First Group of Baja Tourist Police Set to Graduate on December 18
ROSARITO BEACH, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO—The first group of a new Metropolitan Police Force to help patrol Baja’s tourist corridor from Tijuana to Ensenada is scheduled for a graduation ceremony Dec. 18 at the San Diego Police Department.
The ceremony will be at 11 a.m. for the 15 officers, five each from Tijuana, Rosarito and Ensenada. The new uniforms for the special force also will be introduced at that time and the force will have specially marked patrol cars.
The duties of the Metropolitan Police Force, expected to be on duty by early 2010, will be to help other regional departments protect and assist the millions of visitors along northern Baja’s popular 70-mile coastal tourist corridor.
On Dec, 17 the 15 officers will undergo special training in working with out-of-area visitors at the San Diego Regional Public Safety Training Institute under the direction of San Diego Police Sgt. David Landman.
Those officers in turn will provide training to 30 fellow officers from each of the three Baja cities who will comprise the force. The San Diego Police Department also will provide ongoing monitoring and training.
The police force in San Diego, a popular tourist destination, has extensive experience in working with out-of-town visitors and is considered an expert.
The graduation ceremony will be attended by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos, Rosarito Mayor Hugo Torres and Ensenada Mayor Pablo Lopez Nunez Alejo, as well as Consul General Remedios Arnau from the Mexican Consulate in San Diego, General Consul Steven Kashkett from the US Consulate in Tijuana and San Diego police officials.
The mutual cooperation agreement was formalized in a letter of intent signed in October at San Diego City Hall by San Diego Mayor Sanders and mayors of the three Baja California cities.
“We’ve always prided ourselves on our working relationship with our friends to the south,” Sanders said, adding that the economies of the two regions are closely tied and both benefit from binational tourism.
“What’s good for Rosarito and Tijuana and Ensenada is good for San Diego,” he said.
Rosarito Beach Mayor Torres said that having San Diego police, who are very experienced in dealing with international and U.S. tourists, assisting with training will be a great benefit.
“It will help us find out how American police work so we can provide better services,” Torres said.
Torres said that visitors always have been safe in Baja but the new metropolitan tourist police would help make them feel more comfortable, secure and welcome.
Rosarito in 2008 started its own 30-member tourist police force, a special city department for attention to tourists, an ombudsman’s office to assist visitors and now issues bilingual traffic tickets that can be mailed in with fines from the U.S.
Media Contact:
Ron Raposa
619-948-3740
ronraposa@hotmail.com
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