This paper will discuss the 2010 decision to centralize police in Mexico. This
action has been controversial within the political sphere in Mexico. This paper
addressed the debate between those scholars who promote the centralization of policing
systems a valid mechanism to address cartel violence and those that fear centralization
will produce ineffective policing at the local level. Using qualitative methods, this paper
tests the hypothesis that decentralized police will outperform centralized police. Using
descriptive data from the Latinobarometro, the National Survey on Insecurity in Mexico,
and the Latin American Public Opinion Project, this paper illustrates that centralized
police outperform decentralized police on various indicators. The data is consistent
when comparing Mexico and Colombia, as well as within case data comparing
municipal, state and national level police in Mexico and finally comparing 18 Latin
American cases from 1995-2010.