Homicide is not the only problem: aggravated robbery up 38% in a year

From January to October 2017, 1,515,074 crimes were reported in the 32 attorney’s offices of the
country; aggravated business robberies increased by 62%; aggravated highway robberies increased
by 54% and firearms attack by 39%
Murder is not the only crime on the rise in Mexico. There is also a significant increase this year of
other violent crimes and high-impact crimes. Among them, it is possible to find aggravated robbery,
with 50,000 cases reported in only a year, or firearms attack, with a rise of 2,000 reported cases in
comparison to the number of cases of the prior year.
The latest information provided by The Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System
indicates that 1,515,074 crimes were reported from January to October 2017 in the 32 attorney’s offices
of the country.
This is an average of 4,208 crimes per day, or in other words, 175 new criminal acts each hour.
By comparing these figures with those recorded in 2016 in this same period of time, when there were
1,341,168 crimes reported, it is revealed that Mexico had a 13% upturn of the incidence rate of various
crimes.
This increase in insecurity is caused by the upturn of high-impact crimes being aggravated robbery one
of the most obvious cases.
From January to October 2017, 136,295 cases of different types of aggravated robbery were reported.
In this very same period but from 2017, the number of reports of these crimes reached 180,000 cases.
This means that there were more than 50,000 cases reported in only a year or in other words, there was
a growth of almost 38% of this type of crime.
By analyzing the different kinds of robbery, it is possible to see that there is a very important
deterioration in the public safety in Mexico caused by the increase of aggravated business robbery.
Reports of this type of crime went from 21,018 cases in 2016 to 34,108 cases in 2017, which is equal to
a 62% upturn of the incidence rate of this crime.
Another serious problem is the carjacking. Reports of this type of crime went from 36, 814 cases in
2016 to 51,904 cases in 2017, which is equal to a 41% increase of this type of robbery.
In Mexico, mugging has increased by 38.4%. So far in 2017 the number of reports of this crime,
compared to the prior year, increased from 39,104 cases to 54,113 cases.
On the other hand, there is another type of robbery: cargo robbery. The number of reported cases of this
crime has increased by 28.8%.
Another type of robbery that also stands out in the official statistics is highway robbery. The
investigation files opened by this crime went from 2,499 reported cases in the period of time from
January to October 2016 to 3,823 reported cases in the same period of 2017, which is equal to a 52%
increase in the incidence rate of this crime.
If we only consider the aggravated highway robberies (3 out of 4 cases), there is an increase of more
than 54% of this type of robbery within just one year.
Tabasco is the state with the highest crime incidence rate in regards to aggravated robberies (in all
kinds of robbery). So far in 2017, we found a rate of 366.2 robberies per 100,000 citizens. To put this
into proper perspective, the national average is of 138.7 robberies per 100,000 citizens. That means that
Tabasco triples the level of incidence of this crime.
The second state with the highest rate of aggravated robbery is the State of Mexico, with a figure of
290.7 cases per 100,000 citizens. This is followed by Baja California with a rate of 281.3 cases per
100,000 citizens; Mexico City with 256 cases; Morelos with a rate of 251.1 cases and Puebla with a
rate of 192 robberies per 100,000 citizens.

Armed violence
Another important proof of the deterioration of the public safety of the country is the increase of
attempted homicide with a firearm.
From January to October 2017, there were 6,827 investigation files opened by the crime of injuries
caused by a firearm. We are talking about 2,000 more cases compared to the figures recorded for the
same period in 2016, where only 4,915 cases were reported. This is equal to an increase of almost 39%
of reported cases regarding this felony.
Nowadays, the rise of crimes committed with a firearm is a reality. Just like it was published this week,
28,878 murders were perpetrated in the country throughout 2017. This is equal to a rate of 16.9
murders per 100,000 citizens, a record number so far in the two last decades in Mexico.
From that number of homicides, at least in 13,842 cases the murder was committed with a firearm,
which means that in 66.1% of the crimes (almost 7 out of 10 cases) a firearm was used.
The head of state of Mexico City Miguel Ángel Mancera has insisted on talking about the proliferation
of armed violence. He had requested multiple times to Congress to approve a change in the gun and
explosives law to stiffen penalties for possession and carrying of arms and that this type of crime
requires the felon to go automatically to pretrial detention.

More red flags

The official statistics show that extortion is another serious rising crime. Considering that this an under-
reported crime, the official data shows that 4,797 extortions were reported to the Public Prosecutor’s
Office so far in 2017, which represents a 12.4% increase of this crime compared to the numbers
recorded in 2016.
An analysis about the problematic of extortion in the country made by the National Citizen
Observatory (NOC) shows that, even if the level of incidence rate of this crime is below the numbers
registered in 2013 (a record year regarding extortion), the rate of extortion is above the national
average in the five regions in which the country was divided as part of a strategy of public safety in
2017.
Another crime that presents a falling trend is sexual assault. On the one hand, there were 14,492
reported cases in the official register in the first 10 months of 2016. On the other hand, 15,958
investigation files were opened in 2017 in the same period. This represents an increase of 10.2% of the
crime incidence rate in only a year.