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Law enforcement in Mexico is distributed among three distinct powers of authority an jurisdiction: federal, state, and municipal levels. With the reform of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico’s Federal Police, the agency was replaced with the new National Guard (Guardia Nacional - GN) that serves as a federal ‘military police.’ The main goal of the National Guard is to bring justice and peace to the country.
Regarding federal law enforcement and national defense, Mexico's government has the Secretariat of National Defense, Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (Secretaria de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana - SSPC) and the Secretariat of Armed Navy of Mexico (Secretaria de Marina Armada de Mexico - SEMAR). The Mexican Army and Air Force are all within the Secretariat of National Defense, commonly known as ‘SEDENA’ in Mexico. The National Guard, Service of Federal Protection (Servicio de Protection Federal - SPF) and National Center of Intelligence (Centro Nacional de Inteligencia - CNI), are administrated by the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection.
State and municipal law enforcement is divided into groups/teams/units in the Secretariat of Public Security (Secretaria de Seguridad Publica - SSP) of the Governor or Mayor. State and municipal law enforcement posess transit, special operations, proximity, investigation, police divisions--so is it called in Mexico. This information is generalized and it can vary depending on each corporation structure.
With the current drug war in Mexico, the government has struggled with maintaining public safety in Mexico. Mexico’s efforts in militarization in states and municipalities have resulted positively in citizens’ security, however, homicides, robberies and other criminal activities are still ongoing due to various factors such as corruption, ineffective strategies, or simply lack of police presence, etc.
Law enforcement in some states and municipalities lack of resources and training. In certain states and municipalities, a shortage of police forces necessitates that federal authorities, such as the National Guard, step in to perform law enforcement duties as a substitute. Checkpoints in Mexico are very common, especially with military. Police forces have recently obtained tactical trucks for patrol and combat. Officers with tactical gear is also very common due to high levels of crime in some municipalities in the nation.
Police in states and municipalities is usually underpaid and in some cases, briberies are often seen with Mexican police officers. This is generalized and it doesn’t mean that it happens with all regions.
The Mexican Army and Navy often do patrols along with the National Guard. This doesn’t mean that there’s terrorist activity or cartels nearby. This strategy is to eradicate the threat of organized crime and terrorist activities of cartels in Mexico.
Mexico’s relations regarding law enforcement with United States include protection in borders and Americans. Additionally, the eradication of cartels and illegal activity happening in USA such as the contraband of drugs and the deaths of teenage and adults because of fentanyl.
The President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and the Secretary of Security & Citizen Protection, have shown positive results regarding national defense and public safety during his administration according in morning meetings. Concerns have come to the attention of Americans and Mexicans, regarding the new strategy of the Mexico’s federal government of militarization in states and Navy and Army doing police operations. Studies says that citizens trust military and National Guard rather than state/municipal police in Mexico. This problem is currently being dealt by the government officials.
Investigations in Mexico is crucial, the federal government has Criminal Investigations Agency (Agencia de Investigaciones Criminales - AIC) under the Attorney General Office (Fiscalia General de la Republica - FGR) , and the Federal Ministerial Police under the General Prosecutor Office (Procaduria General de la Republica - PGR). This law enforcement ‘detectives’ are commonly called “ministerial officers” (ministeriales) in Mexico. They respond to criminal and cartel activity for investigation. Unfortunately, in some cases—investigations in Mexico take a long period of time and some of them are being left behind.
Traffic law enforcement is also a major issue to municipal governments. Traffic laws are rarely enforced due to lack of traffic officers. However, it’s still something that’s currently being dealt by the government. Traffic law enforcement in Mexico is a division of the National Guard (federal law enforcement agency), and it is called by a slang term "el transito".