Spanish companies see opportunities in Mexico’s unified police commands

More than 100 Spanish companies operating in Mexico are in a position to take advantage of business opportunities created by the government’s decision to have unified police commands in all the country’s states, Lobby Mexico president Ignacio Muñoz told EFE.

Muñoz did not provide a specific figure on potential sales, but he said the market was “extremely interesting for Spanish companies” because Mexico’s 32 states will receive about 13 billion pesos (some $732 million) in federal subsidies in 2016 alone.

The funding provided by each state is in addition to the federal resources, the president of Lobby Mexico, which helps bring together companies and government institutions, said.

Public safety “is a strategic sector which, as you’ll see in the election campaigns (for governorships in June) in 12 states, it’s one of the strategic issues,” Muñoz said.

The government wants to do away with municipal police departments and have one law enforcement agency in each of Mexico’s 32 states.

President Enrique Peña Nieto wants to replace the country’s more than 1,800 police departments with centralized police forces in an effort to improve training and root out corruption.

Former President Felipe Calderon, who was in office from 2006 to 2012, submitted legislation to Congress in 2010 that would have created 32 state police forces.

Some states have adopted unified commands, but the federal legislation is still being considered by Congress.

The Spanish Chamber of Commerce has created a security committee to make it easier for firms to deal with Mexican law enforcement agencies, chamber director Joana Torrents told EFE.