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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2007 
Cops Patrol Unarmed in Mexico's Unruly Tijuana
 Noel Randewich - Reuters
| | Local police officers chat outside the municipality building after handing in their weapons to the army in Tijuana, January 5, 2007. (Tomas Bravo/Reuters) |
Local police patrolled without their guns in Mexico's tough border city of Tijuana on Saturday after soldiers disarmed them to check if the weapons had been used in drug gang crimes.
In the latest stage of a national crackdown on drug-related violence, more than 4,000 soldiers, sailors, federal and state police this week poured into Tijuana, where some members of the poorly paid municipal police force are suspected of helping drug hitmen in a war between rival gangs.
The army confiscated the local police's handguns and rifles on Thursday and Friday to run ballistics tests. Many of the 2,300 municipal cops briefly stayed away from work, but most were back on the streets by Saturday, minus their weapons.
"We feel unprotected," said 32-year-old city police officer Juan Betancourt.
"This is our main tool," he said, brushing a hand over his empty holster as he walked along the tawdry Avenida de la Revolucion, lined with dingy bars and strip clubs.
A favorite weekend party town for U.S. college kids, the city just south of San Diego has been caught up in a conflict between rival drugs gangs that killed some 2,000 people last year. The city records a murder almost every day and two kidnappings a week on average.
A police officer from the nearby city of Mexicali was arrested for suspected involvement with crime gangs, the state government said in a statement.
Earlier, a state government source had said the detained officer was part of the Tijuana police force.
UNDERPAID, Ill-EQUIPPED
Police in Mexico, normally underpaid, poorly trained and ill equipped, are widely perceived as inept and corrupt, and critics allege many Tijuana cops have sold out to drug gangs.
The gangs that smuggle narcotics to the United States are well armed, often with assault rifles, and shootouts are frequent in the city.
New President Felipe Calderon, who has made fighting drug gangs a priority since coming to power on December 1, last month sent a force of 7,000 soldiers and federal cops to the western state of Michoacan, which saw about 500 gangland-style killings last year.
Murders have continued there despite the military presence. Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, declared his own war on drug kingpins but failed to gain the upper hand during his six- year term.
The Tijuana police force was under orders to call in support from armed federal and state police in case of an armed incident they could not handle without their guns.
But in at least one case, no backup arrived in time and Juan Carlos Garcia, a Tijuana policeman for 16 years, helped disarm a man armed with a suspected illegal shotgun.
"We sneaked up, surrounded him and attacked him," Garcia said after escorting the attacker to jail. "In the more dangerous areas, people are taking advantage of the lack of authority."
Garcia said he thought there had been a spike in crime in some parts of town because police were unarmed but other street cops said it was difficult to judge.
Many cops at Tijuana's main police headquarters handed over weapons by the armful, including pistols, assault rifles and even a handgun with a scope.
One policeman alone gave in four pistols and three automatic rifles on Friday.
Tijuana's police department, which says charges of corruption are exaggerated, has estimated the military will take more than a week to test and return their weapons.
(Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz) |
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