The AMBA will strengthen collaboration with the Government to prevent vehicle theft

After several work meetings to exchange ideas, the Mexican Association of Automotive Armorers (AMBA) will soon sign a collaboration agreement with the federal government. The objective is to implement strategies that reduce vehicle theft in the country, such as the use of the hologram that verifies the precedence of new units, as well as the improvement and ratification of the vehicle registry scheme.

“The aim is to limit the use of reinforced vehicles by criminals. It is important to note that serious independent companies or companies affiliated with the AMBA, as established by law, for each reinforced vehicle we deliver to the authority all the data of the vehicle, as well as the tax and identity documents of the person who required the work. We will have to reinforce these filters so that the government can dispose of them and confront organized crime with more elements”, explained Fernando Echeverri Posada, President of the AMBA.

The AMBA stated in a statement that the information provided by the armorers is under the custody of the General Directorate of Private Security (DGSP), a body dependent on the National Security Commission (CNS) of the Ministry of the Interior (Segob), as provided in the last paragraph of numeral 35 of the Regulations of the Federal Private Security Law.

Since 2008, the authorities have the registry of how many cars have been armored for the national and export markets, it would only be necessary to follow up to know who uses them or what their final destination was.

Another complement for the safety of users of armored cars is the recent reform that the Chamber of Senators applied to article 13 of the Public Vehicle Registry Law (Repuve) with which it is sought to avoid anonymity in the purchase and use of reinforced cars, prevent its use in criminal acts and create the registry compendium. It obliges those who manufacture, assemble or armor vehicles in Mexico, to assign a vehicle identification number so that it is a verification element in the aforementioned registry.

Echeverri Posada affirmed that although crime also uses armored vehicles, these do not account for more than 1% of the total number of armored vehicles in the country, since their units are almost always reinforced by illegal companies, of which it is estimated that there are between 10 and 12 in the country.

According to figures from the Mexican Association of Insurance Institutions (AMIS), at the end of 2012 in Mexico, 73,878 insured cars were stolen; while conventional kidnapping carried out by "novices" and high-impact kidnapping by "experts" grew in four of the 10 entities identified where this phenomenon is greater: Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Coahuila and Michoacán.

In the background are the Federal District, Durango, Zacatecas, Chihuahua, the State of Mexico and Guerrero, according to the then Federal Public Security Secretariat (SSPF) and the Attorney General's Office (PGR).

Established in 2000, the AMBA is made up of Blindajes Alemanes, Auto Safe, Ballistic Protection, Blindajes Epel, Blindajes Mexicanos, Transportadora de Protección y Seguridad, as well as Autowerk, SA de CV

Source: Editorial T21 http://www.t21.com.mx