PRESIDENT'S PLAN SHOULD BE EXPEDITED

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has a new plan to help quell the
violence wracking his country. A Los Angeles Times article noted that
Calderon is sending a plan to Congress that would do away with local
law-enforcement forces. This would be part of a larger overhaul of the
nation's police system.

While this sounds like a drastic measure -- and it is -- it does have
some merit and should be tried.

Calderon said on Wednesday, "Municipal police are the most vulnerable,
the easiest to find, the easiest to co-opt, the most subject to
intimidation and, of course, vengeance. It's necessary to change course."

His plan is worth a try simply because of the violence that just
continues and increases.

The president's plan cuts a broad swath. There are approximately 2,000
local police departments. Many people consider them to be part of the
problem rather than part of the solution.

The duties of those officers would be taken over by the state, though
some say that law-enforcement problems run through all levels of
Mexican police forces. But it's worth a try.

Calderon has already been the driving force behind a restructuring of
police at the federal level. The results have been dramatic, with
about 3,200 officers being fired since January after they failed drug
screenings or because of other causes.

Calderon's plan won't be simple to put into effect, partly because it
requires an amendment to the Mexican Constitution and because mayors
have come out against the plan.

That's understandable, because the mayors control the police and their
budgets.

However, Mexican governors and even the opposition political party
support the president. That's good, because 17 of the 31 state
legislatures have to OK the amendment.

Calderon's plan would be a positive companion measure to plans by the
new governor of Chihuahua, Cesar Duarte, who wants to impose life
sentences on people convicted of mass homicide, kidnapping and extortion.

These plans should be pursued with determination, because they would
be part of taking back the streets, a vital step in bringing violence
to an end in Juarez and elsewhere in Mexico.