More killing in Rocky Point???

[GringoZona]

Don't get me wrong, I know it's much safer in Penasco than in downtown Tucson, parts of Phx, etc. And when I go to Penasco, I’ll leave the top down, doors unlocked, eat with the locals at 3am, trust strangers to watch my stuff on the beach…Eventually I want to live down there full-time, starting with three month stretches in the very near future. It's just that statement about the cops that puts things into perspective: "What were they to do, they feared for their lives!"

Yes, I agree, in that situation it was true. But how often would you have said that about a police force in the US? (Outside of a scenario w/ a tiny town in the states with one sheriff, a few deputies, Mayberry-style.)

It just puts things into perspective. I don't go to clubs/areas in Tucson or Phx where’s there’s known shootings in the parking lot--and yes, it could happen anywhere, yeah, I hear ya'. It's just very rattling to hear these hits going down in Penasco mere inches away from where you parked last weekend, or actually had a beer or used that ATM machine, etc. And if I WAS in a rough situation in the states, the last thing that'd cross my mind would be that the police force was just as helpless as I was.

Anyway, I know this is bigger than a Penasco, or even just a Sonora problem, just wish the city could get the funds to beef up the quality of the force down there. (And pay ‘em enough so they’re not threatening jail time—and taking a bribe instead—for being parked facing the wrong way on a side street. Yes, that’s right, jail for a non-moving violation!)

AND, it’d be nice if those narcos would go back to treating Penasco as a Hit-Free Zone, and not abuse it as somewhere to hide out, if that’s what’s going on. Not in my neighborhood!

 

[PitiquitoRosy]

Why blast AZ Miguel? I think he makes a good point. I also avoid places where known violence and crimes occur. You can keep yelling “we are safe here” but if this little tourist town keeps having these types of things occurring………why would anyone bring their family there? I can’t think of another US “tourist town” (the same size in population) that keeps having these types of “incidents”.

I too, avoid places where known violence and crimes occur. That's why when I'm in the States, I no longer feel safe in church, schools, post offices, day care centers, gymnasiums, malls, courtrooms, or senior citizen centers. All of the above are places where a spate of shootings have occured with increasing frequency in recent years.
So long as I don't hang out in back alleys at 3am, I know I'm safer in Mexico.
Although I don't agree with you fear-mongers, I do understand. Being afraid of the big, bad men in a foreign country is a lot easier than looking at the risk you take each day when you send your kids off to school or drop them off at daycare in the U.S.
Wow...as I wrote this I just heard about the latest shooting at a gym in the States. One building with a homicide rate to match that of this city of almost 50,000...geez

 

[PitiquitoRosy]

Mackinaw Island (Population 491) Burgluary 2, Theft 340, Rape 2, Assault 2

Sanibel Island (Population 5645) Murder 1, Rapes 16, Assaults 1, Burglaries 36, Thefts 60, Car thefts 3

Since the population of Rocky Point is approximately 50,000, you do the math.

But those of us who feel differently than you, are kinda tired of blanket statements without any basis!

Thank you for the stats. There are those here who will choose to ignore the logic, but I'm with you...on this one PH. April 2008 there were two drive-by shootings in one week in Scottsdale! One on the 4th and another on the 8th. In Arkansas they just voted to allow parishoners to carry guns to church to defend the congregations from shooters.

 

[PitiquitoRosy]

I feel better knowing the recent killings in Rocky Point are a result of trained assassins who mean no harm to the local folks or tourists. Your foolish to beleive if your not part of that scene your in no danger, give it time and it will happen. Any way I plan to to hang my head low walking from my coup to the beach this weekend, never know what may come flying my way.

I never think that I'm 100% safe from danger in any situation, in any country. But I did say that I'm safer here in Rocky Point than in Phoenix and the statistics back me up. I'm glad you're still going to the beach.

Look, it was obviously a brazen and shocking crime that occurred here last week. But there is a great disparity in how Americans process crime in the States and crime in Mexico. In the States you shrug off ghetto crime because it's in "that part of town" and doesn't affect you. If it happens in Mexico, regardless where in Mexico...it is frightening and you make no distinctions for where it occurred, what time of night, and whether there was other illicit activity going on.

In Mexico, you have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong thing. In the States, it can happen even in church and with no rhyme or reason. To me, that is much more frightening.

 

[PitiquitoRosy]

Is that car in the picture a gray 04 trailblazer? I couldn't say, but it doesn't look grey to me. I only know what the last, the paragraph says "According to witnesses the gunmen left in a grey 2004 Chevy Trailblazer with Arizona license plates." That makes me think someone saw, and gave a description of the getaway vehicle.

Kenny

Hi Kenny, have I told you that I'm impressed by your attention to detail?

 

[PitiquitoRosy]

Rosy....I have never been an apologist....I've always told anyone who would listen that I find RP safer then many areas of Phoenix. I was raised in New York City, and was never robbed, mugged or anything else....you go looking for trouble and you will find it!!! HOWEVER.....if the "hits" continue, eventually someone will get caught in the crossfire! I don't know what the conditions were at the clinic...if the police were surprised/overwhelmed and found it more intelligent not to fight back.....or just decided to look the other way, but at first glance, it does not give me a "warm and fuzzy" as to the capabilities of the local police, or where their "interests" lie.....

No one should assume that we don't all agree that something has to be done to keep improving public safety in RP. I think it's a given that we need to address that here on the community level. But we can't all start running for the hills (or we shouldn't, anyway) because a couple of hoodlums had a shootout. The new police chief has quit and there is a new guy at the helm. I suspect that's temporary. Let's see how this gets addressed by the new mayor.

 

[PitiquitoRosy]

"If you are scared, please don't come. We don't need you. But, please don't buy into the hysteria".

No hysteria...just facts! and yes I wont bring my family there for vacation!

So why are you on a Rocky Point forum instead of a Lake Havasu forum? Good luck to you...and please watch out. It would be ironic if something happened to you in your own backyard, now wouldn't it?

 

[PitiquitoRosy]

AZ Miguel and rockyptjoe are dead on. It is difficult to put any kind of a good spin on this situation. I regret that my days of enjoyment on RP may also be limited. It is not much fun coming down to to a gost town by oneself. Again, people read and believe whay they read. Being gunned down in a medical center is not the norm in the U.S. If someone is shot in a bar it ends there. RP is realativity a small community. If this type of deadly crimminal activity happened in a small community in a short time in the U.S. it would get national exposure. To dismiss this as trivial is whistling by the graveyard. Some people cannot handle the truth. "And that is all I have to say about that".

There is no "good spin" on a murder. And perhaps your time would be better spent learning to spell anyway. If this is a "gost town" it is more due to people bad-mouthing a good place full of good people, than it is because of actual crime statistics. Being gunned down in a medical center isn't the norm anywhere. And your comment about it ending in the bar is too funny for words...
This isn't trivial, but you have bigger problems in the States, not the least of which is the rampant drug use that is creating such a huge demand as to keep the cartels in business. If you think the cartels are getting into the U.S. without any help from some heavy-hitters in the States, think again.
Mexico will get a handle on this because they have to. Maybe not eradicate, but certainly control.

 

[PitiquitoRosy]

People talk about drive-bys in some of the US cities....and murders....but we haven't had the type of violence that the drug gangs have levied in Mexico anywhere in the US.....where politicians, police chiefs, and newsmen are assasinated. Great if the gangs were just knocking each other off....but they are killing those who oppose or expose them.

....but those who discount any increase in violence in Penasco are also sticking their head in the sand!

For now I will continue to watch the news of happenings in Penasco, and base whether I continue coming down on MY judgement if I or my family are in too much danger...not based on EITHER the "rah rah" crowd, or the "sky is falling" crowd!

1. Yes, you've had that type of violence in the States. The difference is that you haven't had it in your part of the States. And we haven't had it in Rocky Point. Never, not once has a politician, police chief, or newsman been assasinated in Rocky Point. You make your arguments well, Joe. Can't you do it without lumping all of Mexico into one pot?
2. I for one acknowledge an increase in crime and the need to address solutions with city officials on a local level. That doesn't mean I think tourists are unsafe here, but I want to be a part of making this city a better place.
3. You are absolutely correct to take sole responsibility for the safety of your family.
4. I hope we all do the right thing and that you keep enjoying RP for a long time.

 

[Penasco Pirate]

Amen, Rosy. Well said....and hoping Penasco comes out for the better in the end.

 

[jerry]

The people I run into that decide not to come because of security concerns seem to get much of their information from talk radio and faux news. All and all the dumbass passport requirement seems to be a bigger problem on the rental side.
The real estate "Professionals" that pocketed big checks from selling over priced property with bad titles let everyone down.

 

[rockyptjoe]

Rosy....I don't succumb to the "hysteria" that some have....I don't hang out in certain areas of town, either in Phoenix or Penasco....as someone else said...wrong place at the wrong time! But the 2 shootings in Penasco have occurred where I do go....Calle 13/Benito Juarez, Vina del Mar parking lot/clinic. I've been to all of those locations, and not just once. If I had been staying at the Vina del Mar and was just coming in from some drinking....since the bars close at 3am, I might have run into the shooting.

I just don't want to see the "pooh pooh" attitude..."it's only a couple of shootings....nothing to worry about".

It is only a couple of shootings, but it's the type of shootings that worry me....it's an indication that if there was a "hands off" attitude by the drug gangs for Penasco, that has stopped...and we will see an escalation.

Yeah, we have shootings in the US....multiple persons shot and killed (fitness center or university)...but that is usually the work of someone that has gone over the deep end....isolated incidents in the various locations It is not the drug warfare type of shootings that have occurred in Penasco (or down by Caborca).

And criticizing someone for worrying about their family's safety...and asking them why they are on this site (as a couple of posters have).... is completely out of line. I'm on this site to try to get info on what IS happening in Penasco....not the 'hysteria" reported in the news (tv or nespapers in AZ)....and to share any knowledge I've accumulated in 25 years of visiting!

 

[Derek]

Maybe there is a brite side to these shootings. In any war there is going to be fighting and it looks like the bad guys are doing the job for the police. Is one less drug dealer such a bad thing ?

 

[rockyptjoe]

Maybe there is a brite side to these shootings. In any war there is going to be fighting and it looks like the bad guys are doing the job for the police. Is one less drug dealer such a bad thing ?

Derek, I commented in one of my earlier posts....if they restrict the killings to just themselves...I have no problem with that. However, when you have that many bullets flying in public places frequented by tourists (and locals), eventually bystanders will be hit. It is inevitable!

 

[PitiquitoRosy]

Can you guys tell I was up late last night? Hahaha a gazillion posts by PitiquitoRosy! I hadn't had time all day to connect and this was a conversation I just had to get in on. Thanks, Pirate!

 

[X-Coastie]

Ghost town. Now does that make you feel better Rosie? The spelling was not lost in translation. What seems to be lost is the reality of the situation. I am always amazed with people that think a misselled word lessens the meaning of the point. Somehow the person pointing out the correction feels a false superiority over the point that is attemted to be made. I would make the observation that by your frantic postings your buesniess interest in RP are in trouble. For that I am truely sorry. I do no wish either harm or illwill on anyone. To make disrespectful comments to people with legitimate concens is very condesending. I hope that I have not misselled anyting. I would hate to be scolded again when I was just expressing any opion. If so, I am sorry that I can not live up to your spelling standards. 1. ghost 2. ghost 3. ghost 4. ghost 5. ghost 6. ghost 7. ghost 8. ghost 9. ghost 10. ghost. Now can we be friends?

 

[JimMcG]

[QUOTE I hope that I have not misselled anyting.

I am not sure if you are kidding but if you are serious you might want to take another look at your post.

 

[X-Coastie]

Thank you. 1. misspelled 2. misspelled 3. misspelled 4. misspelled 5. misspelled 6. misspelled 7. misspelled 8. misspelled 9. misspelled 10. misspelled I stand corrected.

 

[Wood Spinner]

apb739
If you don't intend on comming back why are you still on this forrum?
Just quietly go away.

 

[Stuart]

I never think that I'm 100% safe from danger in any situation, in any country.

Exactly.

It hasn't happened yet, but as the violence grows, it's only a matter of time until an innocent gets taken out. If it happens to an American tourist (god forbid, a child), the US news media is going to be all over it like stink on shit. That event would pretty much nail the coffin shut on Penasco tourism.

That's truly my only fear - being in the wrong place at the wrong time and catchin' a bullet in my bubblegoose. Like sitting at a taco stand, stuffing some delicious carne tacos in my face, not knowing the table of locals next to me pissed off some drug lord and it suddenly becomes time for them to "pay the bill." It can happen anywhere, I suppose. It doesn't scare me and doesn't stop me from enjoying the tacos, but it does leave a sort of nagging mistrust of going out and about in town.

As long as the narcos only shoot people at 3:00 in the morning, I suppose I can live with that. I'm always in bed then and too busy snoring to even hear a gunshot. ;-)