Mexico City Residents Approve of Police Sweeps

MEXICO CITY (August 6, 1997 09:33 a.m. EDT) -- Surprise police sweeps of high crime areas of Mexico City are overwhelming supported by local residents, a poll shows, despite accusations of brutality and disregard for legal niceties.

More than 1,500 people reportedly have been detained in the sweeps that began on July 28 and run daily since then.

According to a poll published by the Mexico City newspaper Reforma on Monday, 77 percent of residents in the three neighborhoods where the sweeps have been concentrated approve of the operations.

Police sweep through the neighborhoods armed with automatic rifles and wearing bullet-proof vests. Reforma said 1,564 people had been detained in the raids through Monday.

The Mexico City Commission of Human Rights said it had received three complaints. Some of those picked up have accused police of brutality, and of entering homes without search warrants.

The attorney general of Mexico City, Lorenzo Thomas, said residents have asked for the sweeps because certain neighborhoods had become too dangerous.

"It was impossible to get around without the fear of being mugged," he said.

The newspaper questioned 353 people on Aug. 2; it didn't give a margin of error.