POLICE SCHOOL TAUGHT BRIBE-TAKING - REPORT

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Two classmates at the police academy admitted to
murders. A few others had not completed primary school. And most of the
would-be cops formed friendships sharing marijuana during recess.

Nearly all wound up as policemen in Mexico after graduating from an academy
where instructors taught the finer points of taking bribes, according to
Mexican sociologists who spent two years viewing a Mexican police force
from the inside.

The study portrays a police force riddled with what amounts to criminal
gangs bent on extorting money from drivers, shopkeepers and criminals in
one of the mega-suburbs ringing Mexico City. The authors insist that one
would find similar circumstances in many other Mexican cities.

The study, an apparently unprecedented inside account of one of Mexico's
most pressing political issues, implicates current and former officers
repeatedly in killings, kidnappings, drug trafficking and old-fashioned
street-corner bribery.

"Restructuring the police force will touch many interests. It would be very
difficult," said Adrian Lopez Rivera, who spent two years as a policeman.

Rivera worked under the supervision of his teacher, Nelson Arteaga Botello
of the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico. None of the police
officer candidates knew they were the subject of a study.

The two men refused to name the city where they did their research and
changed the names of those they quoted. The report was excerpted in the
prestigious magazine Nexos.

Police Chief Rodolfo Debernardi of Mexico City indicated he was not
surprised by Nexos's characterization of the neighboring police force.

"Disgracefully, that has existed and we have to diminish those kind of
activities," he said in an interview, insisting that his own force was
attacking corruption.

Lopez entered the police academy about four years ago with a seemingly
unpromising group. Many were "people who had great difficulty writing, even
reading," he said.

One candidate told Lopez he'd hacked a man to death for suggesting his
brother was a homosexual. Another officer, identified as Andres, admitted
beating his first wife to death and fleeing vengeance-minded brothers. He
was quoted as saying he had a new girlfriend he "beats for the heck of it.
What's more, she has no brothers."

A more typical case was the candidate who figured he could buy a minibus
with three years of salary and bribes.

Others were former officers from other jurisdictions who had been fired for
drugs, robbery or excessive violence.

Bribes were enough to overcome problems meeting physical or academic
requirements.

Commanders demanded a minimum of $9 US a day. For use of a good patrol car,
the payoff was about $60 a day. Officers then earned about $360 US a month.

Checked-by: Richard Lake