The governor of Guerrero has called on the state’s municipalities to do their part in fighting crime, but one mayor suggests that may be difficult given the large numbers of unarmed cops.

Pablo Higuera Fuentes points to his own municipality, Eduardo Neri, as an example: local police remain unarmed in spite of the fact that at least 35 officers have now passed their performance and trust evaluations.

“We’ve insisted that the weapons be given back to municipal police officers . . .” said Higuera, who is also head of the 26 mayors affiliated with the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).

He said that in addition to Eduardo Neri there are four or five other municipalities with unarmed police departments.

Many were disarmed last year after 1,900 of Guerrero’s 4,500 municipal police failed their control and trust evaluations. Those who fail the test are not supposed to carry arms.

Mayor Higuera said that since he took office in 2015 the Federal Police has been in charge of security in Eduardo Neri as a result of an agreement between the state and federal governments.

“The truth is we don’t even know if the agreement is still valid because “sometimes [the Federal Police] are here, sometimes they’re not, and since there’s no coordination with us we don’t know what the situation is.”

The mayor said violence has intensified in recent weeks, with a surge in the number of homicides in the municipality. But there has not been enough support to combat the criminal activity.

Having inadequate resources not only hampers arming officers. It means there are no funds available for severance payments for those who fail the tests — a problem that has surfaced throughout Mexico since the tests were introduced — or for a program to recruit new officers.

Meanwhile, it was another bloody weekend in the state: 19 people were assassinated, 13 of whom were in Acapulco.

Source: Milenio (sp)