Corruption: Complaints against traffic agents grow

Criminal complaints against road agents are increasing before the Jalisco Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, mainly due to traffic abuse that extorts improperly parked drivers.

Last May, the corporation reported 175 investigation files against Highway Police officers accused of acts of corruption, but Gerardo de la Cruz Tovarfiscal Anti-corruptionconfirmed that the figure increased to 203 during the current six-year term. Each investigation file is initiated when there are indications of anomalies and may include more than one police officer.

“The highway police officers are among the public servants who give us the most work. They are the ones that have been investigated the most by us lately,” he declared.

The above coincides with the dates on which the expansion of the areas where the road agents and tow trucks that “hunt” for poorly parked vehicles, as well as cases of police officers from the “Saving Lives” program who collect money from people detained in the operation for exceeding the blood alcohol limits, with the intention of releasing them.

According to the investigations, Gerardo de la Cruz declared: “It is not exactly a network, but rather they are people who do these things by themselves. They are being fought in the sense that many have been identified, some have been linked. On some occasions we have managed to have access to videos, recordings and so on… and we have been taking them. But suddenly they change areas and go to another. There we are playing like cat and mouse.”

Although he did not specify how many have gone to jail, he insisted that it is necessary for the affected people to report any act of corruption or abuse of authority to add evidence against the agents involved and bring them before the judge.

“We cannot say that the citizen is to blame. The public servant is the one who swears to comply with and enforces the laws,” added the state official.

Yesterday it was published about a new case where highway agents extorted citizens in the Jardines del Country neighborhood. They lifted several vehicles that were not on the yellow line or that were not breaking the law on cranes. However, Despite complaints from neighbors and the settlers’ association, neither the Road Police nor the Security Secretariat (in charge of the corporation) have issued a response.

The victims’ complaints have revealed the ways in which the agents operate: they arrive accompanied by tow trucks and without saying a word they hook up the cars. Then, the cranes “walk” through the streets surrounding the place where they were lifted, waiting for the owner to arrive, from whom they ask for money to lower the unit later, arguing “payment for the crane”; los amounts The prices they ask for usually range from 400 to five thousand pesos, depending on the area and the vehicle.

The Jalisco Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office asks the population to report any anomaly in Amado Aguirre 857, in the Jardines Alcalde neighborhood of Guadalajara. And by telephone: 33-1653-7783 and 33-1653-7784, extension 301.