Mitigating corruption in government security forces

de Beth J. Asch

Corruption in the Mexican police forces is widely acknowledged and longstanding. The Mexican government has undertaken police reforms in recent years that have focused on professionalizing the Mexican police. Key components of these reforms have been changes in compensation and personnel policies as a way of creating a civil service for police personnel. Whether these reforms are the right ones or have helped are open questions. In this report, we draw on the literature on corruption and personnel incentives and analyze household survey data and other information related to police reform in Mexico. The study's objectives were to address questions about the roots of corruption and the tools that could be used to mitigate corruption, with a focus on compensation and personnel management policies. We also provide an initial assessment, based on available information, about the effectiveness of these policies. The report should be of interest to the broad policy and research communities concerned about police corruption in general and in Mexico specifically.