New Tijuana mayor vows to push for honest, professional force

A promise of police with 'honor'
By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Photo by PEGGY PEATTIE / Union-Tribune

November 30, 2007

Amid a rising outcry over violence and corruption, Jorge Ramos becomes Tijuana mayor at midnight tonight, promising an unprecedented push for honesty and professional standards in the city's 2,300-member police department.

“We have a bad situation,” Ramos said in an interview this week, speaking of his city's high crime rates.

Just hours earlier, his top pick for a high-level public safety post fought off an attack at his home by heavily armed assailants.

“We can have a lot of cameras . . . all over the city, but if people who are responsible for security don't have principles, a sense of honor,” then crime-fighting will fail, said Ramos, 39, a member of Mexico's National Action Party, or PAN.

Ramos is one of five mayors simultaneously launching three-year terms with inaugurations today in Baja California. All have pledged to work closely with President Felipe Calderón and Gov. José Guadalupe Osuna Millán to fight crime.

To improve crime-fighting in Tijuana, Ramos said he intends to seek certification from the U.S.-based Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, which works with police agencies to strengthen law enforcement.