BajaNomad - Tijuana police slicing corruption from ranks

Tijuana police slicing corruption from ranks

SUNDOG - 9-27-2006 at 09:51 AM

Tijuana police slicing corruption from ranks

Top cop says his agency isn't alone
By Sandra Dibble and Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
September 27, 2006

TIJUANA – Acknowledging corruption in his department, the city's top law enforcement official said yesterday that the city has relieved 66 officers from duty and sought the arrest of 39 of those in just over six months.

“We haven't waited for anyone to come from outside to help us with the theme of corruption,” said Luis Javier Algorri Franco, Tijuana's secretary of public safety. The city has about 2,300 officers.

Algorri's remarks refer to accusations of rampant corruption in his police force by federal officials. A sharply worded communiqué issued Friday by the federal Attorney General's Office in Mexico City accused Algorri and Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon of “complacency or direct complicity.”
Hank promptly retorted that Mexico's attorney general, Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, is misinformed and defied him to prove his accusations. Yesterday, the mayor hinted that municipal police might no longer be so responsive to federal requests for help from his police officers in guarding houses where drugs were found, saying the department “will change the form of cooperation” with the federal agency.

At a news conference yesterday, Algorri said the federal communiqué unfairly focused on the city's police force. “The problem of corruption in police agencies is a reality, and all of the police agencies have problems with corruption,” he said.

The dispute between city and federal officials comes on the heels of weeks of violence in the region following the arrest of suspected drug kingpin Javier Arellano Félix by U.S. officials. The victims have included five police officers with city, state and federal agencies, including an assistant chief with the Tijuana police, Arturo Rivas Vaca, shot to death last week in his patrol car.

After the Rivas shooting, city officials complained that the Attorney General's Office has not done its job to control crime, and called for military assistance. That prompted Friday's highly unusual response from the Attorney General's Office in Mexico City, which singled out the mayor and his top public safety adviser.

Saying the dispute hurts efforts to fight crime, the major business umbrella group in Tijuana, the Consejo Coordinador Empresarial, announced yesterday that it would boycott public functions until city, state and federal police agencies work together.

bancoduo - 9-27-2006 at 10:09 AM

Now there are only about 2,300 crooked cops left. :lol:

:lol I wonder what unemployed TJ cops do for a living? :cool:

[Edited on 9-27-2006 by bancoduo]

Phil S - 9-27-2006 at 10:27 PM

Perhaps they become guards at Resorts in the area. Anyone know if that's true or not?

It is true

The Gull - 9-28-2006 at 08:45 AM

JESSE - 9-28-2006 at 11:30 AM

Jorge hank is in charge and they talk about corruption???

Its like some police chief in Iran talking about reducing islamic fundamentalism. :rolleyes:

Jesse

Baja Bernie - 9-28-2006 at 12:54 PM

But he treats his animals properly.

Do you think he will be able to swing opening the Coronado Islands to gambling or has he given that idea up because of all of the negative press recently?

JESSE - 9-28-2006 at 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Baja Bernie
But he treats his animals properly.

Do you think he will be able to swing opening the Coronado Islands to gambling or has he given that idea up because of all of the negative press recently?

I don't think Felipe Calderon is going to be good for his businesses.

bancoduo - 9-28-2006 at 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JESSE

Quote:

I don't think Felipe Calderon is going to be good for his businesses.

Come on; They belong to the same fraternity. :barf: