Pubdate: Tue, 08 May 2007
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 16A
16A
Copyright: 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Chris Hawley, USA TODAY
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Mexico (Mexico)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon

CRIME FEARS FUEL DEMAND FOR SECURITY IN MEXICO

Cameras, Alarms Sprouting Amid Drug Wars, Abductions

MEXICO CITY -- The layout of high-tech gadgets was enough to make 
James Bond jealous.

At a recent security-themed trade fair here, merchants were selling 
smoke-screen generators and security cameras hidden in pencil 
sharpeners. There were also portable bomb sniffers, bulletproof doors 
and tiny tracking devices meant to foil kidnappers.

The targeted consumers were not British secret agents, but Mexicans 
looking for new ways to protect themselves from crime. The security 
business is booming in Mexico, as a war between drug cartels and a 
wave of kidnappings terrify the public.

"Fear is growing," said Niv Yarimi, sales director for Guibor Private 
Security, an Israeli guard company whose business tripled in Mexico 
in 2006. "There's a sense that organized crime is three steps ahead 
of the security services and the police."

Mexico's murder rate has actually dropped by a third in the past 
decade, according to the Citizens' Institute for Studies on 
Insecurity, a crime watchdog group. However, carnage from the drug 
war -- with a rise in beheadings, grenade attacks and shootouts with 
high-powered guns -- has convinced many Mexicans they cannot rely on 
the police for help.

A jump in housing construction and a drop in the price of security 
cameras have also helped drive sales of security-related products as 
more middle-class Mexicans are able to arm their homes with alarm 
systems, security companies say.

"People are taking the initiative and doing what they can," said 
Guillermo Palma, Mexican sales director for the U.S. video security 
systems maker Pelco. "The culture of the Mexican has changed. (They 
now say:) 'Why should I wait for something bad to happen?' "

Feeding the sense of insecurity is a 2-year-old turf war between the 
Sinaloa Cartel of western Mexico and the Gulf Cartel of eastern 
Mexico. Shootouts with assault rifles and grenade launchers have 
become common in Nuevo Laredo, Acapulco, Monterrey and other points 
along cocaine smuggling corridors.

President Felipe Calderon has vowed to crack down on the drug gangs. 
Soon after his inauguration in December, he began sending thousands 
of troops and federal agents to quell the violence in western and 
northern Mexico.

"Mexico must not and will not fall into the hands of criminals," 
Calderon said last month. "We must employ all of the strength of the 
state to rescue our streets, our parks, our cities, our schools."

Many Mexicans worry Calderon's strong stand will just make matters 
worse, at least in the short term. About 85% of Mexicans believe the 
offensive against drug cartels will increase violence, and half 
believe it will never be controlled, according to a national 
door-to-door survey of 1,200 people in March by the Parametria 
polling company. The poll had a margin of error of +/-2.8 percentage points.

"We live in a state of panic over what could happen to us," said 
Karina Rios Hernandez, 22, a barista at a Starbucks in Mexico City. 
"Everyone blames the government. They can't even guarantee our safety."

Meanwhile, top law-enforcement officials have been assassinated in 
Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, Agua Prieta and other cities. Mexican 
officials have blamed most of the killings on drug cartels.

At the Expo-Seguridad trade fair last month, at least four companies 
offered tracking devices meant to counter kidnappers and carjackers. 
One company, Enlace de Vida, was marketing a wristwatch-style "panic 
button" that executives can use to summon private security.

Mexico's federal government has tried to respond to crime by 
installing "urban security systems" -- networks of outdoor cameras 
monitored by computers -- in 16 of the country's 31 states.

In Tijuana, the city government has installed over the last two years 
320 cameras and 70 microphones tuned to detect gunfire. The 
violence-riddled state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas, announced 
plans in November for a statewide camera system it calls the Northern 
Border Program.

Soon, even the watchdogs will be watched. In January, Mexico City 
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard announced the city will install cameras in 70 
prosecutors' and detective offices to cut down on police corruption. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake