Feds order Tijuana cops to disarm; patrols halt

By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Photo by JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune

January 5, 2007

TIJUANA – Under federal orders to disarm, members of the city's 2,300-officer police force turned in their weapons and stopped patrolling yesterday, creating doubt about who was responsible for maintaining order in the city of 1.5 million residents.

The surprise directive from Mexico City came a day after President Felipe Calderón ordered Operation Tijuana, a major offensive against organized crime in the city. More than 3,000 soldiers and federal agents are being sent there with the aim of tackling the city's crime problems, but only a fraction have arrived.

Federal officials were expected to conduct ballistics tests on the weapons,apparently to see if any of the weapons could be linked to the many killings attributed to drug cartels.

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Disarmed Tijuana cops ordered back to work

State, federal forces handling potentially dangerous situations

By Sandra Dibble and Greg Gross
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

January 6, 2007

TIJUANA – Though stripped of their weapons, the 2,300 members of the local police force were ordered back to work yesterday, and returned to answering calls for help across this sprawling city with assistance from state and federal agencies.

For now, the unarmed municipal officers are relying on their armed counterparts to respond to risky situations, according to the city's public safety director, Luis Javier Algorri Franco. But across Tijuana, officers were investigating accidents, directing traffic and responding to a variety of nonviolent situations.

Officers stopped patrolling the city Thursday afternoon after Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon said it was too dangerous for them to work without weapons and told them to report to City Hall for their shifts. Their patrol cars and pickups parked in a large courtyard, uniformed officers still milled about yesterday morning before being directed to resume their duties.