Individual Values of Mexico’s New Centurions: Will Police Recruits Implement Community-Based Changes?

Abstract

This article explores one element of community-oriented policing: the need to recruit police officers who will act as agents of change for the community. Using the Rokeach theory of human values, this article reports the findings of a class of police recruits in Mexico City and addresses the prospects for the future success of Mexican community-based police reforms. The value patterns of these recruits suggest that, like their northern counterparts, those who choose to enter the police profession may do so with a consistent conservative set of values that may be anathema to instituting community-oriented policing.