Central Booking

Mexico is one of many, many countries with literacy issues, but one municipal police force has a unique solution to the problem:

For more than 1,200 municipal police officers in the city of Nezahualcóyotl, the phrase "book him" has taken on a new meaning.

Authorities in this sprawling suburb of Mexico City have launched an innovative new program that encourages city cops to participate in a read-abook-a-month club. And according to Mayor Luis Sánchez Jiménez, the program has awakened a passionate interest in literature within the force.

"A police officer is not just a person who knows how to arrest criminals," explains Sánchez Jiménez, "but he or she is also a person who knows how to express themselves, how to behave respectably, and how to treat the public with respect."

He calls the reading program "a tool for creating better men and women" on the force. "Reading makes us better people and it gives us resources to lead more fulfilling everyday lives," he says.

Among the participating authors is Paco Ignacio Taibo II:

Sánchez Jiménez says that local officers have been especially taken by popular contemporary writers like Paco Ignacio Taibo II, whom he calls "our greatest figure in the ‘black novel’ genre."

As a result, the mayor has invited Taibo II to come to Nezahualcóyotl and address the police force.

Taibo II is the author of a number of mystery/detective novels, including "No Happy Ending," "An Easy Thing," and "Just Passing Through." He is currently collaborating on a detective novel with Chiapan Zapatista rebel leader Subcommandante Marcos.

I wonder if they shouldn’t be reading translations of the 87th Precinct novels as well…?