Mérida, Yucatán — The state’s 4,000 police officers are getting 50-percent raises, the public learned last week.
The governor, Rolando Zapata Bello, also announced the hiring of 550 new officers and 160 new staff, including prosecutors and medical investigators, who will report to the state attorney general’s office.
Right now, the SSP earns the eighth-smallest paycheck of any state police force in the nation. But when raises take effect on Aug. 15, they will be nation’s sixth best-paid among 31 states and Mexico City, he said.
Police will receive a base salary of 12,190 pesos a month. That’s equal to a yearly salary of around $8,000 a year in U.S. dollars.
“It is undeniable that our state has grown. Not only our economy, as we have already mentioned, but also urban development, which presents new challenges in terms of geographic security coverage,” said Zapata Bello.
The raises and new hires will cost 400 million pesos, which was not part of the fiscal year budget, but putting off this decision “would be much more costly for Yucatán,” the governor told a packed auditorium at the Siglo XXI convention center.
During the event, 103 new security vehicles were also presented, including patrol cars and motorcycles, costing 69 million pesos.
On the municipal level, the mayor of the capital city, Mauricio Vila Dosal, said that salaries for local police have risen since 2015 and a more humane work schedule has been put in place. City police work 12-hour shifts and then have 24 hours of rest, to improve their chances of spending time with family, he said.
Previously, municipal police worked grueling shifts — 24 hours on, 24 hours off — contributing to a level of exhaustion that diminished their efficiency, he said.
He also recalled that at the beginning of this municipal administration, the city remodeled their dormitories, bathrooms and dining rooms to provide more comfortable spaces for their agents.
Gobernador @RolandoZapataB Anuncia incremento salarial a elementos SSP y FGE. Policía Estatal se convierte en sexta mejor pagada en país. pic.twitter.com/GOx4JZT5Wp
— SSP Yucatán (@PoliciaYucatan) August 4, 2017
“We have recognized the work of the police, granting, in 2015, a salary stimulus of five percent, in addition to the general increase to lower-level police officers,” said Vila Dosal. He added that in 2016, municipal police earned another five percent raise.
Thirty officers were granted a promotion with a salary increase of 20 percent in recognition of their performance, he said.
The mayor added that a modern gymnasium was built to keep city officers in peak condition.
Sources: Diario de Yucatán, Punto Medio
