Mexico Deserves Better Cops

This time the victim was the father of an international soccer star, but the chilling frequency of ransom kidnappings in Mexico and the impunity enjoyed by those who commit them have touched every level of society. It’s practically an industry, a dark and dangerous one increasingly productive throughout Latin America.

Fear of abduction has driven many wealthy Mexicans to take their families to safekeeping in the United States, but while the rich are prime targets, the criminals have indiscriminate tastes. Any child, parent or grandparent with assets are potential victims. Crime does pay, and handsomely, in Mexico.

Why? Kidnapping is a simple crime, especially when the intended victim has no means of personal security. Many of the well-to-do travel with bodyguards, but 65-year-old Alvaro Campos had none when six or more men armed with assault rifles seized him Wednesday at a soccer field named for his son, Jorge, who once played goalkeeper for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

According to Mexican government statistics, only six of every 100 crimes reported are solved, and only half the perpetrators end up in jail. The dismal performance of the Mexican judiciary system bears much of the blame. Obsolete laws make it difficult to convict criminals. Corruption among judges and cops adds to the failure. A hit-and-miss bureaucratic system allows known suspects to hop to safety across state borders.

But the root of justice’s failure is poverty. Cops usually come from the lower classes and, lacking a good education, cannot move upward. As a result, many turn to crime. Corruption is a daily temptation, and the guardians become the thieves.

Federal officials admit the magnitude of the problem and insist they are trying to solve it. They have announced a national public security plan that would create, among other things, a national police force that could operate across state lines. That’s good, but not nearly enough. What’s needed is a presidential order for housecleaning in the police stations, however high it reaches.

No one can expect the government to sweep crime from the streets, but it can demand quality cops--and give them salaries in line with the considerable risks.