The state of Michoacán announced it is adding 140 patrol vehicles to the police fleet, bringing the total number of new patrol cars purchased during the tenure of Governor Silvano Aureoles to 1,049.

The delivery of the new vehicles is part of Aureoles’ plan to strengthen public safety in a state where drug cartels are fighting for control of drug trafficking routes.

The patrol units will be distributed in Lázaro Cárdenas, Apatzingán, Coalcomán, Jiquilpan, Uruapan, Zamora, La Piedad, Huetamo, Zitácuaro and Morelia.

“The challenge we have is to make this institution the best police force in Mexico, with more and better officers, with more infrastructure and equipment, with better wages and benefits, and with more intelligence work to achieve together the Michoacán that we want,” said Aureoles.

In addition to the new vehicles, Aureoles has installed 6,000 security cameras, opened eight new police barracks and built a 31,000-square-meter command center, the largest such building in Latin America, the governor said.

In recent years, the state has also allocated resources to the professionalization of police forces, and Michoacán now has 6,250 trained officers, 5,050 more than it had at the beginning of the Aureoles administration in 2015.

Hours after the press conference announcing the purchase, Zamora’s police chief and another officer were ambushed and killed on the Mexico City-Guadalajara highway.

Source: El Universal (sp), La Voz de Michoacán (sp), La Jornada (sp)