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Mexico City eliminates checkpoints amid kidnapping fears
If you see a police checkpoint in Mexico City, authorities advise that you blow right through it. After the high profile kidnapping of 14-year-old Fernando Marti, who was snatched after his driver stopped at a fake checkpoint, city police have banned the random checkpoints they’ve periodically used to look for drugs and guns. DWI checkpoints will continue to operate though.
Officials believe kidnapping gangs have used fake checkpoints to grab wealthy residents while driving in their heavily armored cars and SUVs. Marti was kidnapped on his way to school even though he was accompanied by a driver and bodyguard. The kidnappers reportedly used authentic uniforms belonging to the AFI, Mexico’s version of the FBI.
At least anecdotally, many Mexico City kidnappings occur while the victim is driving or riding in a car.
Mexico City has been plunged into a collective fear over kidnappings, reminiscent of the situation a decade ago, when kidnappings terrorized the city. Business groups are warning of a flight of wealthy businessmen from the country and say the kidnapping threat will scare off investors if not checked. President Felipe Calderon has proposed life sentences for kidnappers, but most observers say the situation won’t get better until corrupt police forces, which often aid kidnappers (and sometimes engage in kidnapping) are cleaned up.
Despite all the attention to the problem (weekend soccer and baseball games were filled with calls to end the impunity enjoyed by the city’s criminals), little has been said about increasing salaries for the city’s cops. Painfully low salaries, along with poor training, make police here particularly vulnerable to the lure of corruption. Mexico City beat cops make less than $10,000 a year in a city where consumer prices are similar to those in the United States.
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