AP IMPACT: Tijuana’s drug war focuses on police| AP Wire

In this Nov. 23, 2009 photo, Tijuana’s Public Safety Chief Julian Leyzaola speaks with his police officers in Tijuana, Mexico. Leyzaola is leading the most aggressive police reform to date, a mix of counterterrorism and community policing. If it works, it would be a model for other hotspots and a huge breakthrough in a drug war that has taken more than 14,000 lives in Mexico since it was launched three years ago. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)

Dec 20, 1:52 PM EST

AP IMPACT: Tijuana’s drug war focuses on police

By ELLIOT SPAGAT - Associated Press Writer

EDITOR’S NOTE: AP reporter Elliot Spagat follows Tijuana’s new public safety chief, Julian Leyzaola, for eight months as he launches the city’s most aggressive police reform to date, in the middle of a raging drug war.

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) – Behind every crime is a corrupt cop.

That’s Public Safety Chief Julian Leyzaola’s mantra as he storms Tijuana with its most aggressive police reform to date, a mix of counterterrorism and community policing. If it works, it could be a model for other hotspots and a huge breakthrough in a drug war in Mexico that has taken more than 14,000 lives in the last three years.

But the job is as monumental as turning around Al Capone’s Chicago. Cops in this border city and many others nationwide now serve as the eyes and ears of drug lords. And those who fight the cartels often end up dead.

The Associated Press followed Leyzaola for eight months as he rallied troops, consoled officers’ widows and appealed to jaded residents for support. The AP joined commanders and officers on patrol, at target practice and in training classes, tracking firsthand Leyzaola’s intended reforms.

Leyzaola, 49, joined Tijuana police in 2007, after 25 years in the army and stints running Baja California’s state prisons and police. A year ago, he became head of the largest police force in Baja, where 90 percent of officers surveyed last year failed federal security checks.

“Listen well,” the retired military officer says with his trademark certitude. “No delinquent can survive without help from the authorities. If you do not clean up the police, you will never get rid of drug trafficking.”

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via Daily Record | Morris County NJ | AP Wire.