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Mexican police force armed with slingshots after guns confiscated

The force’s firearms were confiscated after only 30 officers of the 130-member department passed control tests and were deemed fit for service

By Police1 Staff

ALVARADO, Mexico — Police officers in Mexico have been issued slingshots after being stripped of their firearms.

The state of Veracruz stripped officers of their guns at the police department in Alvarado after only 30 officers of the 130-member department passed control tests and were deemed fit for service, the Guardian reported.

Mayor Bogar Ruiz Rosas said the department is mostly made up of new hires who were scheduled to start training. In a symbolic protest in response to the disarmament, the mayor handed out slingshots and small bags of rocks to officers in front of the media.

https://www.facebook.com/AytoAlvarado/videos/1942388139394655/?t=11

Ruiz said the state’s move to disarm the officers was a political vendetta. He considered the move as an abuse of the state’s government authority and said he will hold state officials responsible for any criminal acts that occur while the officers remain unarmed, according to RT.

“This can only be understood as something political and we have to be prepared to do work in a professional manner,” Ruiz said. “Today we delivered slingshots to our municipal police. The citizen governor made the decision to take all the weapons, which disqualified him completely, as it violates our autonomy.”

Veracruz governor Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares said the state confiscated the weapons from the force because its members were not properly accredited.

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