The "community police" of Ayutla and other districts in the state of Guerrero in western Mexico surrendered to authorities on 20 February 20 criminal suspects held since January and freed 19 considered more or less innocent, provisionally ending an episode of unrest that had unnerved state authorities and politicians. These were reportedly the last of 54 suspects the residents had detained in the Costa Chica part of Guerrero, in an angry and spontaneous initiative against crime. They appeared already to have triggered similar initiatives around Mexico. The 20 were taken to the offices of the chief prosecutor of Guerrero, Excelsior reported. This and a previous handover of 11 detainees to authorities appeared to be the result of agreements between Guerrero and the Union of Peoples and Organizations of the State of Guerrero (UPOEG), which has coordinated the mobilisation of indigenous residents. As elsewhere in Mexico locals have doubted authorities' willingness and resolve to catch and punish criminals. The president of the Higher State Court (Tribunal Superior del Estado TSJ) of Guerrero was cited as saying that the 11 handed over earlier were in provisonal detention as investigations proceeded. While such initiatives have prompted public concerns, one senator for Guerrero Sofío Ramírez has said he would propose a constitutional amendment in the Senate to recognize community policing as a part of indigenous customs. The head of the Leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) Jesús Zambrano has said in turn that these are "not uprisings against the Mexican State" but an "urgent call" for the state to be "present" locally. So far officials have been talking to the militias. On 13 February residents of Santos Reyes Nopala in the neighbouring state of Oaxaca agreed to dissolve a similar community police after talking to state and municipal officials; they had formed their police force two days earlier, Excelsior and Notimex reported.
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