For about as long as I have been in Mexico, 2013, I have spent a lot of time speaking with and training Mexican police of all levels. I have had many long conversations with civilians, police, police cadets, and politicians about the issue with policing and how it could be fixed in Mexico. I have heard many different reasons and excuses given, but we as a community are to blame.
The thing that I have heard most from actual police officers is, “No one has our back, everyone always assumes I am corrupt, why should I not be?”, and honestly, they are correct. If you are not a police officer or military, I want you to think about it really hard. When was the last time you have said something nice to a police officer? Or here is one, when was the last time you have heard something nice about the police? Do you have the balls to go out in the hot sun and risk your life every single day and be treated like shit because everyone assumes you are corrupt? No, you definitely don’t, or you would be doing it.
You probably don’t think about this, but police don’t start out corrupt. I have trained police cadets and I know young men and women who were my students before they became police, that are now police. They were so proud to serve their country and had a fire in their eyes that gave me hope. Unfortunately, what we, as a community, blame on the police is actually the fault of the politicians. I know this, because I frequently rub elbows with some who I thought would help bring a change to Mexico. Politicians I have literally offered to help plan, setup, and execute more effective and practical training for their police. Then they goet into office and suddenly their views change and they want to keep things the same.
Why do you think that is? I can think of a couple of different reasons… money or not wanting to look bad politically because they know there is a major crime issue in their district and they don’t want to inconvenience civilians. The dirty truth none of us want to acknowledge is, to fight the crime we all are disgusted by, the war has to happen in our front yards, In the same street our kids go to school, or across from the mall where we always shop at.
The fact is no politician will ever want to step up and authorize that because it will be political suicide. Yes, we all hate the crime, but no, none of us are willing to be inconvenienced from it. Many of you who read these blogs are airsofters. You likely have a decent job or career and a family. Something I have recently learned when I grew my family, I could not have been the warrior I once was if I was fighting where my family lives. I would be worried all of the time and could not focus on the mission at hand. Don’t forget what you are crying about when you whine about the crime, because you likely wont be willing to make the sacrifices needed to get rid of that cancer that is making Mexico sick.
I have learned over thousands of conversations, police do not start out wanting to be corrupt, they just end up being trapped in a system that we keep forcing to continue. I know what you are saying right now, “Then why do they do bad stuff?”, and the answer to that is complicated. Most of the time, it is do this or die. If they aren’t scared, then they will go after the police officer’s family. The next reason is money. We pay our police like shit and then ask the world of them. I wander to myself as I write this, how many of you have had to take a life? How many of you would volunteer to do it? What about to be shot at? What about to have to find the worst people in the community and prevent them from hurting someone? What if they have a knife? I can keep this up all day…
A few more things to note, in A LOT of places here in Mexico, the police must pay for their own stuff! That is insane. Think about it, these people already feel like no one has their back and now we as a people do not even want to provide them their gear, and the gear they have is not even the proper gear they should have. Then you get mad at them when they stop you and actually try to do their job and what do you do? “Ten, por un refresco,” right? So many people complain about the corruption but only add to it when it is convenient for them. As I said, to fix this issue it will be inconvenient and that is why it does not get done.
…I do not write this article because I think police in Mexico are saints or innocent. I know better than that, I write this article to offer you a different view because I have been to places where there are no police, and let me tell you, I choose Mexico over that clusterfuck. You may think the police need to change, and you are right, but doesn’t our attitude to the whole situation need to change as well? I will leave you with a quote that I find relevant to this whole situation:
“The definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different outcome every time.”
