The Chapala government has acquired five new patrol vehicles and assorted professional gear to enhance the work of the municipal police force.
The new equipment was put on public display during a delivery ceremony held Friday, August 25 on the esplanade opposite City Hall, with Mayor Javier Degollado, Police Chief Adán Domínguez and other local officials presiding.
The equipment package includes a 2017 Dodge Ram pickup, four Honda motorcycles, a supply of bullet-proof vests, handcuffs and police uniforms. Costs were covered with a purse of just over 2.6 million pesos obtained through the federal government’s FortaSeg funding program.
During the event, the mayor revealed local crime statistics indicating a significant drop in the incidence of home burglaries and a spike in business robberies and auto theft since 2015.
A total of 137 home burglaries were reported to authorities in 2015, compared to 107 in 2016 and 36 from January to May of this year.
Reports of businesses robberies jumped from 36 in 2015 to 78 last year, with 27 incidents registered in the first five months of 2017.
Auto theft rose from 46 in 2015 to 74 in 2016. The 27 new cases accumulated through May, 2017 do not count the rash of such crimes reported since then. However, Dominguez pointed out that in recent weeks local police captured several suspects connected to auto theft rings operating at lakeside and in the Guadalajara metro area.