09/14/10 – Chihuahuas State Congress approved, almost unanimously, a packet of reforms for the creation of a new State Attorney General’s office (Fiscalía General del Estado), in which the current Office of the Attorney General of Chihuahua (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado – PGJE), the Secretariat of Public Security (Secretaría de Seguridad Pública estatal – SSPE), and the Ministerial and Preventative police (policías Ministerial y Preventiva – Cipol), are fused into a single unit. The unification of the Cipol and PGJE required the reformation of ten laws, as well reforms to the Comprehensive Penal Reform laws in which “State Attorney General” (Procurador del Estado) or the “Office of the Attorney General” shows up.
Among the modifications made, there were changes to the text of article 121 of the State Constitution (artículo 121 de la Constitución del Estado) that establishes that the office of State Attorney General would have to be approved by two thirds of congress from a short list of candidates proposed by the Executive power. The residency prerequisite was also modified so that the charge of attorney general no longer has to be appointed to a Chihuahuense or a resident of Chihuahua, however, in order to be appointed one must me a Mexican citizen, be at least thirty-years-old, be a lawyer, and have a minimum five years experience in the practice of the profession.
The coordinator of the PRI representatives, Fernando Rodríguez Moreno, explained that the homologation of the Cipol and Ministerial Police is what will be known as the “Policía Única” (Single Police force), noting that when the federal model is released they will have to legislate in order to integrate the Office of Municipal Public Security (Dirección de Seguridad Pública Municipal).
Sources:
El Diario de Chihuahua. “Fusionan Procuraduría estatal y Cipol en una Fiscalía General.” 09 Septiembre, 2010.
Alejandro Salmón Aguilera. “Estructuran nuevo Gobierno.” El Diario/Corresponsal. 03 Septiembre, 2010.
