Police Corruption

Despite millions in U.S. aid, forces continue to be outgunned, overwhelmed — and often purchased outright — by drug prohibition gangsters. Many in Mexico consider the American investment little help so far against the bloody tide wrought by drug prohibition gangs. Mexico's top federal policeman, Genaro Garcia Luna, has estimated gangsters pass out some $100 million each month to local and state cops on the take.

A man accused of being one of Mexico's most notorious hired killers says his confessions were false and extracted through torture. Soto Arias, 29, a junkyard owner, has been convicted of nothing, and his torture complaint is being investigated by Mexico's human rights commission. Many other crime suspects and ordinary citizens have made similar allegations about disappearances, extra-judicial killings and torture at the hands of the Mexican military and police.

Amid a bloody war against drug trafficking organizations, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said that he was sending Congress a plan to overhaul the country's police system by doing away with local forces. The idea, called "unified command," has been debated for months, as the death toll from the nearly 4-year-old drug prohibition war surpassed 28,000 and signs of police collusion with crime syndicates continued to pile up.

Drug prohibition-related police corruption stories abound. Court records indicate a Tulsa woman's drug conviction has been vacated, increasing to 19 the number of people either freed from prison or no longer facing charges because of an ongoing police corruption investigation.

Drug prohibition has long been corrupting law enforcement in many ways. Now, the ACLU has taken Camden County and New Jersey officials to federal court on behalf of a man who spent more than a year in jail on drug charges, which were dismissed after the cops who arrested him were charged with planting evidence on him and many others.