09/26/13 – On September 25, the Mexican Government announced the creation of the Criminal Investigation Agency (Agencia de Investigación Criminal), a new unit under the Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR). The agency will fight crime through intelligence methods and forensics in an effort to support the investigation of crimes, strengthen the collection of evidence, and deliver more efficient prosecutions. The need for such an agency comes from the lack of “effective coordination” between the decentralized units of the PGR currently in charge of policing, analysis, and information gathering.
According to the document published in the Official Journal of the Federation (Diario Oficial de la Federación, DOF), the new agency will oversee a variety of departments including the General Coordination of Expert Services (Coordinación General de Servicios Periciales) and the National Center for Planning, Analysis, and Information to Combat Crime (Centro Nacional de Planeación, Análisis e Información para el Combate a la Delincuencia). The agency will also serve as the new umbrella for the Ministerial Federal Police (Policía Federal Ministerial, PFM), which replaced the Federal Investigation Agency (Agencia Federal de Investigación, AFI)—the former Federal Judicial Police (Policía Judicial Federal, PJF)—an agency historically and notoriously overshadowed by accusations of corruption, espionage, torture, and police brutality.
According to document A/101/13 released by the Mexican Government, the head of the new Criminal Investigation Agency—who will be appointed and can be removed at any time by the Attorney General (Procurador) —will have four months to define the agency’s structure and institutional image, which will then be sent to the Attorney General for approval. In the meantime, the agency will begin operation on September 26, finalizing such details in the months to come.
Sources:
“La PGR crea la nueva Agencia de Investigación Criminal.” CNN México. September 25, 2013.
Mosso, Rubén. “Crea PGR la Agencia de Investigación Criminal.” Milenio. September 25, 2013.
