Posted on 03/04/2012 6:47:19 AM PST by La Lydia
Juarez, the Mexican border city once notoriously dubbed the “Murder Capital of the World,” is taking a cue from Big Apple-style policing. Twenty years after New York City became one of the early pioneers of policing strategies such as Compstat and “Broken Windows,” Juarez has begun applying a version of those strategies in its own battle against drug violence and street crime—with similar success. At a time when many regions of Mexico continue to be riddled with almost daily shootings, the number of reported murders in Juarez has dropped 38 percent between 2010 and 2011, from 3,011 to 1,904, according to figures from the Chihuahua State Attorney’s Office.
There are other factors responsible for the decline, such as increased cooperation between city, state and federal authorities; and homicides remain a disturbing fact of life in a city that has been ground zero for feuding drug cartels. But the changes in law enforcement strategy set in motion by the city’s new mayor and police chief have led to a gradual return of pedestrian traffic and a climate of security. Hector Murguia took office as mayor in January 2011. Three months later, he appointed Julian Leyzaola, former chief of Tijuana police, to head the city’s demoralized 2,300-member police force.
Both men acknowledge they were intrigued by the no-nonsense stand against crime in the mid- 1990s adapted by then-New York Mayor Rudolf Giuliani—and the “community policing” strategies developed by his colorful appointee as NYPD Commissioner: Bill Bratton.
Leyzaola introduced a version of Compstat, a geomapping tool that allows law enforcement to identify crime spikes and swiftly shift resources to intervene in high-crime neighborhoods. Compstat was one of the most widely admired tools introduced by Bratton—and is now used in many U.S. police departments.
Murguia, interviewed in his City Hall office, wouldn't discuss specific police strategies, citing security reasons. But he credited Compstat and other New York innovative approaches, such as stepped-up foot patrols and more direct street contact with city residents, with helping to transform previously no-go areas of Juarez.
More controversially, Juarez has also adopted a particularly tough variation of New York’s “Stop and Frisk” policies. Suspicious vehicles or pedestrians are stopped and searched by automatic-weapon-wielding police, many of whom have their faces covered. Murguia makes no apologies for the rough tactics.
“I see these (criminals) as beasts, and they need to be stopped,” he says....
"The police in Juarez have finally turned a corner into the twentieth century with how they are now policing," says Bratton, who served as chief of the Los Angeles police before becoming chairman of Kroll, one of the world’s leading risk management firms, and consults with overseas law enforcement in Latin America and Europe....
Mexico needs a second amendment if they’re going to beat this thing.
If some federal level key politicians get taken out, you’d see a second amendment in a minute.
“Suspicious vehicles or pedestrians are stopped and searched by automatic-weapon-wielding police,”
Profiling. Could be helpful here for terrorists.
But what if they started profiling tea-party members?
You mean targeting old white guys?
They already do..
I guess going from 3000 murders to 2000 is progress, but they still have a long way to go. They attribute the reason to police strategies, but it could be just timing and luck. Maybe the bad guys have less enemies because they have killed so many and frightened off others.
I wish the liberal dems who run the city of York, PA would learn that lesson.
There could be additional reasons for the fall off in murders:
1. They’re running out of rival gangbanger narcos to kill.
2. One gang has won.
3. The police have all but surrendered to the lure of plomo or plata.
4. Non reporting of bodies found out at the dumping ground anymore. Just report the killings in the center of town or on streets near churches and schools.
Fantastic! Murders are only about 2000 a year, they used to be 3,000. Paradise on earth, I tell ya.
“Mexico needs a second amendment if they’re going to beat this thing.”
Agreed. The safest areas in the United States have the most lax gun laws — i.e., Second Amendment friendly — and highest gun ownership rates. In contrast, the most dangerous areas in the United States have the most restrictive gun laws. There’s some economist out there — I think his name is John Lott — who has scientifically shown these correlations time and time again but the liberal idiots who keep thinking they’re so smart and educated keep ignoring the scientific evidence on this matter. Apparently liberals only believe in data and studies when they’re fabricated like the global warming scam.
“There could be additional reasons for the fall off in murders”
Yes, a lot of the drug trade is now being conducted in Central America like Guatemala which has the highest murder rate in the region
“One gang has won”
My understanding is that you’re right on this one, and the Sinaloa cartel effectively has beat out the Juarez cartel for control over the region
“The police have all but surrendered”
My understanding is that law enforcement — local, federal and military — has helped in reducing the violence, and this is one reason why more Mexican drug cartel activity is being conducted south of its border in Central America.
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