How Does A Model For Aggressive Police Reform Impact Tijuanas Drug War?
AP IMPACT: Tijuana’s Drug War Focuses On Police TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Behind every crime is a corrupt cop. That’s Public Safety Chief Julian Leyzaola’s mantra as he storms Tijuana with its most aggressive police reform to date, a mix of counterterrorism and community policing. If it works, it could be a model for other hotspots and a huge breakthrough in a drug war in Mexico that has taken more than 14,000 lives in the last three years. But the job is as monumental as turning around Al Capone’s Chicago. Cops in this border city and many others nationwide now serve as the eyes and ears of drug lords. And those who fight the cartels often end up dead. The Associated Press followed Leyzaola for eight months as he rallied troops, consoled officers’ widows and appealed to jaded residents for support. The AP joined commanders and officers on patrol, at target practice and in training classes, tracking firsthand Leyzaola’s intended reforms. Leyzaola, 49, joined Tijuana police in 2007, after
AP reporter Elliot Spagat follows Tijuana’s new public safety chief, Julian Leyzaola, for eight months as he launches the city’s most aggressive police reform to date, in the middle of a raging drug war. ——— TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Behind every crime is a corrupt cop. That’s Public Safety Chief Julian Leyzaola’s mantra as he storms Tijuana with its most aggressive police reform to date, a mix of counterterrorism and community policing. If it works, it could be a model for other hotspots and a huge breakthrough in a drug war in Mexico that has taken more than 14,000 lives in the last three years. But the job is as monumental as turning around Al Capone’s Chicago. Cops in this border city and many others nationwide now serve as the eyes and ears of drug lords. And those who fight the cartels often end up dead. The Associated Press followed Leyzaola for eight months as he rallied troops, consoled officers’ widows and appealed to jaded residents for support. The AP joined commanders and off
Behind every crime is a corrupt cop. That’s Public Safety Chief Julian Leyzaola’s mantra as he storms Tijuana with its most aggressive police reform to date, a mix of counterterrorism and community policing. If it works, it could be a model for other hotspots and a huge breakthrough in a drug war in Mexico that has taken more than 14,000 lives in the last three years. But the job is as monumental as turning around Al Capone’s Chicago. Cops in this border city and many others nationwide now serve as the eyes and ears of drug lords. And those who fight the cartels often end up dead. The Associated Press followed Leyzaola for eight months as he rallied troops, consoled officers’ widows and appealed to jaded residents for support. The AP joined commanders and officers on patrol, at target practice and in training classes, tracking firsthand Leyzaola’s intended reforms.
