It's an interesting question. In US I find gang-active areas there is far less police hassling as they are focused on either severe crimes or just fucking off

It's an interesting question. In US I find gang-active areas there is far less police hassling as they are focused on either severe crimes or just fucking off doing nothing. I've lived in several semi-dangerous cities and police do not enforce traffic laws (like at all) as they have bigger fish to fry. Your odds of getting shook down are practically zero. Whereas in bumfuck US you get pulled over all the time for practically nothing, "civil asset forfeiture" (aka shakedown) cuz a dog looked at you wrong etc. I will admit my basis for comparison is a bit different though as I don't worry at all going into even the most dangerous parts of US because here I can legally have a gun, in Mexico all I can do is run. I suspect based on my other Norte Americano experiences the police in Mexico would be even worse without the cartels, but I'm not sure.