IN THE HEART OF A DRUG WAR

A Former Canadian Police Officer Is Experiencing The Horrors Brought
By Drug Prohibition In Mexico, And Trying To Change Things For The Better

Walter McKay is an all-Canadian hero: currently fighting police
corruption in Mexico, he is also a conscientious objector to the war on drugs.

Born and raised in British Columbia, after university, he joined the
Vancouver Police Department. He was a founding member of the "Odd
Squad," a group of officers who patrolled the Downtown Eastside,
where he helped make the NFB film Through a Blue Lens.

He quit walking the beat in order to pursue his graduate studies in
the ethics of law enforcement at Simon Fraser University and then
later worked on his PhD at UBC in police training and reform. I met
him later, when he was working with the Police Assessment Resource
Center in Los Angeles. Eventually, Walter and his wife decided to go
to Mexico, her homeland, to raise their family.

Currently Walter is the project director for the Instituto para la
Seguridad y la Democracia (INSYDE), a non-profit, non-governmental
agency that works to strengthen and support the Mexican police.

To many, fighting police corruption in Mexico may seem like an uphill
battle. Corruption in the public sector is rampant and well-known.
The drug war has perhaps taken more of a toll on Mexico than on any
other country.

This is because it is not only a drug production centre, it is also
the main distribution point for the rest of Latin America. Every day
there are news stories about tragedies and conflicts that are
inherent to drug prohibition. In the city of Juarez, there were 1,600
prohibition-related deaths last year; 7,000 across Northern Mexico since 2007.

"Even more so than in Canada and the U.S., prohibition is a failed
policy here in Mexico -- there is no question of that whatsoever.
America's drug war is devastating to its neighbouring Latin American
countries," McKay told me.

"In the 1990s, the citizens of Colombia were the ones who paid the
high price in deaths, corruption and chaos that nearly produced a
failed state. Now, it is Mexico, a much bigger country and closer to
the U.S., that is being brought to its knees as a result of the drug
trade. However, the consequences are far more deadly both to the
people who live here and in terms of its threat to U.S. security.
When the narco-traffickers have access to billions of dollars
annually (estimates from $25 billion to $40 billion) and the most
advanced weaponry money can buy, then the rhetoric does, and has,
become a reality. Here in Mexico there is, in fact, a drug war."

Drug prohibition brings with it a ton of temptation. In Mexico, a
police officer does not earn much money, so corruption is seen as a
reasonable means of supplementing one's income.

For example, in Mexico City (one of the most expensive cities in the
world) about $2,000 U.S. a month is required for a family to live a
modest middle-class lifestyle. Most police officers make between $300
and $800 a month. Because the pay is so low, the quality of recruits
is low. Often they are recruited from the poorest regions of the
country such as Chiapas or Guerrero, and their mother tongue is not
Spanish. Because the pay is minimal and there is little respect for
the profession, education is not a priority so many police officers
have less than a Grade 3 education. There is a large percentage who
are functionally illiterate.

So why doesn't the government simply pay officers more if it wants to
combat corruption?

It's a vicious circle. Since the police are poorly trained, lack
education and are not respected, they are not seen as "worthy" of
more money. Walter's aim is to break this cycle by introducing a
national certification program based upon "best practices" developed
from policing models in Canada, the U.S., and Britain, which will
give Mexican police agencies a clear focus as to how to improve. They
can then approach their governments for additional funding based on
this improvement. It will be slow, but progress will be seen and
expectations raised as the police become more professional.

Nearly half of the population of Mexico lives in poverty. The drug
lords have the money and power to buy not only the police officers
but their superiors, the city council, the politicians, judges and
anyone else who may threaten their business. The Mexican government
concedes that many of the municipalities and towns -- as well as some
of the states -- are directly under the control of the drug traffickers.

Walter's job consists of writing training and auditing procedures for
police, devising best practices for police management and managers,
and instilling a commitment to community policing and oversight for
Mexican police forces.

That would be a daunting task for anyone, but Walter's political
allegiance to the principles of drug policy reform makes his position
even more interesting.

As a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Walter believes
that the war on drugs does more harm than the drugs themselves, that
the question of drug use and abuse is a social issue rather than a
criminal one. He is not afraid to voice this opinion:

"My views here are well known, and I give interviews from here to
radio stations and newspapers in the U.S. and Canada about the situation here.

"Decriminalization and even legalization have been raised by the
major political parties here, and is very much being considered as a
resolution to the incredible power that the drug lords now brandish in Mexico."

But wouldn't an end to drug prohibition bring even more chaos?

Actually, the immediate effect of ending prohibition would be to deny
the drug lords the billions of dollars that finance their violence.
This violence includes shootings and torture of innocent men, women
and children, kidnappings (one of the highest rates in the world),
beheadings, bodies dissolved in vats of acid, bombings, armed
assaults against homes, businesses, government agencies and police
stations, and even hand grenades thrown indiscriminately into festive crowds.

It's hard to imagine that Mexico could be more chaotic than it already is.

In 2006, former Mexican president Vicente Fox attempted to make
personal possession of small amounts of drugs a non-criminal offence:
that's called decriminalization, not legalization. Even so, the U.S.
put enormous pressure on Fox and his government to abandon those
plans, which they did. Obviously, drug prohibition is not going to
end overnight -- but current President Felipe Calderon seems to be
trying to revive the idea of decriminalizing personal drug use. If
nothing else, it would free up the police to go after bigger fish.

Walter McKay represents the finest and most recent incarnation of the
Canadian peacekeeping tradition. His role could well change the
course of history -- but it's not a job many would willingly
undertake. Mexico today is a lot like America in the 1920s, during
alcohol prohibition: gangsters rule the streets, and anybody in the
way is expendable. Does he worry about his personal safety?

"If for some reason the drug lords felt threatened by my modest
efforts (rather than those of the over 45,000 army troops and
billions of dollars directed at them by the government), I would
still proceed; although perhaps more cautiously. As Edmund Burke
said, 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men
do nothing'."