Thread: Crime down not up on border...AZ article...

Violence is not up on Arizona border despite Mexican drug war
Mexico crime flares, but here, only flickers

Dennis Wagner - May. 2, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
.

NOGALES, Ariz. - Assistant Police Chief Roy Bermudez shakes his head and smiles when he hears politicians and pundits declaring that Mexican cartel violence is overrunning his Arizona border town.

"We have not, thank God, witnessed any spillover violence from Mexico," Bermudez says emphatically. "You can look at the crime stats. I think Nogales, Arizona, is one of the safest places to live in all of America."

FBI Uniform Crime Reports and statistics provided by police agencies, in fact, show that the crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border towns have remained essentially flat for the past decade, even as drug-related violence has spiraled out of control on the other side of the international line. Statewide, rates of violent crime also are down.

While smugglers have become more aggressive in their encounters with authorities, as evidenced by the shooting of a Pinal County deputy on Friday, allegedly by illegal-immigrant drug runners, they do not routinely target residents of border towns.

In 2000, there were 23 rapes, robberies and murders in Nogales, Ariz. Last year, despite nearly a decade of population growth, there were 19 such crimes. Aggravated assaults dropped by one-third. No one has been murdered in two years.

Bermudez said people unfamiliar with the border may be confused because Nogales, Sonora, has become notorious for kidnappings, shootouts and beheadings. With 500 Border Patrol agents and countless other law officers swarming the Arizona side, he said, smugglers pass through as quickly and furtively as possible.

"Everywhere you turn, there's some kind of law enforcement looking at you," Bermudez said. "Per capita, we probably have the highest amount of any city in the United States."

In Yuma, police spokesman Sgt. Clint Norred said he cannot recall any significant cartel violence in the past several years. Departmental crime records show the amount of bloodshed has remained stable despite a substantial population increase.

"It almost seems like Yuma is more of an entryway" for smugglers rather than a combat zone, he said.

Perceptions vs. reality

Since the murder of Cochise County rancher Robert Krentz by a suspected illegal immigrant in March, politicians and the national press have fanned a perception that the border is inundated with bloodshed and that it's escalating.

In a speech on the Senate floor last week, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., declared that the failure to secure that border between Arizona and Mexico "has led to violence - the worst I have ever seen."

He reiterated that Saturday after speaking at the West Valley Military Family Day event in Glendale, saying the concern that drug violence could spill across the border remains intense because Mexico's political situation is volatile.

"The violence is on the increase," McCain told The Arizona Republic. "The president of Mexico has said that it's a struggle for the existence of the government of Mexico."

Congressional members, including Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and John Shadegg, R-Ariz., sent President Barack Obama a letter asking that National Guard soldiers be sent to the border because "violence in the vicinity of the U.S. Mexico border continues to increase at an alarming rate."

And last month, as she signed Arizona's tough new law cracking down on illegal immigrants, Gov. Jan Brewer also called for National Guard troops. The law makes it a state crime to be in Arizona illegally and requires authorities to check documents of people they reasonably suspect to be illegal. Brewer said she signed it to solve what she said is an Arizona "crisis" caused by "border-related violence and crime due to illegal immigration."

Clarence Dupnik, the sheriff of Pima County, said there always has been crime associated with smuggling in southern Arizona, but today's rhetoric does not seem to jibe with reality.

"This is a media-created event," Dupnik said. "I hear politicians on TV saying the border has gotten worse. Well, the fact of the matter is that the border has never been more secure."

Even Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, among the most strident critics of federal enforcement, concedes that notions of cartel mayhem are exaggerated. "We're not seeing the multiple killings, beheadings and shootouts that are going on on the other side," he said.

In fact, according to the Border Patrol, Krentz is the only American murdered by a suspected illegal immigrant in at least a decade within the agency's Tucson sector, the busiest smuggling route among the Border Patrol's nine coverage regions along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Still, Dever said, the slaying proved useful to southern Arizonans who are sick of smugglers and immigrants tramping through their lands.

"The interest just elevated. And we keep the pressure on because next week something else is going to happen, and the window of opportunity will close," Dever said.

Cochise County's crime rate has been "flat" for at least 10 years, the sheriff added. Even in 2000, when record numbers of undocumented immigrants were detained in the area, just 4 percent of the area's violent crimes were committed by illegal aliens.

Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor said his town suffers from home invasions and kidnappings involving marijuana smugglers who are undoubtedly tied to Mexican organizations. However, he added, most of those committing the rip-offs are American citizens.

"I think the border-influenced violence is getting worse," Villasenor said. "But is it a spillover of Mexican cartel members? No, I don't buy that."

More help on the border

While the nation's illegal-immigrant population doubled from 1994 to 2004, according to federal records, the violent-crime rate declined 35 percent.

More recently, Arizona's violent-crime rate dropped from 512 incidents per 100,000 residents in 2005 to 447 incidents in 2008, the most recent year for which data is available.

In testimony to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security last month, Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney for Arizona, noted that Arizona now has more than 6,000 federal law-enforcement agents, with the majority of them employed by the Border Patrol. That represents nearly 10 agents for every mile of international line between Arizona and Sonora.

Border Patrol presence has been backed by increases in counter-smuggling technology and intelligence, the establishment of permanent highway checkpoints and a dramatic increase in customs inspectors at U.S. ports.

"The border is as secure now as it has ever been," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate panel last week.

Given that level of security, Bermudez and others say, it is no wonder that cartel operatives pass through border communities as quickly as possible, avoiding conflicts and attention.

In fact, violent-crime data suggest that violence from Mexico leapfrogs the border to smuggling hubs and destinations, where cartel members do take part in murders, home invasions and kidnappings.

In Phoenix and Tucson, cartel-related violence is hardly new.

In 1996, for example, Valley law-enforcement agents estimated that 40 percent of all homicides in Maricopa County were a result of conflicts involving Mexican narcotics organizations, mostly from Sinaloa state. A decade later, the Attorney General's Office exposed a $2 billion human-smuggling business based in metro Phoenix, where criminals often assaulted illegal aliens while holding them for payment of smuggling fees. More recently, cartel-related home invasions and abductions put Phoenix among the world leaders in kidnappings.

'A third country'

During a national border security expo in Phoenix last week, David Aguilar, acting deputy commissioner for Customs and Border Protection, said policy makers and the public need to understand that the border is not a fence or a line in the dirt but a broad and complex corridor.

"It is," Aguilar explained, "a third country that joins Mexico and the United States."

He emphasized that the cartels operate throughout Mexico and the United States, and he noted that those who think of border security in terms of a "juridical line" really don't understand the dynamics.

Aguilar said that Juarez, Mexico, is widely regarded as the "deadliest city in the world" because of an estimated 5,000 murders in recent years. Yet right across the border, El Paso, Texas, is listed among the safest towns in America.

A review of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports suggests that Arizona's border towns share El Paso's good fortune. Douglas and Nogales are about the same size as Florence but have significantly lower violent-crime rates. Likewise, Yuma has a population greater than Avondale's but a lower rate of violent offenses.

In Nogales, Ariz., residents seem bemused and annoyed by their town's perilous reputation. Yes, they sometimes hear the gunfire across the border. No, they don't feel safe visiting the sister city across the line. But with cops and federal agents everywhere, they see no danger on their streets.

"There's no violence here," said Francisco Hernandez, 31, who works in a sign shop and lives on a ranch along the border. "It doesn't drain over, like people are saying."

Leo Federico, 61, a retired teacher, said he has been amazed to hear members of Congress call for National Guard troops in the area.

"That's politics," he said, shrugging. "It's all about votes. . . . We have plenty of law enforcement."

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... z0pTfqcZe1

Pretty much. Crime in Arizona has gone down despite the rise in illegal immigration from Mexico. I live in a border city and where exactly is this so called border war zone. The main stream media would have you think that we have an Iraq situation along our border.

Excerpt from an article:
"The crime rate in Arizona in 2008 was the lowest it has been in four decades. In the past decade, as the number of illegal immigrants in the state grew rapidly, the violent crime rate dropped by 23 percent, the property crime rate by 28 percent. (You can check out the DoJ figures here.)"

http://marcovilla.instablogs.com/entry/ ... rime-down/


Illegal immigration is an issue that needs to be dealt with and pronto, but sometimes the reasons that are given for needing to address it are disingenuous or simply false. The picture that people want to paint is that Mexicans are violent and are coming here to rape our children. Guys, relax, they're coming here to work for the most part and I suspect many Hispanics are aware of that. If the Republicans continue on this path of using this sort of rhetoric, they're gonna lose the Hispanic voters. There are better ways to address the illegal immigration problem.

The lie that crime will increase due to other states following Arizonas lead is luducris.I speak from the perspective of a person who sold drugs for a long time and paid my debt to soceity.If those laws would have been in place when iwas dealing drugs it would have caused magor problems.One if i would have had to worry about my Hispanic connections being stopped or being checked it would have caused a lot of problems in the transfer of contraband.You multiply that by a million exchanges a day and you would to have to be blind not to realize that the drug trade would be severely impacted.Then you get the collateral damage of the people you apprehend turning states evidence to cut a better deal and you start seeing a real impact on the drug trade.Two if my connections got caught the way i stayed connected was take money and pretty american females to an area that either had a lot of poultry,farming or any other industry that was known to hire a lot of illegals and a large hispanic community and go meet at bars or restaurants where the hispanic community frequented or find an american who worked there.Within days or weeks at the most my bait females would have my foot in the door.Would it be harder to find if hispanic people had to be careful because they might be pulled over yes it would.So those are two of the reasons either these police cheifs who are saying these laws will cause an increase in crime either need more education or they are getting their pockets lined.

Thanks Dray for your honesty.

It is as if the article and the police do not account none violence crimes (defined). They do not consider human trafficking and drug trafficking and illicit IA crossing as a crime in the stats.

Like you...I also believe that anyone that is supportive against border protection and IA control have a finger in the pie. The conspiracy, complicity and symbiotic nature of drugs and IA is fed, protected and perpetrated on both sides of the borders. It is an ugly mess.

Could it be that the cartels have better co-operation with police escorting them to and from the border now than ever before that is flat lineing the stats? Corruption goes far beyond the imagination of nearly every American (I also have some inside experiences). Mexicans know it and live with it daily as they have one of the most corrupt governments and police force in the world. But the Mexican government and law enforcement are more open about it than the covert American activities and CIA involvements here.

Mexico benefits greatly from the direct and indirect money pumped into their economy. They have no real interest in helping to stop the drug or human trades. And there are many here in America with the same insidious interests.

The idea of open boarders it totally self serving... It predates on both countries and the world. It is just plain wrong morally, ethically, legally and financially to let it continue unabated.

THE lie that more stringent rules on illegals will somehow cause more crime is without merit.I worked with these people for 3 years at RSI HOME PRODUCTS and they stick together from the hispanic personel,MARISOL RUSSELL to the newest employee on the line.WE where expected to take their derogatory remarks towards us personally and to listen to them tell an american women who was pregnant that tey where glad she was going to have a daughter because it would be another american woman they could use sexually.If we responded we would be in the office. i reported that one of the hispanicwomen had asked me to marry her because she was illegal.I reported this to my supervisor MATTHEW TADCYH and two weeks later several of my coworkers reported that i had cussed them.THEy made this report almost two working days laterI feel if every state had laws like arizona it would shake them up and lets see how much solidarity they have when instead of being deported they got to do some time and then be deported.IF you have information on drugs you can stay in this country if your information pans out.LETS se how quick we see crime go down

The crime rate in Arizona is down because Arizona's law enforcement is allowed to ENFORCE the LAW. Not like in many states where law enforcement is selective or non-existent. Lawlessness is intended to destroy our majestic Union of States, dedicated to the principles of Rule of Law, and Equality, and We the People.

In another context lets look at the immigration laws of our neighbors.DO you think that if you went to MEXICO they would let you recieve the same benefits as we give illegals over here.How about would they ask their workers to be bilingual so you would be able to communicate.Would their native workers chances for a better job be contingent on their knowledge of english or their being bilingual AT RSI HOME PRODUCTS in LINCOLNTON,N.C. all of those are conditions for americans.When you report the illegals they cover it up andact like you are prejudiced.I would just be happy with a level playing field.You report them to INS and they say how do you know they are illegal.LETS see maybe cause one lady asked me to marry her cause of her citizenship status.INS acts like you are the criminal for reporting them.They dont want to do their jobs that we pay taxes for.

Man, as its said " If you dont live it, you dont know".

I live in AZ.

I dont see the news from other states so I assume you outside of Arizona dont see our news.

The border is totally open.

Our citizens are being shot as well as our police.
The illegals are heavy with packs of drugs.

Today they showed the number of OTM (other than mexican) who have been caught. Dont know how many got thru...

Pakistan was the number one ....
Guess what there are bringing in ????? it aint drugs.....

Wont be long til a dirty bomb goes off somewhere.

The border must be closed.
Thats all borders, not just the south......

Look at the shoe bomber. Where did he come in ????

border camera

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OWmmB2R160

This video is showing just one small sector.
The pictures I see have illegals carring large back packs, ones that look to be at least 80 pounds ( if packed with drugs ).....
All back packs are the same size and color/style.
Its not these that concern me. Its the suitcase size items that we must intercept.
The writing is on the wall folks.
I m NOT anti Mexican. I lived many years in Escondido California. I was one of only two families that spoke English in the area. All other neighbors were Latino.
The older people were kind and loving. It is the young wanna bees that joined gangs that had issues.
We had automatic gun fire often, Drunken Fiestas and serious low riders in the neighborhood.
It was obvious what they wanted. Us whities out.........
I moved to Arizona....
In two hours Brewer meets with Obama. Lets see how our President defends our country.....