Patrol Arrests Tijuana Police Entering U.S.

Four Tijuana police officers who said they were tracking bandits were arrested as illegal aliens and returned to Mexico on Thursday after a squad of San Diego policemen and U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted them crawling into the United States through a hole in the border fence.

Officials said the Mexicans offered no resistence when confronted about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, east of the San Ysidro port of entry and about 40 yards north of the international border.

The men were detained overnight and their pistols were confiscated.

“Their demeanor was perfectly cooperative and they were scared to death,” said Robert Burgreen, assistant San Diego police chief. “We are convinced that what we have here were four young officers who were honestly trying to enforce the law and, in their zeal, made a mistake in judgment.”

The Mexicans were arrested in a remote area of sage-covered canyons where robbers and rapists frequently attack undocumented workers who wait until dark before making their way northward. In the past, some Tijuana policemen have also been accused of preying upon the migrants.

Since January, the Police Department and Border Patrol have jointly operated a Border Crimes Task Force to thwart criminal activity in the area.

“This is the first time I can ever think of something like this happening with their police officers,” Burgreen said. “In about 1960, we had an officer in a high-speed chase who couldn’t stop in time and slid across the border. He had to spend the night in Tijuana, but that was a long time ago.”

Mike Williams, Border Patrol deputy sector chief, said seven members of the task force were patrolling along the border fence Wednesday night when they saw movement on the Mexican side. The seven crouched down, escaping flashlight beams that were directed their way.

“Apparently, at the same time, the Tijuana officers saw movement on our side of the border and thought our people were alien robbers,” Burgreen said. “The Tijuana officers called out and when they didn’t get a response, they came over through a hole in the fence.”

Task force members immediately turned their flashlights on the Tijuana officers, one of whom had his pistol drawn. In Spanish, the four were ordered to drop their weapons and lie on the ground. They complied immediately.

After they were interrogated by San Diego police, the Tijuana officers were turned over to the Border Patrol.

“It certainly entered the mind of our bandit detail that these people were out there with the thought of doing some robbing, but there was no clear-cut evidence of that,” Williams said. “I do not feel that in this particular case they were over there with the idea of doing any robbing. However, we will not condone or tolerate this kind of activity in any case.”

The four officers spent the night at the Police Department’s substation in San Ysidro and were later transferred to the Border Patrol’s facilities at Brown Field. They were returned to Mexico on Thursday morning.

Burgreen said the Police Department will probably not recommend that the officers be prosecuted. Their weapons are expected to be returned eventually.

Burgreen said he spoke with Tijuana’s new police chief, Gerardo Sosa Olachea, about the incident. Sosa Olachea was “very cooperative,” Burgreen said. “I’m sure we will have future communication with him to ensure that this type of thing doesn’t happen again.”

The Times’ efforts to reach the Tijuana chief were unsuccessful.

Sosa Olachea, Tijuana’s 24th police chief in 30 years, was sworn in Nov. 28 to replace Salvador Aguirre Sanchez, a 55-year-old union leader who resigned citing poor health and demands on his time by the labor federation that he heads.

During Aguirre Sanchez’s year as chief, the image of Tijuana’s 1,000-man police department was tarnished by charges from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border that officers were threatening U.S. servicemen and civilians with arrest and impoundment of their cars unless they paid off policemen.