A study by the organization Causa en Común suggests that almost half of Jalisco state police have to supplement their share of bullets from their own pockets.
In addition, the survey showed, six out of ten are forced to pay for the footwear they use on the job. The study, which interviewed 175 officers in anonymity, also suggested that officers must contribute financially to the repair of their patrol cars, while some officers said they were obliged to carry out tasks not related to their work for their superiors, sometimes even paying them a “cuota” to stay in their good books.
Meanwhile, Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro tweeted this week that the wages of all state police officers – operative and investigative (nearly 8,000 in total, including prison guards and traffic cops) – will be “homogenized” as of the first fortnight of September. No officer will earn less than 23,000 pesos a month, he wrote.