No detailed listing of powers and duties of the various transit police forces of Mexico could be found among the sources consulted. These forces can vary by state and municipality: please note that the September 1999 IRB Issue Paper Mexico: Police states, in Chapter 2, that "as a rule, police forces in Mexico carry firearms, but members of certain police forces, such as municipal traffic police and auxiliary police, are not always armed while on duty" (PRODH 2 June 1999). However, in section 26 of Chapter 4, the same paper states that "members of the municipal preventive and traffic police in Aguascalientes are also armed" (Public Security and Traffic General Directorate of Aguascalientes 22 June 1999). Additional information on the various levels and organization of police forces in Mexico can be found in MEX20897.E of 23 August 1995.

Please find attached two articles which refer to traffic or transit police. One of these articles refers to the diversity of forces throughout Mexico in general and their often narrow scope of authority, citing transit policemen as a case in point:

...As a result of one "reform" aimed at stopping other cops from shaking down drivers, only the Transit Police and Highway Police have jurisdiction over traffic laws. But that means drivers do whatever they want in plain sight of cops unless one of those officers is in view.

Only the Judicial Police, meanwhile, can detain someone for a crime they don't see committed, so even if an effective system of checking for outstanding arrest warrants existed, a transit police officer can't arrest someone wanted for another crime after a traffic stop (Knight Ridder/Tribune 22 Sept. 2000).

The other attachment provides specific details about the police in Acapulco and general comments on the "tens of thousands of local transit police officers on Mexican streets" (The Washington Post 7 Sept. 2000).

The latter article focuses on a particular transit police officer in Acapulco, referring to the derelict state of his "banged-up Nissan cruiser" and how the officer and his colleagues manage to keep it running (ibid.). The report adds that "the federal government confiscated all the guns carried by Acapulco's 500 or so transit police officers, saying they were illegal," stating that "the city does not provide weapons for transit police officers, whose sole assignment is to monitor traffic and motor vehicle violations...so they purchased their own guns, often on the black market" (ibid.). According to the report, "for years, authorities looked the other way while hundreds of transit officers walked around with the illegal arms" (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Centro de Derechos Humanos "Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez" (PRODH), Mexico City. 2 June 1999. Correspondence.

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service. 22 September 2000. Morris Thompson. "Reforming Corrupt Justice System Poses Huge Task for Mexican President-Elect." (NEXIS)

Public Security and Traffic General Directorate of Aguascalientes, Mexico. 22 June 1999. Telephone interview with General Director.

The Washington Post. 7 September 2000. Kevin Sullivan. "Mexican Police Put Bite Into Crime; Traffic Patrolmen Extort Payoffs to 'Feed Out Families'." (NEXIS)

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service. 22 September 2000. Morris Thompson. "Reforming Corrupt Justice System Poses Huge Task for Mexican President-Elect." (NEXIS)

The Washington Post. 7 September 2000. Kevin Sullivan. "Mexican Police Put Bite Into Crime; Traffic Patrolmen Extort Payoffs to 'Feed Out Families'." (NEXIS)