Survey Shows 71 Percent of Mexicans Do Not Trust Local Police

Seventy-one percent of Mexicans do not trust their local police, which gives Mexico the worst showing of any nation among the five Latin American countries where the international GfK company conducts quarterly surveys.

“Distrust in Mexico has grown more than in any other Latin American country due to the increase in violence, the corruption of public servants, drug trafficking and a cultural trend among Mexicans,” the German company said in a communique.

Conflict among rival drug cartels and between criminals and security forces has claimed more than 50,000 lives in Mexico since December 2006.

The Mexican people’s lack of trust in such institutions as local and federal police forces, the army, governors and public servants in general showed a hike of around 10 percent.

Distrust in local police surged from 63 percent in the first quarter to 71 percent in the second, while the same negative perception of lawmakers climbed from 58 percent to 66 percent.

Lack of faith in the president went from 52 percent to 61 percent while in the justice system it rose from 58 percent to 65 percent.

Distrust in Federal Police and the army went from 58 percent to 64 percent and in public servants from 52 percent to 60 percent.

“In the media these days we’re seeing politicians, governors and even the army implicated in acts of corruption – obviously all this has given society in general a different view of things and breeds distrust,” Walkiria Calva, regional director of marketing and corporate communications for GfK, said.

Compared with the other countries studied – Panama, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela – the Mexican people show higher levels of distrust in authorities across the board.

GfK took its surveys in a number of cities in these five Latin American nations, polling an average of 3,100 people per country in order to obtain comparative levels of distrust in the institutions of the region.

In the coming months the company plans to add studies of other relevant countries in the area such as Argentina and Brazil.

Published in Notitas de Noticias

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