More than half of Sinaloans perceive police officers as corrupt

More than half of Sinaloans believe that local and state police institutions commit acts of corruption, according to a study by the State Council for Public Security.

Based on an exercise that took data from the Ahome, Mazatlán and Culiacán municipalities, it was determined that Sinaloans perceive more corruption practices in the Municipal Transit directions, followed by the Municipal Police and in third place the State Police.

The study, which is called Percibe because it analyzes the perception of citizens in terms of security, produced various findings, among which it stands out that the city of Mazatlán registers the highest perception of corruption, since 7 out of 10 Mazatlecos qualified as medium/high the level of corruption of the three levels of government.

The General Coordinator of CESP, Miguel Calderón Quevedo, explained that public safety, integrity and democracy go hand in hand, and that is where the importance of this survey lies, which will allow correcting and strengthening the level of trust that citizens have government institutions and public security corporations.

“Corruption in the public service erodes trust in the institutions and thus, little by little, a vicious circle is generated that can put democracy at risk… That is why it is important to know how we are in Sinaloa in matters of integrity or public corruption, to correct where it is necessary to correct and that our new democratic life is strengthened”, he highlighted.

In general, in the three municipalities, 50 percent of those surveyed exceed the perception of medium/high the level of corruption of municipal and state public servants.

Regarding the perception of corruption of the federal forces, between 30 percent and 39 percent of those surveyed indicated that the level is medium/high. The Army is the institution that citizens perceive with the greatest integrity.

At the end, some recommendations are added that are addressed to the authority, among which are: consolidate the professional police career service; dignify the work of the police; strengthen the prosecutor’s office specialized in combating corruption; continuous training and confidence control of the police, in addition to improving Police Affairs units.

Among the recommendations to the public, the following stand out: say no to bribery and report it; have active citizen participation; recognize police work and conduct ourselves with order and respect.