A sea of people – estimated at between 1,000 and 1,500 – filled the lakefront terrace of the Hotel Real de Chapala Wednesday, December 7 for a public meeting called to air ideas for battling crime in the wake of the recent murder of Ajijic resident Christopher Kahr.
While the gathering was presumably convoked by Chapala Mayor Jesus Cabrera, the agenda appeared to have been set by an ad hoc committee arising from the grass roots movement that staged an impromptu demonstration last week at the steps of Chapala city hall.
The Wednesday forum began about 20 minutes late as the throng of concerned citizens and invited government officials continued arriving after the announced 4 p.m. starting time. About 90 percent of those present were of foreign extraction.
The event got off to a sluggish start as realtor Linda Fossi and moving company operator Doug White rattled off statistics on current negative trends in local real estate sales and expatriate community demographics. Their figures implied that the lakeside economy could crumble in short order unless crime is brought under check, with no mention of extenuating circumstances such as the depressed U.S. economy, troubles in the real estate market there and alarming north-of-the-border media reports on Mexico’s war on the drug cartels.
It was almost 5 p.m. by the time the agenda finally picked up momentum with the exposition of proposals for new crime-fighting tactics, based on the most recurrent themes mentioned in more than 800 e-mail messages residents sent into the organizers. It was not clear how much input came from the Mexican community.
The topmost suggestion was tagged as Boots on the Ground, involving a strategy to get local police officers out of their trucks and walking neighborhood beats. That idea was roundly applauded by the audience.
The second proposal called for pulling in additional backup from state police on an interim basis while efforts are made to build up the size and strength of the municipal police force.
Third was the creation of a “crime-stoppers” hotline and reward system aimed at encouraging anonymous tips that lead to identification, capture and prosecution of perpetrators.
The remaining concepts included establishing permanent police guard posts to lock down every exit and entrance to the community; lining up experts to work through the local Ministerio Publico (prosecutor’s office) to help identify culprits by collecting fingerprints and making sketches based on victims’ descriptions; beefing up city hall revenues through a modest increase in property taxes and strict collection of right-of-way fees on utility poles that are already on the books; and enforcing restrictions on permissible working hours for taco stands, bars and casinos to get people off the streets during late hours.
Fossi then pulled out a pair of boxes, inviting the audience to chip into separate funds being set up through Actinver Banco for the crime-stoppers reward program and extra financing for the police department. She promised transparent accountability, with regular reports on spending and balances to be provided for publication in this newspaper. The positive response was immediate, to the point that well-known Actinver executive Aurora Michel had to ask eager donors to take their seats to listen to a message from the mayor.
“Thank you all for coming and showing interest,” Cabrera said. “Like you, we are very concerned, but by working together we can come up with solutions and move forward.”
He announced a follow-up meeting scheduled for Friday morning so that the anti-crime committee, local organizations heads and members of the city council can sit down to look over all the proposals and fine tune those that seem viable in the short term.
Jalisco Public Security chief Luis Carlos Najera spoke next, addressing the crowd in English and Spanish.
“I’m not happy to be here. I’m ashamed, because it’s not the first time we’ve met on this problem. This is my fifth visit here, but something’s not working.”
He offered a quiet, humbling reminder of the event that brought everyone together this time. “I hear a lot about money, but no one remembered to mention Christopher (Kahr). He cut off the crowd’s reaction saying, “I’m not here for applause, I’m here to work.”
He agreed that Chapala needs more policemen, but building up the local force is easier said than done.
“The hotline is a real good idea, and we can work on that together.” Nonetheless, he noted that the community has ignored previous calls to feed information to his agency through its own anonymous tip system (089 telephone hotline and email 089@jalisco.com.mx).
It should be noted that Lakeside Crime Watch does forward all crime reports posted on its websbite to Jalisco Public Security (SSPJ).
Najera stressed that state police under his command are already working closely with the municipal force to combat the nation’s most serious problem – organized crime.
“I’m not afraid of them. They should be afraid of us because there are more of us who want a crime-free Chapala. But you need to file complaints,” he concluded, promising someone from his staff would take part in the Friday follow-up. He also said that the SSPJ will have 26 video surveillance cameras installed and operating between Chapala and Jocotepec before the year is ou
Chapala police chief Reynol Contreras followed on the mike, commenting along similar lines.
“I want to thank the panel and all of you. I’m thrilled with what you are demanding, but I also need your help,” he declared. Pulling out his own “donation” box, wrapped in shiny blue paper, he said, “I’m not asking for money. Help me with information. Like Najera, the chief has seen slack public response to the police department’s anonymous tip program (email: denuncia_chapala@hotmail.com), with only three messages sent in by expatriates during the two years he has been on the job.
In conversation prior to the meeting, he told the Reporter he wished every foreigner would make an earnest effort to master the key Spanish words needed to call police in a crime emergency: auxilio (help), policia (police), plus name and address (street name, number and town).
He made a distinction between incidents of robbery and assault and incidents related to organized crime, underlining that Kahr’s unfortunate death was a random crime of opportunity gone bad unrelated to recent shooting incidents and murders involving rival drug cartels.
In comments clearly directed to critics who say local police don’t do anything and don’t care, he be closed by saying, “You can’t deny that Chapala police have confronted organized crime gangs without fear and with many positive results. We’ve responded to your crime reports, picking up 5,753 individuals as suspects or common delinquents, for administrative faults suspects. Of those, 241 were remanded to the state prosecutor’s office for prosecution and another 185 handed over to federal authorities. We’ve accomplished all this with 116 officers, 18 patrol vehicles and an enormous desire to serve you.”
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