VZCZCXRO1249
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHMC #0828/01 2501528
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 071528Z SEP 07
FM AMCONSUL MONTERREY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2415
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 3235
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHMC/AMCONSUL MONTERREY 7698

121407
2007-09-07 15:28:00
07MONTERREY828
Consulate Monterrey
CONFIDENTIAL

VZCZCXRO1249
PP RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHO RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHMC #0828/01 2501528
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 071528Z SEP 07
FM AMCONSUL MONTERREY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2415
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 3235
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHMC/AMCONSUL MONTERREY 7698

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MONTERREY 000828 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA, INL, DRL, DS/IP/ITA, AND DS/IP/WHA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  9/7/2017 
TAGS: SNAR KCRM ASEC KCOR KHLS KJUS PHUM PINS PGOV MX
SUBJECT: NEW NUEVO LEON SECURITY DIRECTOR'S AMBITIOUS PLANS TO 
OVERHAUL CORRUPT POLICE FORCES 
 
 
MONTERREY 00000828  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Bruce Williamson, CG. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
¶1.  (C)  SUMMARY.  In a September 5 meeting with Consulate 
representatives, Aldo Fasci, Nuevo Leon's new Secretary of 
Public Security, laid out his ambitious plans to combat 
corruption and low morale among the state's police force.  His 
plans include measures to augment police officers' dismally low 
salaries, administering routine polygraph testing, properly 
outfitting and equipping the ranks, and leveraging technology to 
aid officers in the field.  Fasci also spoke about his plans to 
create a new "parallel" police force, comprised entirely of the 
60% of the current Nuevo Leon state police officers who he 
believes have not been tainted.  These officers would cede some 
of their routine patrolling authority to municipal police and, 
instead, concentrate on targeted operations.  The remaining 40% 
of the current state police force that are known or suspected to 
be involved with narco-traffickers would be confined to 
low-level, low-profile police work, like guarding public 
buildings.  Given political, financial, and time constraints, it 
is unlikely that Fasci will be able to realize many of his 
ambitious goals.  Though Post reiterated its support for the 
Nuevo Leon government's efforts to upgrade its police apparatus, 
we are concerned that Fasci's "parallel" system could 
effectively create an entire police force that is controlled by 
drug cartels.  Post also questions Fasci's plan to cede more 
authority to local police departments, which are more corrupt 
and more likely to side with narco-traffickers.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  On September 5, the Consul General, RSO, and LegAtt 
met with Aldo Fasci, who in late August replaced Antonio Garza 
Garcia as the third Secretary of Public Security in Nuevo Leon 
Governor Natividad Gonzalez Paras's sexenio.  Post has enjoyed 
an excellent working relationship with Fasci, who previously 
served as the Deputy Attorney General for the State of Nuevo 
Leon.  Fasci was candid with Consulate officials about the 
challenges and opportunities that lie before him, and about his 
ambitious plans to overhaul the Nuevo Leon state police force. 
While Fasci was appointed to his position by PRI Governor 
Gonzalez, he realizes that he needs the local and national 
support of President Calderon's PAN party because funding his 
plans will require, at least in part, more federal funding and 
because many of the state's local mayors hail from the PAN. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
COMBATING CORRUPTION & LOW MORALE 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C)  Fasci discussed the multitude of challenges confronting 
him as he assumes his new role as Secretary of Public Security. 
The first and biggest issue is corruption.  Fasci acknowledged 
that the state's low-paid law enforcement officers are 
susceptible to bribes from drug cartels, particularly given that 
the average starting salary for a new police officer is only 
$7,000 USD per year and the salary for a senior state police 
commander is $16,000 USD.  To augment these low salaries, Fasci 
plans to work with local universities to employ the spouses of 
police officers, which may help increase the family's income 
and, hopefully, improve the retention and loyalty of good 
officers.  He also plans to begin giving routine polygraph tests 
to all officers to both weed out corrupt cops and deter clean 
ones from making bad choices. 
 
¶4.  (C)  The second biggest problem, according to Fasci, is low 
morale.  Nuevo Leon police have not had new uniforms and no 
officer has been promoted in over two years.  Fasci plans to 
change this by first providing officers with new uniforms.  He 
will then promote qualified officers to higher ranks and, for 
the first time, promote uniformed officers to director-level 
positions, thus providing the rank-and-file with the opportunity 
to advance through a career track.  Fasci also noted that Nuevo 
Leon state police are largely ill- and under-equipped.  In an 
effort to alleviate this morale-killer, Fasci would like to 
armor as many patrol cars as possible and integrate technology 
into officers' daily work.  For example, he spoke about 
equipping state police with Palm Pilots and mobile facial 
recognition software.   Fasci also plans to upgrade Nuevo Leon's 
one police academy, which trains not only state police, but all 
municipal officers, as well.  Fasci added that he would like 
Nuevo Leon to phase-out specialized units (i.e. SWAT teams), 
which are only deployed several times a year and which are often 
"hired" by drug cartels that capitalize on their specialized 
training to carry out kidnappings and assassinations.  He also 
supported creating a joint state intelligence center that will 
capture information from all levels of law enforcement operating 
in the state. 
 
¶5.  (C)  Currently, state police in Nuevo Leon share 
 
MONTERREY 00000828  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
responsibility for patrolling the greater Monterrey metropolitan 
area with municipal cops.  Fasci plans to cede much of this 
patrolling responsibility to the municipal police forces in 
order to free-up state police who can then focus on conducting 
targeted patrols and operations throughout Monterrey.  Fasci 
said that he understands the difficulties he will face, 
particularly with the host of local police chiefs and mayors who 
will argue that their already understaffed forces will not be 
able to take-on additional responsibilities.  To alleviate these 
concerns, Fasci wants to establish community police units in all 
of Monterrey's neighborhoods.  Currently, some of the city's 
wealthiest communities privately-fund their own unarmed 
"auxiliary police officers" who help deter crime and who work 
with citizens to report suspicious behavior to the local police. 
 Funding is needed, he declared, to make this option open to all 
communities, both rich and poor. 
 
¶6.  (C)  Similarly, Fasci told the Consul General that he 
supports the creation of Metropol, an idea first proposed by the 
local PAN leadership in Spring 2007.  Metropol will establish a 
single metropolitan Monterrey police force with officers from 
existing local forces.  They will wear the same uniform and 
drive the same type of patrol car, but will still report to 
their respective chiefs of police.  A newly-created Metropol 
Director position will rotate between the chiefs of police of 
each municipality.  NOTE.  It is interesting that Fasci supports 
this idea, given that it was originally rejected by Governor 
Gonzalez and local PRI leadership.  END NOTE. 
 
¶7.  (C)  State prisons are also under Fasci's purview as 
Secretary of Public Security.  He wants to overhaul Nuevo Leon's 
 
SIPDIS 
prisons to take away the privileges enjoyed by criminals who 
"continue to operate" and facilitate crimes from inside the 
prison.  As an example, Fasci supports jamming cell phone 
frequencies to prevent prisoners from making or receiving calls 
from their mobile phones.  Fasci also said that he will now 
require prison visitors to not only sign in as they currently 
do, but also to be fingerprinted and photographed, so that new 
biometric and facial recognition software could track and 
identify visitors. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
CREATING A "PARALLEL" POLICE FORCE 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C)  While Fasci listed the many steps he will take to 
combat corruption and low morale among the Nuevo Leon police 
force, the crux of his ambitious plans revolve around the 
creation of a "parallel" police force.  Fasci estimated that 40% 
of the current Nuevo Leon police force is corrupt with officers 
who are in the pockets of narco-traffickers.  His plan is to 
transfer the remaining 60% of "good" officers from the current 
police force to a separate, new police corps.  The new corps 
will conduct the targeted patrols and operations to which Fasci 
alluded, while the old, corrupt force will be confined to 
low-profile, low-responsibility work, such as guarding public 
buildings.  To illustrate his concept, Fasci said that the two 
police forces will resemble two trees: one that will be 
cultivated to bloom and flourish, and another that, without 
being tended to, will eventually wither away.  The hope, he 
said, is that most of the corrupt 40% will just go away (i.e. 
quit). 
 
¶9.  (C)  Given these ambitious plans, Fasci realizes that he 
only has two years left in Governor Gonzalez's sexenio to 
realize his goals and that he will have to go at them 
aggressively in his first few months.  He also acknowledged that 
budget constraints will be a large factor in determining how 
much he accomplishes.  In an effort to generate more revenue to 
fund his initiatives, Fasci will propose that the state begin 
regulating Monterrey's more than 1000 private security guards 
and body guards, perhaps through licensing fees. 
 
¶10.  (C)  Fasci also asked for the Consulate's help in 
identifying U.S. police forces and agencies from which he can 
learn best practices to apply to Nuevo Leon.  Fasci requested 
that the Consulate's law enforcement agencies help fund his 
project to armor all state police vehicles and improve 
technology.  The Consul General told Fasci that, while the USG 
is unlikely to fund expensive armoring, the Consulate's law 
enforcement agents would work to identify areas in which 
funding, advice, and training could be provided.  Monterrey's 
RSO and LegAtt suggested that Fasci visit the Texas Department 
of Public Safety, the San Antonio Police Department, and the 
Bexar County Sheriff's Department to get a better idea of how 
 
MONTERREY 00000828  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
U.S. law enforcement agencies operate. 
 
¶11.  (C)  COMMENT.  Aldo Fasci's plans to overhaul Nuevo Leon's 
police force are perhaps overly ambitious.  However, if he can 
accomplish only several of his goals, security in Nuevo Leon 
will be much better.  We believe that his "honeymoon" period 
will last approximately six months, after which time it will be 
difficult for him to push for real reform.  Fasci plans to play 
a more public role than his predecessor, who rarely interacted 
with the public and who shunned the press.  This may help him 
win over the state and federal government entities whose support 
he needs to fund his initiatives.  It is unclear how well he 
will be received by his the ranks of state police officers.  For 
example, some might view his decision to bring with him his 
protective detail from his former job at the state Attorney 
General's office, rather than entrusting his protection to the 
state police he supervises, as a lack of confidence in his own 
employees. 
 
¶12.  (C)  Comment continued.  It is interesting, but not 
altogether surprising, that Fasci is content with allowing 40% 
of the State's police force that is known or suspected of 
corruption to continue working for the state, albeit in a 
low-profile capacity.  This type of attitude is common among 
local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies with which 
Post works.  The excuse often given is that it is too difficult 
to fire police officers in Mexico.  Post believes that the 
reality has much more to do with possible retribution from 
cartels whose leadership is not likely to sit idly by as their 
"employees" are let go.  Post is concerned that Fasci's 
"parallel" system could effectively create an entire police 
force that is controlled by drug cartels.  Post also questions 
Fasci's plan to cede more authority to local police departments, 
which are more corrupt and more likely to side with 
narco-traffickers.  We will continue to monitor Fasci's progress 
as he assumes what can only be described as a very important 
role in Nuevo Leon.  END COMMENT. 
WILLIAMSON