Once upon a time in Mexico

Police officers suspected of corruption were armed with slingshots

Very original special protective equipment entered service with the police of the Mexican city of Tijuana. Law enforcement officers were given slingshots and ammunition for them in the form of balls, and now law enforcement officers recall their skills in handling these objects, familiar only from children's games. They have no other choice - since slingshots have become the only special equipment that the Mexican federal authorities have allowed the officers of the law to use in this border city, which has a bad reputation as a transshipment base for drug traffickers sending goods further north - to the United States and Canada. None of the Mexican leaders say directly that the Tijuana police were made a laughing stock for educational purposes, but in the context of the latest actions of the country's new president, Felipe Calderon, who immediately declared war on both the drug mafia and corrupt state and municipal officials, the distribution of slingshots looks like a kind of punishment.

The fact is that almost all 2,300 employees of the Tijuana municipal police are under suspicion and are now being tested, AP reports. Despite the fact that the Tijuana Police Department lost 13 officers in the crime wars on the city streets last year alone, Mexican federal authorities believe that many of the law enforcement officers there, if not part of the mafia, are at least turning a blind eye to the actions of drug traffickers. It is noteworthy that President Calderon, who promised his voters to eradicate organized crime, did not limit himself to one-time demonstration operations to identify werewolves. He began large-scale actions, sending troops to several states of the country at once, characterized by a high criminal background.

More than three thousand federal soldiers and police descended on Tijuana immediately after the New Year. They started with the complete disarmament of local law enforcement officers. All service weapons of the municipal police were sent for ballistic examination, which, according to investigators, should confirm or, on the contrary, deny the involvement of each law enforcement officer in the drug mafia or other criminal groups. Such decisive actions by the Mexican president were approved by the northern neighbors, especially since, along with the purge of police ranks in Tijuana, an operation was carried out to detain drug traffickers transporting cocaine and marijuana to the United States. Several of the arrested dealers were handed over to U.S. authorities last week, an extradition that U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales called “unprecedented in importance.”

The unprecedented activity of federal security forces appears to have seriously frightened Tijuana police officers, including those who are not related to drug gangs. After all, it is obvious that organized crime can respond to the arrest of its leaders with outbreaks of street violence, and law enforcement officers have nothing left to protect themselves. But requests and even demonstrations by police demanding the return of firearms to them did not affect the plans of the feds - examination of the seized pistols and shotguns is carried out in accordance with the established procedure. And when the police threatened to simply leave the streets, they were offered slingshots as a means of defense. And even then, not for everyone, but only for those who keep order in the most popular areas of Tijuana with tourists. On Tuesday, slingshots and balls were given to 60 patrol officers. In case the “ammunition” ran out, the police were allowed to “shoot” stones. “Of course, they hardly liked such special equipment, but they must ensure the safety of people,” said Fernando Bojorquez, a representative of the Tijuana Police Department.

Fedor SEREBRYANSKY