By Anna CearleySD UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERJanuary 23, 2007 TIJUANA – The drug cartels here are clearly Goliath, heavily armed with automatic weapons. The municipal police, stripped of their guns this month as part of a corruption probe, are now playing the role of David. About 60 officers were issued slingshots yesterday for use on patrols in the tourist section of Avenida Revolucion and the business district of Zona Rio, according to a police department spokesman. Some of the officers bought bags of marbles for ammo.“It's obviously very denigrating to them to be carrying these kinds of instruments, but they have to look for ways to provide security for the public,” spokesman Fernando Bojórquez said. Members of the 2,300-officer city police department handed over their firearms Jan. 4 to federal officials, who are investigating whether any of the officers or guns can be linked to organized crime. Since then, the city officers have sought the public's support and engineered several displays of their displeasure. Bojórquez said the decision to hand out slingshots wasn't districtwide, but was something two police officials did on their own and paid for themselves. While some of the officers bought marbles to use with the slingshots, others could end up using rocks, Bojórquez said. The focus on the police force is part of Operation Tijuana, a sweeping attempt to reduce crime that brought more than 3,000 soldiers and federal police to the area. The operation started Jan. 2, and the officers were relieved of their weapons two days later. It's unclear when they will receive their guns back. Police, who say they are vulnerable without guns, staged a massive protest outside federal offices last week. Mexican media have reported police also were using baseball bats in attempts to detain criminals.
Originally posted by lukster Why don't the disarmed cops just use their off duty guns, they ones they use for drug running?
