http://news.com.com/Mexico+tries+swapping+...ml?tag=nefd.top "Mexico tries swapping Xboxs for guns in drug fight MEXICO CITY--Police who have raided vice-ridden Mexico City neighborhoods in a push against drug violence hope to take guns off the streets by offering to swap them for computers and Xbox video game consoles...."
There's a saying in Mexico: "Thank god for the criminals, to protect us from the police." The cops are among the worst of the criminals there. Item: While I lived in Guadalajara there was a dispute over whether the banks, or the government, should pay the armed guards who stand outside the banks. For roughly a week, as a consequence, there were no guards, and the number of bank robberies went up about tenfold. But all the robberies were carries out with military precision, using weapons only available to the police and military. It was clear that the robbers were out-of-uniform cops. Item: While I was living in Queretaro, a small town (I forget the name) had a tax revolt: People stopped paying their taxes, and the government, in retaliation, withdrew all services, including police, moving the cops out of the town. Crime dropped to one-quarter its normal level. Item: While I was in Guadalajara, there was a kidnapping, which was interrupted by the cops, who shot the victim. They claimed it was an accident, but nobody believed them. Apparently, the cops figured that depriving the kidnappers of their victim was the most effective way to frustrate their plans. In Mexico, there are many different levels and kinds of police. The Judicial Police are notorious for being the most corrupt. On more than one occasion, drive-by shootings with multiple innocent victims (along with the intended target) have turned out to be perpetrated by members of the Judicial Police. And they have the worst reputation for overall corruption. What's my point? If they really want to control crime in Mexico, the first thing they have to do is put all the cops in jail. (And to forestall the expected comments: No, I never had any run-ins with the police myself while in Mexico. They like foreigners who bring money into the country, and I never drove a car, so I was left entirely alone.)
Wow what an idea! Trade in your only means of self-protection for another method in which to become another one of the zombied-out drooling masses.
