In December, the Justice in Mexico Project released the results of a groundbreaking survey titled Justiciabarómetro: Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara, which was developed in collaboration with the Center for Innovation and Governance at the University of Guadalajara (UdG) and the Western Technical Institute for Higher Learning (ITESO). The survey was implemented by the polling firm Data Opinión Pública y Mercados (DATA-OPM), and represents the largest independent study of a police force ever published in Mexico.  Focusing on the Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara (ZMG), one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country (second only to Mexico City), this study surveyed nearly 80% of the 6,873 municipal police officers currently serving the more than 4 million inhabitants of the ZMG.  Due to its magnitude, breadth of inquiry, and high level of participation, this study makes a noteworthy contribution to the study of public security issues in Mexico. (Read More)

City Journal-- Beheadings and amputations. Iraqi-style brutality, bribery, extortion, kidnapping, and murder. More than 7,200 dead—almost double last year’s tally—in shoot-outs between federales and often better-armed drug cartels. This is modern Mexico, whose president, Felipe Calderón, has been struggling since 2006 to wrest his country from the grip of four powerful cartels and their estimated 100,000 foot soldiers.

But chillingly, there are signs that one of the worst features of Mexico’s war on drugs—law enforcement officials on the take from drug lords—is becoming an American problem as well.  (Read More)