Tijuana serious about safety
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060216-9...
Tijuana takes high-tech road to combat crime
By Sandra Dibble
February 16, 2006
TIJUANA, Mexico ? Amid growing public outcry and rising rates of violent crime, Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon's government is turning to technology to make
the city safer.
In a tour yesterday for Southern California journalists, the mayor presented the city's new police command center in the city's Rio Zone that will
coordinate a network of video surveillance cameras, rugged hand-held computers for patrol cars and sophisticated alarm systems.
?We are transforming this from one of the worst unsafe cities in our country to becoming a very safe city,? Hank said.
Fighting crime was a central theme of the mayor's campaign, and a U.S. State Department ?Mexico Information Sheet? lists Tijuana as one of the five
most violent regions of Mexico. According to the Baja California Attorney General's Office, Tijuana had 396 homicides in 2005, up from 355 the
previous year.
After 14 months in office, Hank acknowledged yesterday that homicides and kidnappings continue to plague Tijuana. But he insisted streets have
nonetheless become safer, as many of the killings are not the result of public shootouts.
?They didn't kill them in street, we found them in the street. They were killed somewhere else,? Hank said.
Jaime Valdovino, president of the Tijuana Chamber of Commerce, said more federal investigators have since been sent to the city. In Mexico, municipal
police agencies are responsible for crime prevention, while state and federal agencies investigate and prosecute the crimes.
?We have to recognize that there's a problem,? Valdovino said. ?But for the first time, we're all communicating and trying to work together.?
As part of the city's crime-fighting efforts, Hank has made a priority of building a system of video surveillance cameras. So far, there are 73,
including 15 in the Avenida Revoluci?n district. Within six months, officials plan to have 417 cameras across the city.
At the command center, a vast, darkened room with a giant screen of multiple images monitored by a row police officers, the department yesterday
demonstrated the system of ?panic buttons? set up near video cameras that allow crime victims to summon help instantly.
Another crime-fighting tool will be the use of pocket-sized computers equipped with Global Positioning System technology that can track locations of
patrol cars. The computers will allow officers to access a suspect's arrest records, and facial recognition systems can confirm details in the event
the suspect won't cooperate.
So far, 10 vehicles are being equipped with the portable computers, said Pedro Flores, an adviser for the new command center.
The perception of U.S. tourists about crime in Tijuana has been of major concern to Hank's administration. One of the city's aims on the tour was to
highlight the city's efforts in making tourist areas safe.
The U.S. State Department lists the five areas of Mexico with particularly high levels of crime, often violent, as Tijuana, Mexico City, Ciudad
Juarez, Nuevo Laredo and the state of Sinaloa.
Acknowledging that the ?overwhelming majority? of U.S. visitors are not crime victims, David Stewart, U.S. consul general in Tijuana, said those who
are include ?a heavy number are people who put themselves? at risk with their behavior.
The U.S. Consulate has not noticed any changes in the incidence of crimes against U.S. tourists in recent months, Stewart said. ?We haven't seen it
getting any worse,? he said.
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