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What are the arguments against two years of compulsory police (or naval) service for men at age 18 in Mexico? It would certainly alter the political dynamics of

What are the arguments against two years of compulsory police (or naval) service for men at age 18 in Mexico? It would certainly alter the political dynamics of the war on drug cartels if moms nationwide were to send their sons to fight trafficking, and scooping young men out of their communities might prevent them from getting involved in criminal enterprises.

ttz 5y ago
> fight trafficking The message the cartel is sending to those who are trying to do exactly this seems like a strong deterrent. Not saying it's a bad idea. But there is ample evidence of police not being paid enough and accepting "bribes" (I use quotes here because I think the negative connotation is unfair, somewhat, when a lot of this happens simply because they don't make enough in the first place - it's a different moral worldview when you're trying to support your family), so I don't know if it would be easy to stop them from being "corrupted", or "paid off", especially if the service is compulsory. I think in general, the issue is super complicated, and if there were a simple panacea or idea, it would have been tried by now. I honestly don't know what can be done to stop the cartels with the amount of economic clout they have and how entrenched they are in all aspects of society. There's a great line in Narcos (apologies for using a show, but I really think it's a very applicable line); a colonel was asked what he needed to stop Escobar, and he said "Incorruptible men". Incorruptible men are very hard to come by. Incorruptible men who don't fear their families being slaughtered are probably even harder to come by.
soldehierro 5y ago
Sexism, for one.
asdff 5y ago
There are gang members in the U.S. who join the military to receive weapons training. It won't eliminate the problem. You will just see corrupt soldiers instead of corrupt police.
- rendall 5y ago
  > There are gang members in the U.S. who join the military to receive weapons training. 1) There are people everywhere who do all sorts of things. The nightly news is replete with one-off events presented as a worrying trend. Is it a thing to worry about? is the question. 2) What's worse than a gang member entering military service? A gang member not entering military service: a 4 year commitment to being told what to do by your betters, learning life skills like how to cooperate and follow instructions. Would a "gang member" go back to his old life after successfully navigating that? Depends on the gang I suppose, but not many I would imagine. 3) With compulsory service, everyone would have weapons training, criminals and non-criminals alike.
watwut 5y ago
It would help to merge police and cartels even more. They are not two distinct entities, there is significant overlap between the two. If you force young man into military, you might just force them into situation where he has to cooperate with cartel or get corrupt. It uses young men as a tool to coerce their mothers to do something political without even being sure what that thing is. You want sacrifice young men but don't stare for what.

ttz 5y ago

> fight trafficking The message the cartel is sending to those who are trying to do exactly this seems like a strong deterrent. Not saying it's a bad idea. But there is ample evidence of police not being paid enough and accepting "bribes" (I use quotes here because I think the negative connotation is unfair, somewhat, when a lot of this happens simply because they don't make enough in the first place - it's a different moral worldview when you're trying to support your family), so I don't know if it would be easy to stop them from being "corrupted", or "paid off", especially if the service is compulsory. I think in general, the issue is super complicated, and if there were a simple panacea or idea, it would have been tried by now. I honestly don't know what can be done to stop the cartels with the amount of economic clout they have and how entrenched they are in all aspects of society. There's a great line in Narcos (apologies for using a show, but I really think it's a very applicable line); a colonel was asked what he needed to stop Escobar, and he said "Incorruptible men". Incorruptible men are very hard to come by. Incorruptible men who don't fear their families being slaughtered are probably even harder to come by.

soldehierro 5y ago

Sexism, for one.

asdff 5y ago

There are gang members in the U.S. who join the military to receive weapons training. It won't eliminate the problem. You will just see corrupt soldiers instead of corrupt police.

rendall 5y ago
> There are gang members in the U.S. who join the military to receive weapons training. 1) There are people everywhere who do all sorts of things. The nightly news is replete with one-off events presented as a worrying trend. Is it a thing to worry about? is the question. 2) What's worse than a gang member entering military service? A gang member not entering military service: a 4 year commitment to being told what to do by your betters, learning life skills like how to cooperate and follow instructions. Would a "gang member" go back to his old life after successfully navigating that? Depends on the gang I suppose, but not many I would imagine. 3) With compulsory service, everyone would have weapons training, criminals and non-criminals alike.

watwut 5y ago

It would help to merge police and cartels even more. They are not two distinct entities, there is significant overlap between the two. If you force young man into military, you might just force them into situation where he has to cooperate with cartel or get corrupt. It uses young men as a tool to coerce their mothers to do something political without even being sure what that thing is. You want sacrifice young men but don't stare for what.