77 MEXICAN OFFICERS TEST POSITIVE FOR DRUGS

Results, Firings Are Latest Trouble For Ciudad Juarez Police

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Seventy-seven police officers working the streets
here, where drug lords have periodically engaged in shootouts, have tested
positive for the use of illicit drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, and
methamphetamines, according to Juarez Police Department reports.

The officers, members of specialized units, traffic and patrol squads, and
some administrators, were summarily fired. Their names were not released,
nor were the stations and districts where they worked identified.

"This is a very grave situation," said Jose Reyes Ferriz, Juarez City
Council president. "It is an unfortunate state to which our police have
fallen and unfortunate that so many officers are drawn to acquire and use
illegal substances."

The officers' substance abuse was uncovered during a round of drug tests
ordered last month after the disappearance of two police captains, one of
whom was allegedly last seen with the reputed head of the city's heroin trade.

The firings further tainted a police department that had recently been
squabbling with fellow police agencies amid accusations of corruption
involving drugs.

Citizens, politicians, and state and federal police agencies called for an
internal investigation of the department, where one veteran police officer
recently was arrested in connection with the assault of two drug
traffickers and the theft of 110 pounds of marijuana.

Police were seeking the officer's partner, who allegedly participated in
the assault, theft, and planned sale of the drugs in the United States.

"I thought I had a much cleaner department. The good thing is that it was
77 officers and not 80 or else I'd be maimed," said newly appointed Juarez
Police Chief Ramon Dominguez Perea, who in earlier statements defended the
department, saying he would cut off both his hands if 80 officers tested
positive for illegal drug use.

Originally, 80 officers tested positive, but urine samples were retested at
labs in Chihuahua City, the state capital, after officers said they were
under doctors' treatment. The tests revealed that 30 of the officers tested
positive for cocaine, 35 for methamphetamines, and 12 for marijuana.

As of early this month, some 250 officers remained untested because they
were on vacation or on some form of official leave. The testing of another
250 officers was continuing.

There are about 1,500 city police officers in the Juarez Police Department,
said Astrid Gonzalez, a member of the Municipal Institute for Public
Safety, an appointed civilian oversight panel. But, at any one time, only
353 police officers are on the streets of the city, protecting a population
of about 1.5 million.

"We need to change the operating procedures for the department's
internal-affairs unit because we know that there are people inside the
department that are involved with organized crime, and we need to seek them
out and rid ourselves of them," said Mr. Reyes Ferriz, City Council president.

The internal-affairs unit has not investigated the department because "no
one filed a complaint," said internal-affairs Chief Raul Garcia Ruiz, who
declined to comment further.

According to Ms. Gonzalez, there are 424,528 citizens for every 300 police
officers. The average pay for rank-and-file officers is about $100 a week.

"It's not all their fault," said a top-level police official who spoke on
condition of anonymity. "It is a difficult job with horrendous dangers.
Drug traffickers regularly approach officers and offer them a lot of money
to look the other way. If the officer doesn't respond or refuses, they
threaten the lives of their family members.

"What would you do?"