Quintana Roo groups demand police vetting
Original reporting: Noticaribe
What happened
Women's groups cited abduction and femicide cases in demanding police integrity checks, tighter weapons controls and removal from duty of officers facing abuse complaints.
Reporting and context
Women's groups in Quintana Roo are demanding police vetting, tighter control of service weapons and the removal of officers accused of abuse, arguing that recent cases reflect a pattern of institutional violence and criminal collusion, according to Noticaribe.
The Xtabay collective rejected descriptions of the incidents as isolated. It said officers entrusted with state weapons and the power to use force were turning those powers against the public, particularly women and young people.
Noticaribe reported that the groups cited municipal officers arrested over the abduction of three young people leaving a nightclub on bulevar Bahía. In the groups' account, the officers handed the victims to a criminal group, and patrol-vehicle recordings showed officers receiving money from organized crime to carry out the abduction.
They also cited the arrest of Miguel Ángel “N,” a former Othón P. Blanco municipal officer, as a suspect in the femicide of a 16-year-old girl whose body was found in the Calderitas mangroves. The groups argued that years of impunity surrounding that case also constituted institutional violence.
A more recent case involved Donaciano “R.,” a 36-year-old serving traffic officer. Citing reports on the case, Noticaribe said he killed his former partner and her 16-year-old daughter with his service weapon before killing himself at a home in the Italia neighborhood. Initial inquiries indicated he was on duty during the attack.
The groups demanded mandatory, periodic integrity screening and psychometric and psychological testing, with public, auditable standards. They also called for stronger safeguards over access to service weapons and the immediate removal from duty of personnel facing prior complaints of gender violence, abuse of authority or criminal links, without waiting for criminal proceedings to conclude.
The accompanying source photograph illustrates Quintana Roo's police forces; it does not identify the officers implicated in these cases.
Original reporting: Noticaribe.