Which crime figure a plant should track when homicide falls and extortion rises

On October 13, 2026, Mexico’s national public security secretariat (SESNSP) presented its September figures at the National Palace. The daily average of intentional homicides went from 86.9 victims in September 2024 to 42.2 in September 2026, a drop of more than 52%. It was the lowest September since 2015.

Extortion is moving the other way. Using the same secretariat’s data, Coparmex, the Mexican employers’ confederation, reported in August 6,562 extortion victims from January to June 2026, up 9.17% from the first half of 2025, and called it the only crime in its analysis that rose. In its January report, Coparmex counted 11,081 victims in 2025 against 6,223 in 2015, an increase of 78.1% over ten years. Five states accounted for 65.2% of victims: the State of Mexico, Mexico City, Guanajuato, Nuevo León and Veracruz. Its #MásSeguridad indicator found that 46.8% of companies had been the victim of at least one crime.

Those numbers fall short of the real count. Citing data from INEGI, Mexico’s national statistics institute, Coparmex estimates that 97% of extortion cases are never reported.

Why the national average is not enough

A falling national average can sit next to a municipality where extortion of shops and truckers is climbing. What changes a plant’s operation happens in three places: the municipality it sits in, the corridor its inputs travel through and the stretch of road its workers ride every day. And the crime that hits it hardest is usually extortion or cargo theft, not homicide.

An indicator that improves in the national aggregate seldom changes how a company runs day to day. The one to track is the one that holds its trend in those three places.

What to check this month

1. Municipal data. The secretariat’s open data page, updated October 16, already includes municipal figures for January to September 2026. Compare extortion and cargo theft (robo a transportista) in your municipality against the same months of 2025, not against the national average.
2. Where your workers live. If a large share of your workforce commutes from another municipality, that one counts too, along with the route your employee transportation takes.
3. Your own records. With 97% of cases unreported, what your people report through the internal channel is worth more than any average: a call demanding payment, a supplier under pressure, a carrier asking to change routes. Check whether that channel receives these reports or only workplace complaints, and who reads them.

Riskop’s Security service reviews a plant’s protocols against the incidents recorded near it.