Anonymous
Unregistered
Posts: N/A
Registered: N/A
Member Is Offline
|
|
Tijuana Taking Steps to Clean Up Its Act, Officials Say
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=e...
By WILL CARLESS
Sept. 2, 2005
Tijuana's officials, it seems, are fed up with the city's negative image.
In an attempt to clean up the border city's reputation as a hotbed of organized crime, prostitution and underage drinking, a team of Tijuana officials
held a press conference in San Diego on Thursday to present a more positive image of their city.
In addition to touting Tijuana's benefits as a place to invest, to manufacture, to dine and to imbibe, the officials described measures that the
city's police force has taken to improve safety for visitors.
These measures include a dramatic plan to increase Tijuana police officers' pay by 100 percent over the next two years. Less spectacular tactics
outlined by Deputy Commander and Chief Liaison Officer for the Tijuana Police Department Guillermo Gonzalez include the installation of closed-circuit
television cameras in certain parts of downtown Tijuana and the posting of police at border crossings to turn away would-be underage drinkers.
The officials said they called the press conference to weigh in against some of the recent rhetoric that has been tarnishing Tijuana's image. Such
rhetoric, according to Alfonso Bustamante, director of bi-national affairs for the city of Tijuana, has come from California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, among others. Bustamante said that Tijuana has its issues, but he's working on them.
"We have a city that keeps on growing that has many problems and some deficiencies," said Bustamante. "Every city in the world has its violence, and
we do too, but we are trying very much to fight that, to make it better for us, the citizens of Tijuana and for our visitors."
The officials themselves, however, arguably offered more in the way of rhetoric than actual solid measures to combat security problems.
It was only when pressed about the actual measures they intended to take that Gonzalez casually mentioned the huge pay raise for Tijuana police
officers.
Asked about police corruption and the widespread problem of Tijuana police taking bribes from tourists, Gonzalez said the proposed increases in pay
will go some way toward solving a problem that he recognizes is a serious concern for tourists visiting Tijuana.
"We've been in this administration for only nine months," said Gonzalez. "We're addressing the problem, we're taking forward steps to eliminate that
problem and we're hitting it pretty hard."
According to Gonzalez, the pay raises will increase the average officer's wage from roughly $800 a month to $1,600 a month. He said the wage increase
will take effect over the next two years at a rate of a 4 percent increase every month.
A patrolman for the Tijuana Police Department, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, expressed skepticism about the salary increases.
"Yes, it will help a little, but not much," said the patrolman. "It's not going to get rid of corruption."
The patrolman said that he had not yet heard anything about the pay increases. When asked whether he believes that they will materialize, however, he
expressed confidence that the city will honor its word.
Apart from increasing wages, Gonzalez said the police department is also trying to make officers more accountable within its organization. He said
that a complaints department has been set up to take "direct action" against complaints of corruption within the police force and to monitor
individual officers who have been accused of corruption. He did not offer any specifics about how many times an officer can be found guilty of taking
bribes before being fired, but said that some of the complaints received this year have resulted in immediate firings.
Gonzalez said that recently officers have been stationed at the Mexican side of the border to look out for would-be underage drinkers. During the
press conference, he said that under-18-year-olds who were clearly visiting Tijuana to party would be turned away. In a later interview, however, he
conceded that police officers do not have the right to turn teenagers away simply because they suspect that they may get into trouble.
"We don't actually turn them away, we urge them to leave," said Gonzalez. "We show them the way."
Contrary to public opinion, Gonzalez said, underage drinking is by no means accepted in Tijuana. Clubs and pubs that serve under-18-year-olds will be
fined or shut down, he said.
The city recently installed a series of closed-circuit television cameras in the tourist areas of Tijuana, focusing on the infamous Avenida
Revoluci?n. These cameras, Gonzalez said, have already helped Tijuana police track down several stolen cars and have decreased the amount of vandalism
taking place in the area.
Key to ensuring that Tijuana is as safe as possible for tourists, said Gonzalez, is cooperation and coordination between police officers in Tijuana
and San Diego. He said the San Diego Police Department has been working with officers in Tijuana to apprehend criminals who have escaped over the
border.
"The most important step that we can take is working together (with the SDPD) the way that we have done so far and just keep up what we've been
doing," said Gonzalez. "Not to toot our own horn, but we've been doing a good job in taking the most steps possible to ensure tourist safety."
|
|
|
Anonymous
Unregistered
Posts: N/A
Registered: N/A
Member Is Offline
|
|
Tijuana officials seek safe weekend
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20050902-9...
By Anna Cearley
September 2, 2005
As Tijuana braces for the tourist influx of the Labor Day weekend, the city is addressing concerns about public safety by posting video cameras along
heavily visited Avenida Revolucion and by encouraging tourists to file complaints if they encounter police extortion.
Guillermo Gonz?lez Smith, deputy commander of the Tijuana Municipal Police, said at a news conference in San Diego yesterday that the video-camera
system recently has helped police officers arrest criminals, locate stolen cars and prevent vandalism.
He also said the city is trying to dissuade police from resorting to bribes by raising their salaries 100 percent over the next few years. On average,
a city officer currently earns about $750 a month.
"If you have a police officer with a family of five and earning $700, it's more likely for him to extort out of necessity than anything else,"
Gonz?lez Smith said.
The news conference was an attempt by Tijuana city officials to counter what they characterize as an overemphasis on the city's drug-trafficking and
kidnapping violence.
Much of the presentation focused on the city's economic dynamics. However, most of the queries fielded by the panel of Tijuana officials concerned
public security.
"Lately, all the violence down there has been isolated (and limited) to a single business ? drugs ? and it's between people fighting for that
business," said Alfonso Bustamante, the city's director of binational affairs. He said such incidents don't typically affect tourists.
What affects tourists the most, Bustamante said, are other types of crime, those involving tourists as alleged law-breakers or as victims.
Last year, the San Diego Police Department announced its officers would start taking reports from returning tourists who claim to be victims of crime
in Baja California, including police extortion.
Those reports are forwarded to the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana. Consulate spokeswoman Liza Davis said eight to 10 such reports a month are received from
the San Diego Police Department, ranging from domestic violence to rape to child molestation. The consulate facilitates follow-up contacts between the
alleged victims and Mexican police agencies.
Davis, who did not participate in the news conference, said that since November 2004, the consulate has received 11 allegations of Mexican police
extortion in reports relayed by the San Diego Police Department and in complaints made directly to the consulate.
That number is about the same as for the previous year, when the consulate began documenting police-extortion complaints, Davis said.
"We know this figure is only a portion of those that actually happened," she said.
Gonz?lez Smith said accusations of extortion have actually decreased based on the reports from San Diego police, but he was unable to cite numbers. He
said Tijuana is also cracking down on police extortion by punishing officers through demotions, and, in flagrant cases, by firing them.
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
