Crime, Safety, and the Police

[QUOTE=Member #2041]Interestingly, I ALWAYS tell the Border guards EXACTLY why I went over there, as in: "Well sir, I came across to have sex with beautiful prostitutes for cheap" And I have NEVER been hassled. In fact, I usually elicit a laugh out of them. When I cross, I am never drunk or under the influence of any narcotics, and I also never have any drugs on me, other than those Levitra for which I have a legal U.S. prescription - but nobody has ever searched me.

IMHO, the border guards respect the fact that you are obviously telling them the truth with that answer.[/QUOTE]


Brilliant! I wish I had the balls to say this. For the record I'm a comedian / satirist and my best response to the border guards thus far has been:

Guard: Are you bringing anything back?

Me: I hope not.

Sincerely,

Don Quixote Punch

Fellas,

I was down in TJ a week ago Wednsday for about the fifth time in my life and I will relate an incident that occurred outside the AB. While waiting outside for what seemed like an eternity for my amigo to conduct his biz upstairs (There is only so much noise, smoke and beer I can hack.) I was standing outside and a group of about 5-6 cholos come sauntering up the street & head into the AB. In about 30 minutes the TJ Cop that is posted at the door & the Manager pull these clowns out of the club onto the sidewalk. Apparently the ringleader had snapped off a picture inside the club with his cell phone without anyones permission. The TJ Cop had the kid's phone in his hand and was scrolling through his pictures, found the one in question and deleted it in front of him and gave him his phone back. They then moved on to another venue. In the meantime while the cop was scrolling through the phone another back-up unit rolled up with two officers, just in case. No big deal was made and everyone went there separate ways but it clearly seems snapping off shots inside the AB will get you removed from the club. Clearly you do not want to do things to draw the attention of the police.

Crossing the border was a breeze, the only thing the agent asked me was my country of origin (USA!). Might I add all my trips have been without incident but I am always alert & don't get drunk.

Be safe!

Team,

I was just in TJ. Tj is so much better now because the cops seem too be scarce. When I was there 8 months ago I could not wait too get out of there. Tj seems too be safe from corrupt cops now. Too me they were the real threat down there.

Chiman

i was waiting inside an art shop in the artisan village near the foot bridge around 3pm saturday. the plaza was pretty crowded, with about 50 people. no cops were seen.

suddenly there was a motorcycle cop riding with siren into the plaza. then there was 2 patrol cars and 6 to 8 policemen converging towards to footbridge. they all jumped on one mexican guy wearing a white t shirt. a lot of people were haging around, looking at the incident. i asked a few people 'que pasa?' noone knew what was going on. most of them thought it was a drug bust.

after they cuffed and took the mexican guy away, the shop owner told me he heard the guy was arrested for trying to get into the public restroom at the foot bridge without paying the 25 cents to the girls at the door. the girls screamed and the cops immediately ran over!

just think what would happen if you try to screw the sg's out of their $30 fee. 30x4x10=1200 uniformed and plain clothes mexican cops would probably be descending down on you, kicking your balls in with their dirty, little boots so you never have the urge to cheat these poor little mexican girls again!

strangely when gringos are under deathly choke holds, having their wallets forcefully removed by big, hairy mexican banditos around the zona roja, they could never find any mexican cops around ! the captains, lieutenants and all their troops seem to be busy in their stations most of the time stripping, thoroughly searching and [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord125][CodeWord125][/url] female tourists as recently reported in the press!

Some here would probably figure I know this, but I figured I would asl.

I noticed the line to the border crossing has been huge between 9 AM and 2 PM. Best time has been 45 minutes and they no longer seem to rent the bicycles to get to the front of the line. The line (sentri) almost always seems to go under the bridge during the day. I have seen the $5 buses, but failed to see they get you into San Ysidro faster than the line moves. (there is a line of buses)

How are things at say 4 PM and 6 PM ? Wondering if its closer to a 10 minute ordeal then

Is it any lighter during the week ?

I know the car line is bad except between 9 PM and 5 AM.

I haven't been down in over 3 months and last time, locals warned me of crack downs (I think due to impending elections and who knows what else). I read an article in the LA times that said SWs had stood up to the new regime and won.

That said, the last thing I want is to get shaken down by these crooked cops. Last time they found legit medication from the US and gave me crap. While the seedy element adds a funny mystique, too much is a deterrent.

I'd appreciate any knowledge/advice....

TIA

This was on revolution (near the arch) about 5 p.m. on Saturday. The victim was about 40 years old. One mexican did a choke hold on him while two other mexicans went thru his pockets. It happended in a matter of seconds. A woman yelled out for police but two TJ cops standing nearby did absolutely nothing. This was the first time I have ever seen anything like this before. Be careful guys.

Mutha.

[QUOTE=Mutha Foo]This was on revolution (near the arch) about 5 p.m. on Saturday. The victim was about 40 years old. One mexican did a choke hold on him while two other mexicans went thru his pockets. It happended in a matter of seconds. A woman yelled out for police but two TJ cops standing nearby did absolutely nothing. This was the first time I have ever seen anything like this before. Be careful guys.

Mutha.[/QUOTE]And you did NOTHING?

Not surprising a gringo got mugged there, all kinds of druggies and weirdos (TV's) seem to hang out north of 3rd according to the few cabbies that were honest and not trying to get me to go to a massage parlor. The couple times i've roamed north of Peanuts bar (not alone!) it looked pretty trashy and street girls(?) hanging out in front of places like Alaska Hotel looked pretty abused and used.

January 26, 2005

Full Warning: [url]http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_2100.html[/url]

...violent criminal activity, including murder and kidnapping, in Mexico's northern border region has increased. The overwhelming majority of the victims of violent crime have been Mexican citizens. Nonetheless, U.S. citizens should be aware of the risk posed by the deteriorating security situation. This Public Announcement expires on April 25, 2005.

Violent criminal activity along the U.S.-Mexico border has increased... foreign visitors, including Americans, have been among the victims of homicides and kidnappings in the border region in recent months...

U.S. citizens are urged to be especially aware of safety and security concerns when visiting the border region. The majority of the thousands of U.S. citizens who cross the border each day do so safely, exercising common-sense precautions such as visiting only the legitimate business and tourism areas of border towns during daylight hours. ***It is strongly recommended that red-light districts and neighborhoods where street drug dealing occurs be avoided.***

Does anybody have any reason to believe that it is siginificantly more dangerous to visit TJ now than in the past? This has me a little concerned as I'll be there in a week and I was planning to spend the majority of my time in the "red-light districts." However, I have grown rather fond of breathing, and I'd like to continue doing it for as long as possible.

I just got back from TJ. Stayed at Cascadas 2000 (the hotel attached to Miami/Hong Kong and Chavelas Bar). Dirty, no climate control, (cheap $31/nt for single, $42 for double, $67? for jacuzzi) but safe. First girl you bring to your room is free, each one after that costs you $5.50. (all prices USD.) Anyway, I found the hotel to be very safe. I took all reasonable precautions and didn't bring anything valuable, but I did not feel threatened in any way. There are "cleaning guys" all over the place 24 hours per day mopping the floors with the same dirty water. Still, their presence lends to safety. Also, there are security personnel and the front desk monitors everyone who comes in or out. I found the immediate area around the hotel also to be safe. Using information from previous posts, I stayed VERY close to the hotel and took taxis everywhere else. No problems. I also met some great girls there and I'll be posting about them this afternoon.

Here's a heads up: The SGs tell me that because buisness has been slow, they've not been able to pay off the cops (average $20. per week per girl) therefore they are being a bit more aggressive towards "tourists."

Be very cool, obey traffic laws, don't be an asshole, and just generally behave yourself. I'm sure that when things "improve" the pressure will lighten up.

Country John

It's down to 5.50? Seems like the lack of business is working. Cascadas is the perfect hotel for multiple SG's, but not at an extra charge. I would rather pay $40 bucks instead of having to stop and pay an extra $5 each time you go up.

Cruiser

Before I knew about the WSG I was in TJ about 5 years ago by myself, just hanging out and bar hopping. Well, I ended up leaving one of the bars ( by myself) around 9PM and just walking down the sidewalk looking for another place to hang out when BAM !

Wasn't expecting this...didn't know it was coming. I got the choke hold put on me from behind and these guys know what they are doing. I immediately began to struggle and try to fight back, but the choke hold is really effective in cutting off your air supply IMMEDIATELY. As I struggled, I had the conscious thought that if I kept on like this I was going to die. All during this time one other guy was going through all of my pockets and took everyting I had on me. I decided I would stop struggling and maybe they would let me go, 'cause I was beginning to black out. Luckily, just after they cleaned me out they let me go as I dropped to the ground and they ran away. I was able to get up shortly after and stagger my way back to the border.

I didn't have a dime. I couldn't ask for any help because I don't speak Spanish, and the onlookers didn't care one way or the other.

Long story short. I learned a lot that night. Mexico is not the USA. There are people there that don't give a shit about you or what happens to you, they just want what you have.

Pay attention to what you read here in WSG and don't take any risks in TJ with walking around. I have gone back to TJ many times since this happened, and I seem to always travel alone but I am much more street wise now after reading these posts and being EXTRA cautious. Use the cabs, know where you are going, don't take more money etc. than you need for your nights entertainment, walk in the middle of the street so you don't get ambushed if you do need to walk around, and use those eyes in the back of your head!

Don't be stupid......the choke hold is a *****!

I got dropped off by taxi right at the border. There were 4 cops there and they wanted to search me. I only had $17 on me and no atm card. I don't know if it wasn't enough for them but they didn't rob me. I'm thankful for reading here and learning how bad the cops are so I didn't bring my atm card specifically beacuse of them.

Maybe they were just doing a random search but who knows. If they're going to kill me I'll have the satisfaction of knowing they won't get much money for their effort.