In less than four months, the newly created Gender Unit of the Ministry of Citizen Security (SSC) of Mexico City already has 205 investigations open for internal allegations of harassment or sexist violence, when last year had been 130.
Who currently serves as head of the Unit, Sahara Sánchez Nieto, said in an interview with Animal Político that although cases of harassment have always been investigated in Internal Affairs, having a specific area for that topic is promoting complaints.
“Now with this unit that was generated, like the woman feels more confident filing a complaint,” she said.
Just this March 3rd, the Cause in Common organization published a study showing that 68% of female police have suffered at least leclastic comments within their work, but 21% said they had not reported because they did not know they could or where they could.
This Unit was created last November, when the Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women was commemorated, at the end of the City of Mexico City’s Attorney General’s Office, which had received 117 complaints of sexual assault slammed by police, 86 of them, members of the Ministry of Citizen Security in Mexico.
The new specialized unit is to serve two types of victims: on the one hand, civilian women who have been assaulted by a member of the Secretariat, and on the other hand, the members of the unit themselves, violent by their peers or chiefs, either within their duties or even out of service.
In these months, they have already sent about 13 cases to the Honor and Justice Council, the body that analyses the evidence and to determine sanctions, and several have received a disciplinary corrective.
Same sanctions
The official acknowledged that for now there is no change in the regulations to toughen sanctions, but that they are the same ones that were already had. These can range from a written reprimand, a 24-hour or 36-hour arrest, the change of area of the offender or victim, or even the separation of office.
“It depends on the severity of the behavior. For example, for rape, it’s impeachment. Sexual harassment, equal dismissal when there are means to be able to prove it. That’s why we also work with the Sexual Offences Prosecutor’s Office,” explained Sánchez Nieto.
Read more: A CDMX police report sexual harassment and abuse from their boss
He underlined this last point, since it is not only a question of separating an aggressor from office, but of whether he deserves it, he also faces a case before justice.
A novelty of the Unit is that it has begun to make investigations of its own motion, without a complaint in between. Agent Judith Escobar is part of the research cell created especially for this.
“We have several ways in which a complaint can come, whether they go directly, or we do transfers too, we go to the sectors, we do field research,” he said.
They randomly interview staff and check security cameras for irregular behavior. They also spread that this specialized unit now exists and promote the culture of denunciation, so that women themselves do not miss situations that should not suffer or are afraid to accuse their aggressors.
The research cell has eight members: five women and three men, to support in transfers of offenders or in the safety of their own companions when they have to go to distant or dangerous places. There are also six patrols identified with purple colours, he explained.
The Unit also has two lawyers, three psychologists, two human rights specialists and two educators, as it has a stay.
Sánchez Nieto stated that to integrate it, attention was paid to a profile specialized in legal matters: all have a degree in criminals, even a master’s degree in criminal procedural law. However, when asked about the team’s gender-based training, he acknowledged that they have acquired it within the same institution, at the Police University.
“They give us courses. The chief (Omar García Harfuch, Secretary of Security), as such, has several plans to train staff. We have been given gender perspective and human rights courses,” she said.
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