Crime, Safety, and the Police

[QUOTE=ClamSlammer;2197323]There's two new scams going on in Tijuana. The first one is being perpetrated by casa de cambios. When a customer approaches and wants to change a larger, odd sum of money, the clerk will count the funds then quote an amount slightly less than what is presented. An amount around $200 mx that will not arouse much alarm. If the customer is sloppy and didn't count his money or isn't paying attention, the clerk gets away with an easy $200 mx or so. If the customer knows the amount presented and objects, the clerk will "accidentally" knock some or all of the bills onto the floor, where the customer can't see them. The clerk will intentionally leave the disputed amount on the floor where it is not visible to the customer, collect the rest, then recount the bills in front of the customer, confirming the undercounted amount. This scam is frequently perpetrated at the casa de cambio on the SE corner of 3ra and Ocampo.

The second scam involves flattening a gringo's tires while waiting in line to cross back to the USA It's been perpetrated in the SY crossing but I'm not sure if it's been adopted at Otay or westward. What the scammers do is drop spikes in front of the tires of stopped vehicles. Once they are run over, tires flatten. Then, conveniently there are Mexicans nearby that point out the flat and offer to install the spare for a fee. They also conveniently have a can of Fix-A-Flat for sale at an inflated price. Only vehicles in the far right lane are targeted as they can conveniently pull off to the right for the repair. All the other lanes are safe as the scammers know that it is too much of a ***** to cross lanes to get to the far right shoulder. If you happen to be in the far right lane, watch carefully as people walk in front of your vehicle.[/QUOTE]Your tales are pure BS, specially the one about flat tires, I cross the border 3 to 4 times a week on both crossing and never seen these so called scam artists changing flat tires.

[QUOTE=Dcrist0527;2194134]That is horrible! Itzel was a great girl. Always kind to me.

Her lack of English and my crappy Spanish always made for comical interactions. She was also smart. There was a girl I spent nights with, at Ticuan, Itzel told me to get rid of her. Should have listened to her! LOL.

I too would be surprised if Ricardo was the suspect. Always seemed to be a good and hard-working guy. Hope that he's found and innocent! Thanks for sharing.[/QUOTE]Mmmm, the problem with Hotel Ticuan is that its right next to last pulgas which is known to be a mafia hotspot, since its close by I am pretty sure that a lot of the "banda" bands stay there and the mafiosos follow them all over, its their favorite music, so there is a very good chance that this girl had a lot of interaction with the mafia and may have had friends that were mafia members, she may have been invited to a celebration and things went bad, if the other guy that was with her was also a Ticuan worker he may have ended the same way.

Those type of horrible killings are always related to the mexican mafia, the horrible way they kill the victims its a way of punishment for something.

[QUOTE=Jim0129;2197550]Your tales are pure BS, specially the one about flat tires, I cross the border 3 to 4 times a week on both crossing and never seen these so called scam artists changing flat tires.[/QUOTE]LOL. Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it's not going on. Perhaps it would be wise to lessen your ignorance and open yourself up to the possibility that things occur in the world that you never see. And it's not like the tire scammers are flattening 100 tires a day-they're not. You erroneously make this false assumption. Doing so at such high volume will surely attract unwanted attention and investigation. They do it very sparingly. In order to notice the tire scam, you'd have to be in the far right lane, or perhaps the 2nd from right. Otherwise with all the cars piled up you'd never notice. And many victims opt not to pay for the scammers tire services, instead they just drive over with a flat tire and deal with it after they cross. Talk to some of the tire shops in Chula Vista and they will confirm they've witnessed an increase in customers whose tires inexplicably go flat while waiting to cross back to USA.

And I don't know how you could call the case de cambio scam "BS" because you've never seen tires get changed at the border. Somehow you find those two events are related somehow. I'd love to hear your logic on that.

There was a attempted mugging on Cohilla st just east of Constitucion that happened during the daytime around 1 pm. If anyone has any recent news on increase rateros's muggings lately please post..? It is quite possible that the ratero's have started jumping people on the streets again. Last year the Rateros' were mugging people on Constitucion just north the alley. So keep your guard up and look behind you.

Did this "scam" happen to you personally? If not. You are just spreading hearsay. There are enough posters on this forum who love to make up stories and spread urban legends. Let's stick to the facts and report things witnessed first hand.

[QUOTE=ClamSlammer;2197557]LOL. Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it's not going on. Perhaps it would be wise to lessen your ignorance and open yourself up to the possibility that things occur in the world that you never see. [/QUOTE]

You're probably right. Yes, I have seen at least two banda bands staying there. One band took up a ton of rooms. There were between 20-30 of them.

Who knows what happened. I did not know her well. I knew her name and she was always kind, almost flirty. But I also saw her attitude too when something went wrong with some group at the restaurant. I agree. A message was being sent with something so gruesome. Regardless, just sad.

[QUOTE=Jim0129;2197554]Mmmm, the problem with Hotel Ticuan is that its right next to last pulgas which is known to be a mafia hotspot, since its close by I am pretty sure that a lot of the "banda" bands stay there and the mafiosos follow them all over, its their favorite music, so there is a very good chance that this girl had a lot of interaction with the mafia and may have had friends that were mafia members, she may have been invited to a celebration and things went bad, if the other guy that was with her was also a Ticuan worker he may have ended the same way.

Those type of horrible killings are always related to the mexican mafia, the horrible way they kill the victims its a way of punishment for something.[/QUOTE]

After many years of having no contact with Tijuana LE, last Tuesday (7/3/18) I was stopped, searched, questioned briefly, and let go. No bullshit on their part. They were polite and patient as I emptied my wallet of dollars and pesos before turning it over to the to search (for drugs, they said). When they asked me if I had any drugs, I smiled politely, chucked politely, and said "no" in a tone that implied that I found that as silly as suggesting that I had the tooth fairy concealed in my trunk.

I had been driving around the block looking for parking, and on what was probably my third pass, they pulled me over.

The location was Coahuila & Martinez. I don't know why, but that intersection was swarming with police and soldiers. With all that "protection", it looked to me like a safe place to park on the street. And indeed, it was.

Wow. Our bro Clam is excellent in uncovering scams in and around Tijuana.

Slashing tires is a serious offense. I will have to stay away from the right SENTRI lane from now on.

While I cruise through the SENTRI lane in less than 5 minutes every time, the ready and regular lanes are always backed up at least 3 to 4 hours, regardless of the time of day or night. When your bladder is about to burst under pressure, there are guys who would drive your car along for $1 while you go off to [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord134][CodeWord134][/url]. Do not follow suggestions of a few guys to [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord134][CodeWord134][/url] in front of the closed shops in the alleys, as they work with an asshole policia, who would show up on his bike within 30 seconds and ticket you for peeing in public, potentially requiring a big bribe to get out of the jam. What a scam, huh? Keep walking down the road until you find guys who set up a barrel on the floor of a closed shop.

Clam is so good at fighting scams, El President Enrique Nieto should name him his Anti-Scam Minister in Mexico City. Wonder if the propane delivery guy is still screwing Scam 's novia bare back in his bed every weekly delivery hehe.

I was walking in the alley and two cops stopped me the police car that is always parked on the west end. They questioned me and wanted to search my wallet. When I tried taking money and cell phone they objected. But then they let me hold it in my hands. The cops were disappointed when they did not find anything. That was kind of funny. After this they let me go.

[QUOTE=WombatEd2;2199276]After many years of having no contact with Tijuana LE, last Tuesday (7/3/18) I was stopped, searched, questioned briefly, and let go. No bullshit on their part. They were polite and patient as I emptied my wallet of dollars and pesos before turning it over to the to search (for drugs, they said). When they asked me if I had any drugs, I smiled politely, chucked politely, and said "no" in a tone that implied that I found that as silly as suggesting that I had the tooth fairy concealed in my trunk.

I had been driving around the block looking for parking, and on what was probably my third pass, they pulled me over.

The location was Coahuila & Martinez. I don't know why, but that intersection was swarming with police and soldiers. With all that "protection", it looked to me like a safe place to park on the street. And indeed, it was.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Hargow20;2199326]I was walking in the alley and two cops stopped me the police car that is always parked on the west end. They questioned me and wanted to search my wallet. When I tried taking money and cell phone they objected. But then they let me hold it in my hands. The cops were disappointed when they did not find anything. That was kind of funny. After this they let me go.[/QUOTE]From what I have been hearing lately it seems like the police are becoming more active in robbing gringo tourists. AND ITS NOWHERE NEAR CHRISTMAS..

An amigo recently had the cab he was in pulled over by the police. He was ordered out, during the search a good chunk of his money disapeared, but they were kind enough to leave him enough to pay for his taxi ride.

[QUOTE=BaxterSlade;2199466]From what I have been hearing lately it seems like the police are becoming more active in robbing gringo tourists. AND ITS NOWHERE NEAR CHRISTMAS..

An amigo recently had the cab he was in pulled over by the police. He was ordered out, during the search a good chunk of his money disapeared, but they were kind enough to leave him enough to pay for his taxi ride.[/QUOTE]Elections were held just last weekend. So now is the best time for exploiters (like Tijuana Policia) to test how far they can go in their devious efforts.

I've said this before and I am not saying this to anyone in particular. Just a general comment.

I think it's important to differentiate being stopped and questioned by police and being robbed by police. We talk alot about safety concerns. Only the police can combat that. So it's like having your cake and eating it too.

Are there corrupt police? Certainly. But I also understand that some of their police work is to talk to people. And when I think about my activities, loitering in the alley for a short time, or when known dealers approach you, I can understand a question from the police.

My only point is we absolutely need to warn each other about corrupt police activity. But we also don't need to overreact "normal" police work.

I was exiting Chicago and headed toward Adelitas, and there was a policia car parked on the corner waiting for someone like me. They called me over for questioning and I had no choice but to comply. They asked me where I was going, what I was doing, where I was from, where did I work, do I have drugs. I gave them honest answers about everything and simply told them I was going to Adelitas. I put my cash in my hand and they frisked me down and they let me go. I had about 200 on me, I don't know if they would have tried to take some if I had left it in my pocket while they frisked me. It's the first time I had ever run into policia in about 50 trips. It wasn't too big of a deal but it's definitely not something you want to get used to.

[QUOTE=Dcrist0527;2199758]I've said this before and I am not saying this to anyone in particular. Just a general comment.

I think it's important to differentiate being stopped and questioned by police and being robbed by police. We talk alot about safety concerns. Only the police can combat that. So it's like having your cake and eating it too.

Are there corrupt police? Certainly. But I also understand that some of their police work is to talk to people. And when I think about my activities, loitering in the alley for a short time, or when known dealers approach you, I can understand a question from the police.

My only point is we absolutely need to warn each other about corrupt police activity. But we also don't need to overreact "normal" police work.[/QUOTE]Fair point but it seems like they single out tourists for these random searches. In my mind I'm like, what a waste of time and resources it is to hassle a guy who's done nothing wrong and no threat. Meanwhile there are a lot of genuinely dangerous people out there that they could be focusing on.

To be fair, I saw the Tijuana policia helping an old American tourist with a cane in front of Tijuana Tillys Restaurant last Sunday. Looked like the guy was having a serious health problem and they were helping him into the patrol car to take him to a hospital. So they do provide a service and are not completely useless.

[QUOTE=Dcrist0527;2199758]I've said this before and I am not saying this to anyone in particular. Just a general comment.

I think it's important to differentiate being stopped and questioned by police and being robbed by police. We talk alot about safety concerns. Only the police can combat that. So it's like having your cake and eating it too.

Are there corrupt police? Certainly. But I also understand that some of their police work is to talk to people. And when I think about my activities, loitering in the alley for a short time, or when known dealers approach you, I can understand a question from the police.

My only point is we absolutely need to warn each other about corrupt police activity. But we also don't need to overreact "normal" police work.[/QUOTE]