S.D. and Baja Officials Share Ideas on Crime : Killings: A rise in slayings in which suspected perpetrators have fled to Mexico prompted the mayor to ask for a meeting with the Baja governor.

Citing an increase of Mexican nationals who are suspected of murder in the United States, San Diego’s mayor and police chief urged the governor of Baja California Wednesday night to seek vigorous prosecution of those charged with such crimes.

The gathering of top officials at Gov. Ernesto Ruffo Appel’s office here to discuss the problem was to be the first of several such meetings in which San Diego authorities hope to help stem their spiraling homicide rate.

“We are just beginning here tonight,” Ruffo said after a 75-minute meeting with Mayor Maureen O’Connor and Police Chief Bob Burgreen. “Our people will get together and figure out the best way to begin constructing a formal way of helping each other.”

Last month, San Diego recorded its 145th homicide, breaking its one-year record set in 1988.

Of that amount this year, 34% of the suspects and 40% of the victims are Latino. Although he could give no specific figures, Burgreen said “more than a few” in each category are Mexican nationals, enough to prompt him to request an audience with Ruffino.

Early this month, a trio of the city’s top officials--O’Connor, Burgreen and City Manager Jack McGrory--unveiled a $1-million plan to combat violent crime and mentioned for the first time the rise in felonies associated with those living in Mexico and crossing the U.S. border.

At that time, Burgreen asked O’Connor to set up a meeting with Ruffo because the chief was concerned about a number of cases in which homicide suspects fled to Mexico and could not be brought back.

No formal extradition treaty between the two countries exists, and it is rare that extradition take place. Although Burgreen conceded that mechanisms exist that allow Mexican officials to try its citizens charged in the U.S.--and vice versa, he said it has not been done in San Diego “to any appreciable degree.”

“That’s why we’re here,” he said. “We need to set up procedures to do that on the serious crimes, particularly the crimes of homicides. We feel the time is right to pursue the option of having (suspects) returned to Mexico for prosecution.

Among the ways the two countries can cooperate is by having attorneys from both countries research laws that will help expedite the process, Ruffo said. Law enforcement authorities may also establish a bank of information on dangerous suspected criminals to share, Burgreen said.

O’Connor brushed off the expected criticism that San Diego city officials seem to be targeting Mexicans for criminal enforcement.

“I don’t care if they’re Hispanic or white, I just want them brought to justice,” O’Connor said. “The violent crime in San Diego is unacceptable, and the governor will tell you the violent crime in Mexico is unacceptable.”

Last September, San Diego police were severely criticized when they took the unusual step of detaining undocumented aliens suspected of crimes and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

The change in department policy brought cries of protest from Latino leaders who said the action was unnecessary, but police administrators argued that the experiment was used elsewhere successfully to combat downtown crime and promised to review its effectiveness.

Surprisingly, the department could provide no statistics Wednesday to show how many criminal suspects under investigation have fled to Mexico or how many homicide victims were from Mexico at the time of their deaths.

In 1990, figures show that 38% of all murder suspects apprehended were Latino, as were 47% of all murder victims, but police officials said there was no way to draw a correlation between those figures and the apparent rise in the number of Mexican-national murder suspects fleeing across the border that Burgreen has suggested.

O’Connor called the meeting “a major first step” and went to great lengths to thank Ruffo for arranging the meeting within a week after it was first requested.

For his part, Ruffo acknowledged that the Baja California court system is already overloaded and pursuing cases for San Diego would only add to its burden.

But, with an optimistic shrug of his shoulders and a half-smile, he said it would benefit both countries to begin talking and sharing information.

“We’ll do the best we can,” he said.