The Chapala police department has re-qualified for a federal government funding package that will bring in six million pesos to upgrade its infrastructure, patrol fleet, equipment, officer training and crime prevention programs.
The municipality was left out of the Fortalecimiento para la Seguridad (FORTASEG) program last year due to steep cuts in the 2019 federal budget and some administrative issues held over from previous years. In 2017 and 2018, Chapala received ten million pesos per annum, each time complemented by an extra two million contributed from City Hall coffers. Construction of the new police headquarters was put on hold after last year’s funding was pulled.
In an effort to enhance public security, the local government had already initiated the recruitment of an extra ten officers when the reinstatement in new funding was announced January 23.