Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Literary police

In a programme called Literature On Alert, Mexican Police officers in Nezahualcoyotl take part in literature workshops, chess and PE to broaden their minds and improve the force's reputation, Guardian Unlimited reports.

Pistols on their hips and submachine guns slung across their shoulders, a classroom full of shoeless police officers trample (aiyoh, major pantang ; after, seven generations stupid!) somewhat sheepishly over the volumes spread out on the floor. "Feel them enter your body," the teacher urges the men and women in blue as they pass over Honoré de Balzac, Arthur C Clarke, Rafael Alberti, Rudyard Kipling, Octavio Paz, Ruth Rendell and others. "We must lose our fear of books, we must get to know our new friends."

Nezahualcoyotl is a working-class city of 2 million people.

"The principle is that a police officer who is cultured is in a better position to be a better police officer," says José Jorge Amador, Neza's head of public security. He claims that there has been a drop in crime, for which he credits the "cultural dimension". He is proud of the drop of the city's car theft national ranking from No 3 to No 8 over the past three years.

The experiment began early in 2005. All the 1,200 officers of the municipal force are required to attend fortnightly book groups for any hope of promotion. In Mexico only 28% of the population aged over 15 read more than two books a year and 40% read none at all.

Sounds like another country we know, doesn't it?

Read whole article here.

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