by Nathan Scharn
December 3, 2007

A recent wave of crime on the Baja California peninsula has caused a new level of concern for many surfers, fishermen and travelers who frequent the area, including members of PLNU student ministries.

In the past six months, stories of at least six crimes against U.S. citizens on the peninsula have been circulating on the Internet and by word of mouth, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on Nov. 22.

In at least two of these incidents, the victims were pulled over by a car with flashing blue and red lights, giving the drivers the impression that they were being pulled over by a Mexican police officer.

The victims were then held at gunpoint by men in ski masks and robbed.

“Visitors to the U.S.-Mexico border region, including cities such as Tijuana … should remain alert and be aware of their surroundings at all times,” the U.S. State Department said in a consular information sheet on Mexico released on Sept. 13.

The Mexican media speculated that the recent crimes, which some attribute to the Mexican police forces, have intensified because of the expected crackdown on police force corruption when the recently elected mayor of Tijuana, Jorge Ramos, took office Friday. The bribes that Baja tourists had become accustomed to paying the region’s police officers may no longer be enough to keep the tourists out of harm’s way.

PLNU’s student ministries that work south of the border do not plan on stopping their work in Mexico. However, they are taking more precautions.

“None of our groups go in groups of just two or three,” said Becky Modesto, the director of Community Ministries. “Most of the groups that have been attacked were two to three people.”

Modesto said that a safety system has been implemented in which an exact list of students going on a trip is made the morning the group leaves. The list includes each student’s emergency contact information and his or her ID number.

The Student Ministries office also receives an itinerary for each trip, which includes the routes the group will travel, the schedule for travel, the volunteer and leisure activity times and the contact information for the volunteer locations.

Student leader senior Nate Cadieux of the Surf and Serve student ministry has also been more careful due to the recent crime in Baja. The Surf and Serve trip typically includes camping, surfing and volunteering at an orphanage in Baja.

“This year I take a lot more precautions, like what time we’re traveling from A to B and making sure that we leave the orphanage well before the sun goes down so we’re not traveling at night,” Cadieux said. “Because anyone can put a siren on top of a car and put a mask on, which is what’s happening.”
Cadieux said that he is careful to stay at safe campsites, such as K52, a campsite with a guard, to further ensure the safety of the group.

Director of Public Safety Archie Yates advised that groups check with local pastors in the area to “get advice on what’s been happening” before crossing the border.

“The crime is significantly greater in a border town such as Tijuana,” Yates said. “The incidents that have happened in Baja … by what appears to be local police or federales are basically crimes of opportunity that present themselves.”
Cadieux felt confident that by avoiding compromising situations, student ministries will be able to avoid becoming the victims of crime in Mexico.

“There are places where violence will happen, and you can depend on it happening; I think you just have to be educated about it enough and responsible enough,” Cadieux said.

Community Ministries considered integrating a rule requiring an accompanying faculty member, which Modesto and Cadieux felt was a response to a recent event in Baja involving PLNU students, although those interviewed could only provide ambiguous details about the incident. The rule was never instituted.

“I think Student Ministries is such a valuable asset to the student body because it’s led by students,” Cadieux said. “It’s students sharing their heart, and I think that’s a big part of the student body growing spiritually.”

Yates warned students, especially those who are not U.S. citizens, to be cautious about crossing the border.

“Their system of justice is still a Napoleonic system, where you’re guilty until proven innocent, and they can hold you for a significant period of time even for a small traffic accident,” he said. “That’s happened to some of our Point Loma students in the past, and that can be a difficult and frightening experience for the student and for the parents.”

Yates mentioned that PLNU students involved in illegal activity south of the border were held in jail “a couple years ago” but could not elaborate on the details surrounding the crime.

Though he was confident that Surf and Serve will continue to avoid crime in Baja, Cadieux does not rule out the possibility of members becoming victims.

“Those kinds of things are a really big weight on my shoulders when I’m planning and driving and leading trips down to Mexico,” he said. “The only assurance I get is that we’re doing something for [God’s] kingdom.”