Mayors in the Arizona border towns of Nogales, Douglas and San Luis have sent a letter to Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu asking him to tone down his rhetoric about the violence along the border.
In a letter obtained by the Arizona Daily Star that was sent to Babeu on Feb. 9, Nogales Mayor Arturo Garino, San Luis Mayor Juan Escamilla and Douglas Mayor Michael Gomez ask Babeu to stop fanning the flames of fear about the border.
You can read the full letter in the attached PDF. Here is an excerpt:
"As Mayors of border communities from Arizona, we would appreciate it if you would not cultivate a culture of fear in our state and to start being accurate about border security. While your misstatements about efforts to keep communities along the U.S.-Mexico border may keep national media coming to Arizona, at the same time your consistent inaccuracies hurt cities and towns like ours by causing those who live and travel to the border to fear for their safety when in our communities. This damages our economy - driving visitors away and leaving our businesses and residents to suffer. The facts show that violent crime is down or remains flat in our border region as we are sure it is in your area as well. In 2002 it peaked at 742 per 100,000 residents but has since drastically dropped to 219 per 100,000 in 2009 (per the F.B. I. Uniform Crime Reports Program).
Babeu does frequent TV appearances about the "off-the-chart" violence along the border and recently predicted an armed conflict between his deputies and cartel members within the next 30 to 60 days. Babeu spent 3 1/2 years with Chandler Police and did a National Guard border deployment before becoming Pinal County Sheriff in November 2008.
Here's another excerpt from the letter:
"We know and understand that there is more work to do. We have seen significant progress being made every day. We trust that the federal government will continue to strengthen the ways it protects our citizens from the violence we see in Mexico. What our communities do need, is for Sheriffs like you to focus on building strong relationships and partnerships with local, state and federal governments and law enforcement agencies to help the efforts on strengthening security on our border.
We say as one voice, Creating panic where only vigilance is warranted helps nobody.
Border Boletín: Az border mayors tell Babeu to tone it down
In a letter obtained by the Arizona Daily Star that was sent to Babeu on Feb. 9, Nogales Mayor Arturo Garino, San Luis Mayor Juan Escamilla and Douglas Mayor Michael Gomez ask Babeu to stop fanning the flames of fear about the border.
You can read the full letter in the attached PDF. Here is an excerpt:
"As Mayors of border communities from Arizona, we would appreciate it if you would not cultivate a culture of fear in our state and to start being accurate about border security. While your misstatements about efforts to keep communities along the U.S.-Mexico border may keep national media coming to Arizona, at the same time your consistent inaccuracies hurt cities and towns like ours by causing those who live and travel to the border to fear for their safety when in our communities. This damages our economy - driving visitors away and leaving our businesses and residents to suffer. The facts show that violent crime is down or remains flat in our border region as we are sure it is in your area as well. In 2002 it peaked at 742 per 100,000 residents but has since drastically dropped to 219 per 100,000 in 2009 (per the F.B. I. Uniform Crime Reports Program).
Babeu does frequent TV appearances about the "off-the-chart" violence along the border and recently predicted an armed conflict between his deputies and cartel members within the next 30 to 60 days. Babeu spent 3 1/2 years with Chandler Police and did a National Guard border deployment before becoming Pinal County Sheriff in November 2008.
Here's another excerpt from the letter:
"We know and understand that there is more work to do. We have seen significant progress being made every day. We trust that the federal government will continue to strengthen the ways it protects our citizens from the violence we see in Mexico. What our communities do need, is for Sheriffs like you to focus on building strong relationships and partnerships with local, state and federal governments and law enforcement agencies to help the efforts on strengthening security on our border.
We say as one voice, Creating panic where only vigilance is warranted helps nobody.
Border Boletín: Az border mayors tell Babeu to tone it down
