BajaNews
Super Moderator
Posts: 1439
Registered: 12-11-2005
Member Is Offline
|
|
Tijuana top cop who fought cartels is out of a job
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iV7MuOmiXy...
(AP) – November 27, 2010
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Julian Leyzaola tried with unprecedented zeal to end the grip of drug cartels on one of Mexico's most notoriously corrupt
police forces: In two years as top cop, he blanketed key parts of Tijuana with vetted officers, new patrol cars and military commanders, while purging
hundreds of allegedly corrupt cops.
The retired army officer survived a drug-gang assassination campaign that killed dozens of his officers. He says he rejected an $80,000-a-week offer
from an emissary of Mexico's most-wanted drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Now he's out of a job.
Mayor-Elect Carlos Bustamante said he will appoint Leyzaola's closest aide, Gustavo Huerta, as public safety secretary when his term begins Tuesday.
Huerta, 42, knows Tijuana and is positioned to build on recent successes, Bustamante's spokeswoman said.
Leyzaola has been praised by President Felipe Calderon, U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual, U.S. law enforcement and Tijuana's business elite for standing
up to the cartels and bringing order in the face of the city's worst drug violence.
Yet the state's human rights ombudsman accuses Leyzaola of beating some people suspected of killing cops. Some officers he arrested for corruption
have been let go for lack of evidence and say they were tortured in custody. Huerta was also named in one complaint filed by several officers.
Leyzaola says the allegations come from critics who don't like his get-tough approach.
"The reality is that we needed extreme measures to restore order," he told officers last September after the human rights report came out. "That's
what we did. It was necessary."
Mexico's local police forces are often bribed to be the eyes and ears of drug cartels, yet most police chiefs won't attack the gangs, noting that
organized crime is a federal responsibility. They tend instead to focus on traffic violations, car thefts, assaults and home invasions.
That hands-off approach favors the cartels, says Daniel Sabet, a visiting professor at Georgetown University who studies Mexico's local police forces.
"You can't just shrug your shoulders and say it's not our jurisdiction," he said. "If there's an organized crime guy with an AK-47, you have to make
that arrest."
Leyzaola, a chess aficionado who stays fit by playing handball, relished his pursuit of Tijuana's drug lords, calling his targets c-ckroaches, scum
and dirty fat pigs. He captured and interrogated them himself.
He began his march to recapture Tijuana in early 2009 by reforming police in a different district of the city every three months. First, a strike
force made a slew of arrests. Then beat cops were replaced by officers who passed intensive background checks. Former military officers with no police
experience took over as district commanders.
When he suspected cops were dirty, he tried to humiliate them into quitting. First he assigned them to patrol palm trees outside his office, and later
had them bake in the sun on the new headquarters' heliport.
"I have two up there right now," he said with a smile behind his large desk. "Until they get vertigo."
In early January, federal authorities arrested Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental — one of Leyzaola's "dirty fat pigs" — who allegedly was behind the
cop-killing campaign and hung bodies from freeways and beheaded victims.
From the confessions of El Teo's top lieutenants in custody, Leyzaola learned that corruption was hitting close to home: a district police commander
was taking $6,000 a month to tip El Teo to law enforcement presence. He was Leyzaola's close friend from military school.
They also said El Teo employed another district commander whom Leyzaolo tapped for special projects.
In March 2009, Jorge Sanchez was among 25 officers who were arrested on suspicion of working for El Teo. A 16-year veteran, he led the strike force
that went into the first district targeted for makeover: downtown Tijuana. He reported directly to Leyzaola.
Sanchez remembers sitting with Leyzaola in the mayor's office to discuss security for a boxing match. As they wrapped up, Leyzaola said Gen. Alfonso
Duarte Mugica, the army general in charge of Tijuana, wanted Sanchez to report to the military base because "someone is saying things about you."
From the back seat of Leyzaola's Ford Expedition, Sanchez insisted he was honest.
"You're going to have to be very strong," he remembers Leyzaola saying as they parted. "You need to be very firm in your statements."
To Sanchez, the message was clear: he was about to be tortured.
Sanchez says a plastic bag was placed over his mouth three times while his eyes were covered with tape, and he was punched in the stomach. Others
claim they got electric shocks while in military custody.
He was among 13 officers who were released in August 2010 — 17 months after their arrest — when a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence. Now he
wants his job back.
The police force has shrunk to about 2,000 officers from nearly 2,600 three years ago as officers who were fired or quit under pressure have yet to be
replaced due to budget constraints.
Leyzaola has poured much of the money he gets into the six police districts that have received his makeover. At his last change-of-command ceremony
this month, the southern Sanchez Taboada district got 53 new patrol cars; before, it had seven. A career military officer was put in charge, and the
officers got new radios that are less susceptible to being intercepted by drug traffickers.
Only four officers have been assassinated on duty in the city this year, down from 29 last year.
Car thefts and other robberies are down sharply but there were 681 murders from January through October. That's up 40 percent from the same period
last year but still shy of the record 843 deaths in all of 2008.
In an unusual public tribute, the FBI and other U.S. law enforcement agencies took the stage at Tijuana's gleaming cultural center in September to
praise his accomplishments.
Since the election in July, Leyzaola has thought his days were numbered and didn't hide his disappointment at the prospect of losing his job. He said
that he needed five years to turn around the force.
"If I don't stay, I hope that you continue to work with loyalty and honor," he recently told a group of officers. "I hope our mission doesn't change
and that we don't return to ways of the past."
|
|
|
Woooosh
Banned
Posts: 5240
Registered: 1-28-2007
Location: Rosarito Beach
Member Is Offline
Mood: Luminescent Waves at Rosarito Beach
|
|
Police Captain Montero from Rosarito Beach is taking the position as head of the Tijuana police, so they'll still be headed in the right direction. A
military guy is coming in to Rosarito to replace Montero. Calderon has a plan to dismantle local police, so maybe these are the guys to get it done.
Calderon doesn't have that much time left.
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
|
|
|
bajalou
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4459
Registered: 3-11-2004
Location: South of the broder
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Woooosh
Police Captain Montero from Rosarito Beach is taking the position as head of the Tijuana police, so they'll still be headed in the right direction. A
military guy is coming in to Rosarito to replace Montero. Calderon has a plan to dismantle local police, so maybe these are the guys to get it done.
Calderon doesn't have that much time left. |
Not according to the new papers. I will be the man who was 2nd in command in Tijuana.
No Bad Days
\"Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference\"
\"The trouble with doing nothing is - how do I know when I\'m done?\"
Nomad Baja Interactive map
And in the San Felipe area - check out Valle Chico area |
|
|
durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: thriving in Baja
|
|
... and his first duty was to honor security guards at city parks (Google translation):
Grant recognition to police chiefs
Tijuana | Friday November 26, 08:45 | Source: Informa Uniradio
A Friend On Thursday 25 November, Adrián Hernández District Head of Delegation Alfonso Saenz Bureau and Chief of the Municipal Transit, were
recognized by the administrative authorities of the Municipal System of Theme Parks, (sympathetic) and security guards department Morelos Park.
This distinction was given to them in the recreational facilities where they held a simple ceremony which was attended by administrative authorities
of the park and the Director General of Police and Municipal Transit, Gustavo Huerta, who accompanied the honorees.
The reason for the appreciation was due to support in the various events held in the park during this triennium, logistics and surveillance for
visitors especially on weekends.
The deputy director of the nice, sweet Magaña, stressed above all the coordination that took place during this period in public safety, peace of mind
that allowed him to Tijuana to attend with their families to spend leisure time or events scheduled massive art there.
For his part, thanked the honorees for the hospitality and good gesture of those who acknowledged their work, but are aware beforehand that it is
their responsibility as public officials.
Bob Durrell
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
