New prosecutor’s office to coordinate state law enforcement

With the aim of heightening security and justice in Jalisco, the nascent Aristoteles Sandoval administration is pushing ahead with plans to create a new Prosecutor General’s Office (Fiscalia General de Jalisco).

Under the reforms approved by the state Congress last week, the old Attorney General’s Office (PGJEJ) will be merged with the Ministry of Public Security (SSPJ) to form a larger, more centralized institution, which the government hopes will prove more effective in combating organized crime.

The Prosecutor General’s Office will be in charge of the prevention, investigation and prosecution of crime; civil protection; social rehabilitation; and the enforcement of traffic laws in Jalisco.

The structure of the new office appears to be based on a model employed by the Chihuahua state government since 2010, in which the prosecutor general’s office coordinates work by prosecutors and the state and municipal police forces.

The central office will investigate crimes such as murder, corruption, kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking, crimes against women and children, theft of vehicles or cargo, and money laundering, while another sub-office will be established to investigate human rights cases.

Sandoval has chosen Carlos Luis Najera to head the new office, although his appointment must still be ratified by two thirds of the state Congress. Having served as state police chief under the last National Action Party (PAN) administration, Najera will be in charge of the Public Ministry, which in turn controls the state police, and he will appoint a new public safety commissioner.

Najera studied law at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara (UAG) and took a masters in constitutional law at the University of Guadalajara (UdeG). He has worked in public security in Guadalajara and Zapopan and this week new Secretary General Arturo Zamora described him as “a great expert, not only in security, but also as a lawyer.”