Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, August 20, 2026 – Thirty cadets have begun Puerto Vallarta’s 22nd municipal police-academy class, entering a 1,080-hour program that places community policing alongside weapons handling, detention procedures, victim care and the preservation of evidence.
The schedule covers 33 subjects and follows Mexico’s updated initial training program covering proximity policing, published by the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System in 2024. The national update expanded the standard course from 972 to 1,080 hours and reorganized instruction around community contact, civic justice and the duties officers perform during the first stages of an investigation.
Under the national curriculum, the largest block assigns 240 hours to prevention and social proximity. Police techniques and tactics receive 200 hours, while human development and police ethics receive 180 hours each. Another 150 hours cover police involvement in investigative processes, followed by 130 hours of practical workshops.
That structure puts significant classroom time into work that begins before a case reaches prosecutors. Cadets will practice writing police documents, preserving and securing evidence, assisting victims from priority groups and conducting lawful detentions and transfers.
The course also covers human rights, use of force, firearms, police defense, civil protection, first aid and emotional intelligence. Gender perspective and femicide prevention are included within the prevention component, while the investigative section addresses the responsibilities of the first officer arriving at a crime scene.
Recruitment intensified in June, when academy chief Isaías Quezada García said the monthly cadet stipend had been increased from 6,000 pesos to 9,000 pesos. The application process required a high-school certificate, physical fitness and an evaluation through the Jalisco State Confidence Control Center.
The new class continues a recruitment cycle that added 39 officers to the municipal force in December 2025. That group completed the 21st academy generation after entering the same 1,080-hour proximity-policing program last year.
The current cadets will remain in academy instruction until completing the required program. Training is based at the Police and Municipal Transit Academy on Avenida Revolución 333 in Las Juntas.
