SAN DIEGO/BAJA INTERNATIONAL BORDER - City officials in Mexico's Baja California state are drafting plans for a bilingual police force that caters to American tourists headed south of the border.
The plan, announced at San Diego City Hall, is to create a joint Mexican force that patrols a 50-mile tourist corridor from Tijuana through Playas de Rosarito to Ensenada. Tourism in the region has been steadily recovering after mischaracterizations in the press created concern about visiting not just Tijuana but the otherwise serene rural coastal regions to the south.
John Bork a lawyer in San Francisco, who owns a property in The region south of Rosarito, was recently asked ny some friends if he thought going to Baja was dangerous. An aficionado of the area John replies "well... yes it is... you have to drive all the way through LA".
San Diego police officers will help train the mexican City and state police of Rosarito, Tijuana and Ensenada the create and environment that less experienced travelers from north of the border will be more comfortable with. Details have not been worked out, but Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos says the joint force could have as many as 350 officers..
Rosarito already has a tourist police unit of about 30 officers, and Ensenada has one with about 20 officers. The program in both cities has been widely successful with foregners expressing deliget with the service they now receive while enjoying the baja coast