Friday, August 22, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto swore in his much-touted gendarmerie, a new national police division that is expected to be free of the corruption that has plagued federal police forces for many decades.
Units of the 5,000-strong force are expected to operate like Swat teams. The force will be part of the Policia Federal but with its own infrastructure and chains of command.
Peña Nieto had made the creation of the gendarmerie a key part of the security platform of his presidential campaign. That it took almost two years to make the new force a reality suggests to some observers that creating a new model of policing in Mexico turned out to be far more complicated than originally believed.
While many of the recruits have come from other forces, some members of the gendarmerie have had no police or military experience.
The new corps will be mostly deployed in industrial and rural areas renowned for rampant crime, violent episodes and kidnappings, as well as some tourist hotspots.
Analysts say a function of the gendarmerie is to persuade the business community and foreign investors that the current administration is serous about tackling criminal gangs and violent crime.
The gendarmerie will wear an assortment of different uniforms and be deployed on foot and horseback, as well as on more traditional patrols.