https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mayor-hands-out-slingshots-to-disarmed-cops/
The mayor demonstrates the use of a slingshot in front of disarmed police.
In this Veracruz municipality police don’t carry guns, only slingshots
Mayor claims police disarmed by state for political reasons
Monday, June 25, 2018
Municipal police in Alvarado, Veracruz, whose weapons were taken from them by order of the state government, have been rearmed — with slingshots.
State police relieved their municipal counterparts of their guns and their duties on Friday on the grounds that they were not properly accredited police officers. Thirty officers, including the chief, were affected.
The state government also intervened in a similar manner in the municipalities of Ixtaczoquitlán, Ciudad Mendoza and Pueblo Viejo.
Claiming that the move was political, Alvarado Mayor Bogar Ruiz Rosas responded by handing out slingshots and stones to the unarmed police officers and advising them that their most powerful weapon was their vote.
Ruiz found it “strange” that the municipality’s autonomy was violated just one week before the elections.
“It’s clear to us that this is a totally political issue and we have to be prepared to carry out our work, professionally, as you have seen us do it,” he wrote on Facebook.
Governor Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares responded by stating that Alvarado’s municipal police are no longer permitted to participate in law enforcement operations, and that if they do they would be violating regulations and would be tried for it.
Yunes is affiliated with the National Action Party, while Mayor Ruiz was elected under a coalition between the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party and its long-time ally, the Ecological Green Party.
(images from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKDhN2icTqA )
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16763344/ns/world_news-weird_news/t/tijuana-police-issued-slingshots/
Tijuana police issued slingshots
Guns confiscated amid allegations of collusion with drug runners
TIJUANA, Mexico — The police department has issued about 60 slingshots to officers in the violent border city of Tijuana, where soldiers confiscated police weapons two weeks ago on allegations of collusion with drug traffickers.
Municipal police spokesman Fernando Bojorquez said Monday that the slingshots, along with bags of ballbearings, were given to officers patrolling areas of the city visited by tourists.
Tijuana’s police force of 2,000 officers has been without guns since Jan. 5, but some patrol alongside armed state police.
President Felipe Calderon sent 3,300 soldiers and federal police to Tijuana at the beginning of January to hunt down drug gangs. The soldiers swept police stations and took officers’ guns for inspection amid allegations by federal investigators that a corrupt network of officers supports smugglers who traffic drugs into the U.S. The weapons are still being checked.
About 100 police demonstrated outside Tijuana town hall on Monday demanding the return of their guns. “The arms are our tools for work,” said officer Juan Manuel Nieves. “Do they want more police to be killed?”
More than 300 people were slain in Tijuana last year including 13 police officers.
The mayor demonstrates the use of a slingshot in front of disarmed police.
In this Veracruz municipality police don’t carry guns, only slingshots
Mayor claims police disarmed by state for political reasons
Monday, June 25, 2018
Municipal police in Alvarado, Veracruz, whose weapons were taken from them by order of the state government, have been rearmed — with slingshots.
State police relieved their municipal counterparts of their guns and their duties on Friday on the grounds that they were not properly accredited police officers. Thirty officers, including the chief, were affected.
The state government also intervened in a similar manner in the municipalities of Ixtaczoquitlán, Ciudad Mendoza and Pueblo Viejo.
Claiming that the move was political, Alvarado Mayor Bogar Ruiz Rosas responded by handing out slingshots and stones to the unarmed police officers and advising them that their most powerful weapon was their vote.
Ruiz found it “strange” that the municipality’s autonomy was violated just one week before the elections.
“It’s clear to us that this is a totally political issue and we have to be prepared to carry out our work, professionally, as you have seen us do it,” he wrote on Facebook.
Governor Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares responded by stating that Alvarado’s municipal police are no longer permitted to participate in law enforcement operations, and that if they do they would be violating regulations and would be tried for it.
Yunes is affiliated with the National Action Party, while Mayor Ruiz was elected under a coalition between the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party and its long-time ally, the Ecological Green Party.
(images from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKDhN2icTqA )
This also happened back in 2007
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16763344/ns/world_news-weird_news/t/tijuana-police-issued-slingshots/
Tijuana police issued slingshots
Guns confiscated amid allegations of collusion with drug runners
TIJUANA, Mexico — The police department has issued about 60 slingshots to officers in the violent border city of Tijuana, where soldiers confiscated police weapons two weeks ago on allegations of collusion with drug traffickers.
Municipal police spokesman Fernando Bojorquez said Monday that the slingshots, along with bags of ballbearings, were given to officers patrolling areas of the city visited by tourists.
Tijuana’s police force of 2,000 officers has been without guns since Jan. 5, but some patrol alongside armed state police.
President Felipe Calderon sent 3,300 soldiers and federal police to Tijuana at the beginning of January to hunt down drug gangs. The soldiers swept police stations and took officers’ guns for inspection amid allegations by federal investigators that a corrupt network of officers supports smugglers who traffic drugs into the U.S. The weapons are still being checked.
About 100 police demonstrated outside Tijuana town hall on Monday demanding the return of their guns. “The arms are our tools for work,” said officer Juan Manuel Nieves. “Do they want more police to be killed?”
More than 300 people were slain in Tijuana last year including 13 police officers.
