Mexican National Guard: Raising the Bar for Honest Policing
Tara A. Spear
Say good bye to the mordida (bribe) system of policing; the newly formed Mexican Federal National Guard (GN) was created in 2019 to end the limitation of the government 
Executive Branch to order public security work. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated the reason behind the agency is “You cannot face violence with violence, evil with evil. Peace and quiet are fruits of justice. That’s the main thing. Not giving way to corruption in anything is fundamental and establishing honesty as a way of life and government must be a priority.” The President believed that before the GN there was no discipline, professionalism or honesty throughout the ranks of the Federal Police.
Nearly two years after its inception, the National Guard has a total of more than 101 thousand officers deployed in 200 regional stations. The agency’s 2019 mission statement declares that “the National Guard be a modern public security institution, in joint jurisdictions with the State and Municipal policing agencies to function towards crime prevention, crime control and support for the population. It is the mission of the NG to safeguard the life, integrity, security, property and rights of individuals, as well as the nation’s property and preservation of freedoms, public order and social peace.”
In a April, 2021, statement, the Secretariat of Citizen Security and Protection (SSPC) reported “The National Guard strives to be a modern public security institution, recognized nationally and internationally for its service to society, its efficient management, its discipline, its observance of human rights, gender equity and the principles of the use of force; composed of unwavering women and men in law enforcement who project their own identity, based on values and virtues that bring them closer to the population, through respect and mutual trust; to contribute to the consolidation of public safety and the integral development of the Mexican people.” Raising the bar in hiring policies is a great step forward.
In addition to having a complex screening and application process the new NG gives a better than minimum wage salary and benefit package- a huge step to making it easier for officers to be honest. According to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), a National Guard agent receives a monthly salary of 12 thousand 477, which can be increased to up to 19 thousand pesos, which will depend on the rank he/she occupies. There is more than just salary: officers are given uniforms, comprehensive medical service, offering a retirement savings fund, scholarships for their children, life insurance and a housing fund.
The NG Agency detailed that new-hire personnel receive training to obtain the Single Police Certificate. In April more than four thousand staff graduated from the National Guard Initial Training Course, while more than nine thousand other Guardsmen are in specialized training throughout the country. Seven out of ten National Guard officers are former military personnel who now work in public safety.
When President Andres Lopez Obrador formed the policing agency the country was integrated into 48 battalions and 29 groups of national guards to combat criminal incidence.
Providing significant funding indicates how serious the President is about setting the level of professionalism of Mexican law enforcement standard. In 2021, the National Guard police agency, with less than two years of existence, will receive a budget of 28 million pesos for the prevention, investigation and prosecution of crimes, in addition to an amount of 7 billion pesos for administrative support activities. Possibly the biggest flaw to the previous Mexican law enforcement was the shockingly low pay scale- it’s no surprise that the federales would rather have a cash payment instead of writing a ticket.
It’s exciting that the country has challenged its new public security agency with being an exemplary police force that will operate for justice and the individual without corruption. It’s reassuring that the good people of Mexico will prevail.
