Bilingual Tijuana Police to Aid Tourists

Seeking to bolster tourism by countering their border city’s sometimes-bawdy image, Tijuana officials said Tuesday that they will create a bilingual police unit to assist foreign visitors.

The first 20 officers of the new force should be on the streets in time for the start of the busy Christmas shopping season in two months, said Alfonso Bustamante, president of the Tijuana Convention & Visitors Bureau, a promotional agency funded with government and private money. If the plan is successful, more officers might eventually be hired.

“We want to make it easier for tourists,” explained Bustamante, who disclosed the plan during a promotional trip to Los Angeles.

Tijuana promoters like to boast that their city, with a population of 1.2 million, is the world’s most visited city, drawing up to 24 million tourists annually to its scores of shops, bars, restaurants and sporting events such as bullfights, horse and greyhound racing, and jai alai. Tourism is Tijuana’s lifeblood, generating more than half the city’s total revenues, according to estimates.

However, officials also acknowledge that Tijuana’s wide-open image has discouraged many visitors who fear much-publicized violence and the threat of harassment by police officials. Seeking to counter the “sin city” reputation, the city has embarked on a broad campaign to promote itself as a safe, efficient and inexpensive haven for tourists.

In a blow to the city’s image two years ago, U.S. Navy officials in San Diego imposed a nighttime curfew on personnel visiting Tijuana. The move came after police officials were accused of extorting bribes from San Diego-based sailors, thousands of whom have historically frequented Tijuana’s cantinas and other night spots.

Members of the new police unit will be posted at the port of entry and at other prominent tourist spots in Tijuana, Bustamante said. The officers will wear some kind of identifying badges or armbands, he added, but their uniforms will otherwise be identical to those of other Tijuana police officers. Their duties will include providing directions and other information to visitors, as well as receiving complaints from tourists.

“We want everyone to report any problems, whether they have been robbed or abused or whatever,” Bustamante said.

The officers will receive special training that will include English-language instruction and tips on how to deal with tourists.

In an effort to minimize the corruption for which Mexican police forces are famous, the new officers will be paid about 25% more than the city’s regular 2,000 police officers. At the current deflated rate of exchange, Tijuana police officers are paid about $6 a day--an amount so low that many say its encourages corruption.

The new unit will be under the jurisdiction of the city police department, but the officers will be responsible directly to the visitors bureau. The bureau will reimburse the city for the cost of the program, Bustamante said.