Posted on 11/01/2007 2:44:03 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
EDINBURG — Juan Carlos Rojas eased his hand mirror around a corner of the dimly lit concrete room, catching glimpses of a masked man hiding on the other side.
Sensing his chance, he lunged through the doorway, grabbed the man and pinned him against the wall. But seconds after subduing what he thought to be a lone gunman, shots rang out behind him.
His partner was hit.
“Ay,” the man yelled, jokingly tracing the path of the projectile that grazed his stomach.
The bullets were rubber-tipped and the circumstances staged, but for Rojas, a municipal police officer in Agua Prieta, Son., Wednesday’s SWAT scenario offered a glimpse at law enforcement tactics on the northern side of the U.S.-Mexico border.
“(The training scenarios) are more real here,” he said in Spanish. “And in our job, on the streets, it’s very real.”
Amid escalating violence against authorities in their home country, Rojas and 30 Mexican law enforcement officers participated in a three-day conference this week on survival training and field tactics.
The session, hosted by McAllen’s FBI office, put the officers through several high-intensity situations including firearms training, standoff scenarios and challenges involving pulling armed suspects from vehicles.
“The goal is to get their adrenaline pumping and see how well their training holds up,” said Eric Drickersen, a San Diego-based border liaison agent for the FBI. “Hopefully, they learn to better protect themselves.”
More than 58 police chiefs, 160 agents and 22 military officers have been assassinated across Mexico in the last nine months, according to a study by the Mexico City newspaper Reforma. None of those cases has been solved, but the majority are believed to be linked to drug cartel violence.
As a result, said Agua Prieta officer Fermin Lopez, the defensive training should come in handy on the streets....
(Excerpt) Read more at themonitor.com ...
“There, hysterical women will fight to protect the criminals,” he said. “But if you cut off their food and water and cut the cable (television), they will come out eventually.”
Ahh, shucks, I thought this was gonna be a Barry Bonds thread and the FBI was after him.
The FBI is training Mexicans to do what? The FBI should be guarding the border instead of training the next batch of drug runner escorts. Of course it’s much easier to help prosecute US law enforcement officers than confront a real enemy to this country.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.