POLICE, NOT MILITARY, TO LEAD EFFORTS IN JUAREZ

Starting today, Juarez will do away with its militarized strategy and
instead rely heavily on the federal police, Mexican officials said.

The Mexican army will not withdraw from the violence-plagued border
city, said Enrique Torres, a spokesman for Coordinated Operation Chihuahua.

Instead, they will carry out specific operations to combat drug
trafficking, Torres said. Soldiers patrolling the streets in Jeeps
will no longer be a familiar sight.

"Now, basically all you will find is federal and local police," he
said.

The presence of federal police will dramatically increase in the
heavily-guarded city, where at least 4,800 people have been killed
since 2008.

Throughout April, 1,900 federal police officers will be deployed by
the Mexican government to Juarez, increasing the federal corps to 4,500.

The government will also strengthen local and state police by adding
3,000 officers. Of those, 2,800 will be municipal police and 200 will
be state police.

Some U.S. officials have criticized the militarized plan implemented
by Mexico's President Felipe Calderon in various cities.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled with a high-level
delegation to Mexico City about two weeks ago. Clinton said they
discussed the role of the military and suggested that patrolling the
street was "not what militaries train to do."

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, who also traveled to
Mexico, said the country needed a strategy beyond the military to
solve drug cartel violence in cities such as Juarez.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual became the first diplomat to
criticize Calderon's strategy.

During an October visit to El Paso, Pascual said the government should
strengthen local law enforcement and de-emphasize the use of the military.

Torres said the change of scheme does not mean soldiers will never
respond to a crime scene, but it will not be their main role as it has
been during the past two years.

Mexico's plan, announced by the Secretary of the Interior last week,
is to turn over public safety duties first from the army to the
federal police. Afterward, the government wants to give civilian
law-enforcement operations back to the local and state police.

Meanwhile, the federal police will coordinate their local counterparts
out of a new command center in Juarez.

"This change is necessary to make the job more efficient and to give
the city a better response," Torres said.

Calderon deployed about 7,000 soldiers to the violence-torn border
city during the past two years. Soldiers were responding to fires,
massacres, drug busts and arrests.