A preliminary analysis of the use of force by the Mexico City Metropolitan Area police

The purposes of this study were to assess the magnitude of the use of force among Mexico City Metropolitan Area police forces and to detect its correlates. Mexico City is a particularly interesting case as it is often presented as a haven within the national context of crime and violence of the last years. However, it was found that almost one third of prison inmates in the city report to have been beaten or hurt by the police. It was also found that such reports have increased significantly between 2002 and 2009 for the case of the Preventive police, but remained stable although still very high for the Judicial police. Different correlates in the use of force were found for the two police forces.