Latin America Should Police Their Police

In the long run, reducing crime rates in Latin America - the region, according to the World Health Organization, has become one of the world’s most violent - will depend, among other things, on improving education standards, putting more criminals behind bars, and convincing the United States to reduce its drug addiction and stop the smuggling of heavy weapons to the drug cartels.

But none of this will be enough unless countries clean up corruption-ridden police forces. Creating independent police oversight commissions is an idea that Mexico and several countries in the region should seriously consider.