Puerto Vallarta has lost its third police chief in eight months after Silvestre Chavez Garcia failed a mandatory integrity and psychological evaluation.
Chavez was one of 300 of the Vallarta police force’s 600 officers who were unable to meet the standards of the test.
In March, Vallarta Mayor Ramon Guerrero Martinez, the town’s first presidente municipal from the fledgling Citizen’s Movement (MC), appointed Roberto Rodriguez as his first police chief.
But Rodriguez resigned shortly after taking office after he was targeted in a grenade attack.
Chavez, an officer in the Mexican Army, was recommended for the post by the Ministry of Defense.
Guerrero now faces the prospect of finding yet another police chief, as well having to manage with a much reduced security force, given that the officers who failed the tests will probably be dismissed or reassigned to non-security related details.