Telepanic
Security
for the people of Mexico City has two aspects: an ‘objective’
side, defined by violent deeds and officially reported crimes, and a ‘subjective’ side, sketched out by personal experience and impressions. The latter plays the more important role in the perception of safety in the city. The Federal District government makes enormous efforts to show that it is permanently on the fight against crime, through increased police presence and advertising campaigns that highlight falling crime rates. However, nine out of ten citizens feel unsafe in the street or traveling on public transport, which is understandable if the inefficiency in crime prevention and the penal process are taken into account: only 15% say they do not fear the Federal Preventative Police. The media also play a crucial role in creating the subjective dimension of inhabitants‘ sense of safety. The paranoia and sense of powerlessness in the face of this situation take on alarming forms, such as vigilantism. Since 1987 there have been sixteen cases of lynching in Mexico City. The most recent was in the south of the city on November 24, 2004. In that episode, the inhabitants of the neighborhood burned alive three members of the Federal Police whom they had mistakenly believed were kidnappers. In 2007, Mexico was in second place in the world index of kidnappings, ahead of Colombia, Brazil and Nigeria. The emergence of so-called ‘virtual’ kidnapping has further heightened the security crisis in the city. Extortion by telephone, based on the fake kidnapping of a relative, does not depend on the victim‘s financial situation. Even though the majority of the population is aware of virtual kidnapping, it is nonetheless effective. Terrified and uncertain, the relatives of the supposed kidnap victim concede to whatever demands are made of them, ≥
and there is little that can be done to protect them. The ease with which this type of crime may be carried out has led to perhaps the greatest paradox to challenge the city: that a
A mother with both her daughter and her dog on a lead to take them for a walk in a dangerous park.
significant number of the virtual kidnappers are actually prisoners who carry out their ‘work’ from inside the jails. When violence has no limits and everyone involved — government, media, citizens and criminals — actively participates in the perpetuation of this crazy spiral of violence, fear in itself becomes a problem, making it impossible for the residents of Mexico City to achieve peaceful coexistence and solidarity.
Mind the Gap
Catalina Holguín. (Photo / Foto).
Madre con perro, niña y correa para pasearlos en parque peligroso. Mutter mit angeleinter Tochter und Hund in einem gefährlichen Park.
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