Crime, Safety, and the Police

Don't be paranoid, just understand that the cops can stop you and search you anytime or anywhere, they don't need a reason. They don't need "probable cause."

The city government is slipping back into the ways of old and corruption is on the rise as well as in TJPD.

Do NOT fuck with these guys. DO NOT give them a reason to fuck with you. Morditas (bribes) are coming back into fashon at TJPD.

The most recent estimate is that two out of ten cops are looking for money. They are "bandits with a badge." Their sole reason for stoppng you is to extract money from you. Keep an extra $20. in your shoe. That's all I can say.

Do not have porn on your camera or computer. Clean it up. (Better still, leave it home.)

Otherwise, don't do anything to attract attention. Wait for the light, stop at the stop sign. Don't carry anything that you shouldn't have. Use this rule:

If you won't do it in the US, don't do it in Mexico. You can't go to jail for what you're thinking. Carry valid ID (Drivers license etc.). If you blow a light or a sign, the $20.00 should cover it. BE CAREFUL.

Most of you probably know about the recent high profile drug busts affecting the cartel in Baja. Now listen up: the situation with the dealers and distributors is very fluid right now. Dealers are looking for new distribution etc and there are a lot of rateros out there trying to change their situation. DO NOT fuck with anyone when it comes to buying drugs (if you use). This is not the time to hang with your source. There might be a price on his head especially if he owes money. It is VERY dangerous out there right now.

You might think you're a tuff guy, you might think you are safe, you might think you're special -all that shit. It takes only ONE 85 cent bullet to blow your brains out and they are shooting. Maybe not at you, but you could get whacked if you are hanging with bad guys or if you are a bad guy yourself (no disrespect).

Go in, take care of business, get out. Do not hang with a group of "cool" guys on the street corners of the Zona Norte unless you accept the fact that the cops could grab you or you could go with the dealer. The risk factor is very very high right now. I can't over emphasize it.

People are dying in TJ and these deaths are drug related. If you know what you're doing then OK. But if you are a "tourist" who makes the booty run every now and then and buy your stuff when you are there, you ARE NOT safe.

Be very very careful.

Be safe and Be Nice
Country John

PS: here is a link you should read. Some of you might know Estrella de Amnesia, peace be upon her. [url]http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060629-9999-6m29tjdead.html[/url]

Mexican cops are stealing again at the Sentri Line walk-back area at the border, after a few calm weeks.

They like to pop out of a dark hole at night (right where the taxis drop you off and you think you are home), and search Americans for no reason, even those travelling in groups.

Their big catch is finding Viagra on older men, after which they will try to take all your money.

Does anyone have Tijuana Mayor Hank Rhon's email? :)

Good luck.

[QUOTE=Conejito]Mexican cops are stealing again at the Sentri Line walk-back area at the border, after a few calm weeks.

They like to pop out of a dark hole at night (right where the taxis drop you off and you think you are home), and search Americans for no reason, even those travelling in groups.

Their big catch is finding Viagra on older men, after which they will try to take all your money.

Does anyone have Tijuana Mayor Hank Rhon's email? :)

Good luck.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.tijuana.gob.mx/Presidente/index.asp[/url]

Hank isn't very popular right now. He's been a "fuck up" as mayor. No different than any other politician who promises to fix everything and then when elected tells everyone to kiss his ass.

Given his connections, I wouldn't want to be complaining about the cops to him. They are bandits with a badge. Complain to the US consulate.

BE Safe and Be Nice
Country John

If you are clean can or are the cops still extorting bribes from tourists.....??

This is just one more reason for me to avoid TJ.

Hizark,

For someone who hates TJ, and avoids it at all cost, you seem to be obsessed with it.

Rumble In The Jungle
Well, my number came up the other night. I was walking on Constitution, getting some fresh air. a block from Adelitas. I have done this 200 times with no problems. Suddenly 2 cops sprang out of a doorway, threw me against the wall, told me not to look at them or turn around, asked me a bunch of questions about drugs, pills, and drinking while they went through my pockets, then let me go. I had two 20's left, they kept a $20 bill from my pocket and put back the other one.

It wasn't worth their while to hassle me further as I leave my credit cards and ATM cards in my car, so they cannot make me withdraw money as they have done to some people at gunpoint. I never carry knives, pills capsules or any powders, so they have no excuse to jack me. They WILL jack you for a viagra or even an aspirin in your pocket, claiming you have to stay in jail til the lab results come back. They also work with some of the street bums, the guy will ask you what time it is, and if you stop to tell him the time they will swoop in and claim you were trying to buy drugs.

They were hassling EVERY gringo who walked by, and I saw them throw one in the back of a squad car for "drinking". There are VERY few gringos going to TJ these days, and lots of desperate robber-cops, so your odds of getting jacked by the cops is high now. I also saw 3 roadblocks where they were tearing apart cars with Calfiornia plates, looking for money to steal or a pill or a seed or a penknife or whatever to blackmail the driver. I used to drive across but it just isn't worth it any more!

So then I take the usual taxi ride back to the linea, and got jacked AGAIN by the bandido cops who hide in the dark at the taxi drop-off point. They searched me, asking for viagra or pills or knives, found nothing on me, didn't take the other $20 LOL, and cut me loose. Oh well, that's life in the big city!!!

Lessons, leave your car on the US side, don't carry a bunch of cash, credit cards or ATM cards, no pills, powders, rolling papers, knives or mace, and better to buddy up (they tend to pick on single guys) AND/OR to take a cab door to door each way. These things seem to run in cycles, and right now the TJ cops are particularly nasty and aggressive.

Rabo seems to know La Zona Roja like his own barrio. If he got jacked twice the same night by the policia 1 block from Adelita, then the odd of other mongers getting jacked is extremely high.

Just about every time I drove into TJ at night, on the way back I got stopped by policia who demanded cerveza money. I have reduced the risks somewhat by leaving the car at the border and taking the cab. Now they are jacking pedestrians, then what am I gonna do?

$20 is a small price to pay to mongers, but this easy money will induce the policia to jack at higher frequency, and this price will keep going up and up until mongers are driven out of la Zona. Every time I was in the zona, I have seen policia making arrests for no apparent reason. The consequences of being thrown into a TJ jail, waiting for corrupt judges, can be extremely costly.

Perhaps the seasoned mongers could suggest a few courses of action here:

1. Door to door cab rides?
2. Stop wandering outside the clubs and the alley?
3. Going in large groups?
4. Leave all credit cards in the US and hide all your cash?
5. Suggest club owners to work out a truce with policia so mongers can continue to bring business?
6. Organize a mongers union to find ways to work in perfect harmony with the hookers union?
7. Petition TJ mayor or Police chief to abate the problem?
8. Stay home and negotiate toda la nocha with your wives?

That last option may be a lot more work, more time, more expensive, more screwy, more frustrating than anything else.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[QUOTE=Rabo Verde]Rumble In The Jungle
Well, my number came up the other night. I was walking on Constitution, getting some fresh air. a block from Adelitas. I have done this 200 times with no problems. Suddenly 2 cops sprang out of a doorway, threw me against the wall, told me not to look at them or turn around, asked me a bunch of questions about drugs, pills, and drinking while they went through my pockets, then let me go. I had two 20's left, they kept a $20 bill from my pocket and put back the other one.
QUOTE]

I missed this story when it first came out. It's timing corresponds with the increased hassles the police are giving us in the zona.

[b]San Diego Union Tribune[/b]
[url]http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060924-9999-1m24tjcops.html[/url]
[b]Corruption has allowed rise in violence, statement says[/b]

By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

September 24, 2006

TIJUANA – The recent spike in violence in the city is the result of widespread corruption in the municipal police force and Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon's failure to take appropriate measures, according to Mexican federal authorities.

In a statement that lays bare the deep rift between city and federal law enforcement agencies, the federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) Friday blamed the violence on the “disintegration of municipal police in the matter of corruption and cooperation with organized crime.”

The unusual communique from Mexico City urged Hank and the city's secretary of public safety, Luis Javier Algorri Franco, “to take direct and concerted action in order to eradicate the corruption and protection of organized crime that is taking place within the structure of the municipal police.”

Tijuana residents have witnessed a rash of killings in recent weeks after the arrest of suspected drug lord Javier Arellano Félix. The violence has led Algorri in recent days to call for military help and more federal aid in fighting organized crime. Algorri has also publicly complained about the arbitrary detention of his officers by federal authorities.

Neither Hank nor Algorri responded yesterday to the accusations by the Attorney General's Office. A police spokesman said the department plans to hold a news conference Tuesday to address the remarks.

Victor Clark Alfaro, a Tijuana human rights activist, does not dispute the communique's content but does question the purpose. “There seems to be a political motivation, and that is a shame. . . . All this does is create divisions,” he said.

Clark points out that federal authorities did not single out previous Tijuana mayors for criticism. “Of course it's true, but why didn't they say so when there were PANista administrations?” Clark said. “It's very suspicious that they only point to the municipal police.”

Hank, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), won the mayor's office in 2004, ending 15 years of control at City Hall by the National Action Party (PAN). The PAN continues to control Mexico's presidency and the Baja California statehouse. Hank has said he intends to take a leave from his current post next year to run for governor.

The attorney general's statement is a response to Algorri's criticisms, which include published remarks last week that the Attorney General's Office has not lived up to its commitment to establish a branch of the organized crime unit in Tijuana.

Even before the arrest of Arellano, Hank and Algorri met with Mexico's Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca July 25 and were “told and shown evidence . . . that the violence is a result of the disintegration” of the police force, the statement said. Since then, Hank and Algorri have taken no measures to clean up the force, the statement said.

In an interview last Sunday on a Mexican radio station, Algorri complained of detentions of his officers by federal agents. “We are certain that we have problems of corruption,” Algorri said. “We are open to any kind of investigation; we've even asked for this in writing . . . . But we've seen them come and arrest officers, then release them, without even saying, 'I'm sorry.' ”
---
A news story about the increasingly powerful Mexican drug lords is also scarey. See [url]http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2549.cfm[/url]

[url]http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/index.html[/url]

Not easy being a policeman in TJ.

[b]Officer Ambushed, Fatally Wounded[/b]

TIJUANA, Nov. 4 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
A city police officer was ambushed late Thursday and died at a Red Cross hospital.

The officer was identified as Antonio Cabada Cuevas, 38, according to state investigators. He was found inside a 1999 Jeep Cherokee in the Los Pinos section of the city.

---
Also an assault on the San Ysidro side of the border.

[b]Attacked on Bridge[/b]

SAN YSIDRO, Nov. 3 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Man attacked on bridge near border: Authorities are seeking two to four men who assaulted a man as he crossed the Camino de la Plaza bridge over Interstate 5 north of the International Border early Saturday.

[font=courier]Thanks for posting this Mike 123. Los Pinos, that's where I live. Last month (or maybe August) six guys were murdered in La Presa, the next colonia to Los Pinos.

The bad cops are getting whacked, that is what's happening. Plain and simple. This will go on for quite some time. You guys just need to be careful.

The bad guys are not looking for you. They're looking for the cops that ratted out, didn't make bank, didn't deliver or whatever. TJPD is very nervous right now and they should be.

Just be careful.

Country John[/font]

It's really disturbing to hear that the cops are extorting bribes from foreigners for no reason. It's pretty blatant when you consider that there is police substation near the alley. If someone is clean I don't understand why they don't demand to be taken to the police station. It seems as though the corruption goes up pretty high up.

Awhile back Vincinte Fox sent in the Federale's to crack down on the gangs and corrupt cops. I guess the mayor and Federale's just don't seem to realize that if crime and corruption is rampant the tourists will stop visiting TJ. A friend recently told me that a lot of shops have already closed due to the crime problems.

[QUOTE=Hizark21]It's really disturbing to hear that the cops are extorting bribes from foreigners for no reason. It's pretty blatant when you consider that there is police substation near the alley. If someone is clean I don't understand why they don't demand to be taken to the police station. It seems as though the corruption goes up pretty high up.

Awhile back Vincinte Fox sent in the Federale's to crack down on the gangs and corrupt cops. I guess the mayor and Federale's just don't seem to realize that if crime and corruption is rampant the tourists will stop visiting TJ. A friend recently told me that a lot of shops have already closed due to the crime problems.[/QUOTE]

In Mexico, cops are very poorly paid. Very poorly. They don't care what I think or what you think or if we ever go back. There will be no shortage of new fresh meat, so no need to worry.

You MUST realize that things change big-time when you cross the border. There are some very bad guys out there with badges. The baddest of the bad are involved in assisting drug cartels in distributing their product by providing protection and intelligence (along with some enforcement). They know you will never do anything for them and if getting their lunch money means shaking you down then they'll do it. Why? Because you have it and you can afford it. How else could you be there screwing hookers?

The chances of you going to the police because of a problem with the police are remote. They already know that. They don't care because they don't have to and it doesn't look like that's going to change any time soon.

Not all cops are bad.

YOU must develop a mechanism for dealing with them when they go bad on you. YOU have to educate yourself on the various situations and options.

The level of corruption is almost unbelievable. The governmental infrastructure is a "by the seat of your pants" type system. Very poorly organized compared to Stateside. But it's MEXICO, another country.

There is lots written up on how to deal with the cops. I suggest you read it and learn it. It could serve you well.

Country John

I will be traveling in Mexico next week, flying from TJ to Hermosilo and back. I'll be parking on the US side, walking across and taking a cab to the airport. When I cross for my day trips I don't take any of my meds with me across the border to avoid any hassles but since this is a 4-5 day trip that option is not available to me. My question is, will a legit prescription in a US pharmacy labeled bottle suffice should I draw the attention of Tijuana's finest upon my return? We're talking diabetes meds and vitamin "V".

Your prescription meds should be OK, granted the label on the bottle is in your name. The V will get you hassled. Bring only what you will take and don't walk around with it in your pockets. If you are stopped your pockets are emptied. A V in your pocket might cost you the amount of $$ in your possesion.

I get the impression that the cops are trying to extort bribes at night. Are the cops trying to nab gringos for no reason during the day as well...??

I think we should all start complaining to the Mexican consulate and tell them we are going to stop visiting Mexico and tell everyone we know if this does not stop...