is the virtual shooting range, where a group of agents were in full swing when we were there. He said they plan to extend the recruitment in the southeast of the country and in the high country. We bring the experience of other states, for example, in the civil force in Nuevo Leon, we had to recruit in Mexico City. Police job search hits on the Internet are in Hidalgo, Mexico City and State of Mexico, and you have to go for them.

An example of a foreign student is Carlos N from the State of Mexico. Standing in the training camp, he mentioned that from the age of 16 he wanted to be a policeman. By the type of professional preparation and benefits they grant, I decided to come to Tamaulipas. I am totally focused on getting ahead.

One of his instructors, Joel Vizcarra Martinez, said that he works with the recruits on their practical skills, weapons, comms, vehicle intervention and issues that they will face in the real world. Elsewhere, Jose Luis Padilla, instructor of police techniques and tactics, explained that at the time they were working on home based intervention. My biggest satisfaction is that until now all have been very good and none have been injured.

In reference to the income that agents have, when the accredited state police have a high school or higher education have an average salary of 13,400 pesos per month, with a life insurance of a million pesos, scholarships for their children and medical services for him and his family. If he only has secondary school education he earns 7,700 pesos per month, but receives support to attend high school and improve his income.

The chief said that they can turn this around, from the negative image that Tamaulipas has, from an insecure state, we can turn it into a state of innovation. He pointed out that it is necessary to give the corporation 10,000 credited agents, an average of 2000 per year. I am convinced that we can have the best police in the country, and the most capable. The challenge is not easy. From 2012 to April 2017, 24 state police officers have died in the line of duty.

Original article in Spanish at El Debate