Violent border city gets new top cop

Concerns about security in the once-bustling tourist town have emptied the streets. American day-trippers, who used to pop across the border from Laredo, Texas, for cheap pharmaceuticals, beer, and some tacos, have dwindled. Three popular tourist restaurants have closed in the past two months.

Alfred James Huntington, a retired sailor from Del Rio, Texas, and one of the few tourists walking along downtown Matamoros Street on Wednesday, says he sees how things have changed. Can a new police chief help? "They come and they go," he says. "This place is what it is. Take it or leave it."

Pimentel's first challenge, however, even before he tackles the violence, will be figuring out who he has on his police force. After the slaying last month of Alejandro Dominguez, Pimentel's predecessor, Mexican President Vicente Fox sent hundreds of soldiers and federal agents to restore order along the border in an operation dubbed "Secure Mexico." A simultaneous cleanup of the local police force here was launched. As a result, 41 police officers were flown to Mexico City to be investigated for links to organized crime, 89 officers were suspended, and the rest of the 730-strong force was yanked off the streets for background checks and drug testing.

Local newspaper reports indicate that almost half of the officers have been supplementing their meager $630 average monthly salaries with payments from the cartels. Anthony Placido, a senior US Drug Enforcement Administration official told the US Congress last week that Mexico's police forces were "all too often part of the problem rather than part of the solution," when it came to fighting the drug gangs.

"We have a very deteriorated and demoralized police force," admits Pimentel, who most recently served as director of the police academy, where he brought in never-before-heard-of classes like "ethics and morals," "justice" and even plain old "English." His plan is to try to introduce some of the same courses in the force. "We need to raise our reputation and make sure everyone realizes why they are here - it's for the people, not for ourselves," says Pimentel with his slicked-back hair, wire-frame glasses, and confident smile.

Sitting alone at town hall at the end of his first day, he straightens his green-striped shirt, rubs his forehead, and speaks of his family. "Of course they are scared," he says. "But we have faith: They in me, and me in this job. I want to do this, and I am not facing the unknown. I feel prepared."

• Ms. Harman is Latin America bureau chief for the Monitor and USA Today. Eloise Quintanilla contributed to this report.

Page: 1 | 2