State authorities stress that the new program of random searches of vehicles for weapons in the Guadalajara metropolitan area is being conducted with full respect for civil and human liberties.
In the first weekend of the operation aimed at reducing violence in the Jalisco capital, five checkpoints were installed in different parts of the city, as officers from various forces randomly stopped vehicles to search for illegal firearms. Five arrests were made over the first three days, and two weapons confiscated, according to initial reports from four of the five metro-area municipalities involved.
On Wednesday, Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro said 12 people had been detained in the first five days of the program but did not say for what reasons, or how many weapons had been seized.
Alfaro said his Consejo Estatal de Seguridad (security cabinet) will evaluate the effectiveness of the operation in a month, and provide details on the number of weapons confiscated.
The media is referring to the spot checks as volantas (a term with certain negative connotations due to past abuses), while the government calls them “modulos seguros por una ciudad tranquila (secure modules for a safe city).
Fabiola Loya, Jalisco’s undersecretary for human rights, said citizens who feel their rights have been abused are free to file a complaint at any of the checkpoints. She acknowledged that there is no law impeding citizens from recording searches of their vehicles on their phones.
The State Human Rights Commission (CEDHJ) said it received two citizen complaints during the first weekend of the operation.