So far in the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, more than 1,400 police officers have been killed in clashes, ambushes and direct attacks with armed people. On average, so far in 2022 alone, at least one police officer has lost his life, every day, in these types of events.
The count of aggressions and murders against police officers, carried out by the civil organization Causa en Común – based on public records – shows that the state of Guanajuato is, by far, the entity where more security agents have been killed with more than 200. In contrast, Campeche is the entity with the fewest attacks against police officers with only one case.
Zacateas is a red light. In just three years, from 2019 to 2021, the number of police killed has soared 300%, more than any other state in the country. The growth in police killings in the state has paralleled the advance of homicidal violence in the state.
According to the registry, the level of violence against law enforcement officers so far this six-year term remains at levels similar to that registered in 2018, the last year of the government of Enrique Peña Nieto, and in which 452 police officers were killed throughout the country, on average 1.2 cases per day.
By 2019, already in the current six-year term, the number of police officers who lost their lives in circumstances of violence reached 446 cases, the same average of 1.2 cases every day. In 2020 the number grew to 524 police officers killed in clashes or assaults of crime, an average of 1.4 cases every day. And in 2021 the preliminary data is at least 400 agents killed, an average of 1.1 every day.
If these cases are added to those of 37 police officers who were killed in January 2022 alone, the number of police officers killed in situations of violence during López Obrador’s six-year term reaches 1,407 cases.
When analyzing the data by state, important contrasts are noticed. By far the municipal, state and judicial police of Guanajuato are the ones who register the highest number of casualties in their ranks this sexennium: in total 213 casualties in their ranks, practically double what is registered by the second entity with more cases, the state of Mexico, which accumulates 113 murdered agents.
Since June 2020, Animal Político documented the escalation of violence that was registered in Guanajuato against police agents, mainly municipal. Several of them were assaulted when they were not in office, or were in surveillance work, but unarmed. In ambushes or direct aggressions, without even the possibility that they could defend themselves.
The third state with the most police killed is Chihuahua with 95 uniformed personnel who have lost their lives; followed by Guerrero with 90 police officers killed; and Michoacán and Veracruz with 89 cases each respectively.
And in seventh place is already Zacatecas, an entity that accumulates 83 murdered policemen. In this state, the situation has been progressively aggravated for the security forces. They went from registering nine police officers killed in 2019, to 26 in 2020, and up to 36 in 2021. And in January of this year alone, the entity accumulates 12 new cases, much more than any other state.
A common denominator in these states is the strong presence of organized crime. The death of the uniformed men has occurred in contexts of strong violence unleashed by the rivalries of criminal groups, as the authorities themselves have acknowledged. Entities such as Guanajuato, Chihuahua and Zacatecas register, in fact, the highest rates of homicidal violence in the country.
The list of 10 entities with the most murdered police officers is closed by Jalisco, which accumulates 76 cases, Sonora with 60 of them, and Mexico City with 57. In the case of the capital of the country, the figure has the mitigating factor that it is the local corporation with the largest number of elements.
The safest states for police officers
In contrast to the cases mentioned, there are eight entities that do not even add all their cases reach a single one of the states mentioned in the top ten places. These are, at least in terms of the risk of losing their lives in office, the safest entities to work as a policeman.
Campeche is the entity with the fewest cases according to the records of Causa en Común with a policeman killed in three years. His only case was recorded only in 2021. Then Yucatan is located with two police officers who have lost their lives in circumstances of violence, and Aguascalientes with three of them. Coincidentally, these are the entities with the lowest homicide rates overall.
Baja California Sur reports four police officers killed, an average of one case a year. Then there is Nayarit with five fallen agents; Queretaro with seven; and Tlaxcala and Hidalgo with eight cases respectively.
In the rest of the country’s entities, it registers between 10 and 50 cases of police officers who have lost their lives in their streets.
Those killed in 2022
In the first five weeks of this year, the number of police officers killed has already risen to 37 cases; the aggressions, so far, are concentrated in 13 states. If this average is maintained, the year would close, again, with more than 400 security agents killed.
In the case of Zacatecas, the municipality of Fresnillo is the red light. On January 11, for example, three municipal police officers were literally ambushed by a group of armed men who shot them multiple times with long weapons, when they were circulating on a patrol tour. They had no chance to defend themselves.
On January 26, another multi-homicide was confirmed against Zacatecas police officers. The bodies of three municipal agents of Sombrerete were abandoned, lifeless, inside a van parked on one of the avenues of that town. All had gunshot wounds.
After Zacatecas there are three entities that register, each, four murdered policemen: Sonora, Veracruz and the state of Mexico.
One such case was reported on February 2 in Guaymas, Sonora. Again, and with the same modus operandi, armed men fired on multiple occasions at a unit of the municipal police without any provocation. The balance was two elements that lost their lives.
Another case, but in different circumstances, was registered on January 28 in the mayor’s office of Azcapotzalco, Mexico City. In this case, the events occurred when police in the capital deployed an operation around a home where there were records of drug distribution. Upon arriving at the site, the agents were met with bullets by the people inside, which led to a confrontation between both sides.
The final balance of this clash was four people killed, including two elements of the capital police, while another was injured.
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