SAN DIEGO – The Tijuana city licensing agency closed Club FX for three to seven days due to the presence of numerous minors on Thursday night.  Action by law enforcement, public health, government and community organizations in Tijuana and San Diego continued this weekend.  Results from the first half of spring break have shown some reduction in problems related to U.S. youth and heavy drinking in Tijuana. However, leaders cautioned that long-term solutions are needed to resolve underlying issues and bring about lasting results.

This unprecedented joint action between police departments in San Diego and Tijuana, the latest addition to Operation Safe Crossing, is aimed at reducing alcohol-related crimes and violence in San Diego and Tijuana. Beginning last weekend, both police departments began beefing-up enforcement of alcohol laws with strategically located DUI enforcement activities, underage ID checking and sobriety checks for heavily intoxicated pedestrians.

The San Diego Police, the Tijuana Police and the Institute for Health Advocacy (IHA) announced the formation of this action-based task force last week as one component of a multifaceted project spearheaded by IHA. The Project integrates a public health and safety approach, based on scientific data, to reduce alcohol-related problems in these border cities by engaging broad-based community participation. More than 9,000 young U.S. drinkers party in Tijuana on an average Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night, and more than 1,000 return to San

Diego each night too intoxicated to legally drive, according to research conducted by IHA. Young drinkers, under 21 represent half of the problem. Very heavy drinkers, both over and under 21, represent the rest of the problem.

"We have seen a significant reduction in problems this week related to young Americans drinking in Tijuana," said Captain Adolfo Gonzales of the San Diego Police Department’s Southern Division. "This is part of a long-term process, but we are encouraged to see some positive initial results."

According to James Baker, IHA’s Executive Director, "the night-to-night problem reduction has been terrific during spring break. The advocacy and coordinated enforcement action in San Diego and Tijuana combined with the heavy news coverage throughout southern California have created a much more peaceful atmosphere in the border region."

The Tijuana police that patrol the tourist areas reported that arrests were down to 50-75 per night in the first half of this week from approximately 175 per typical drinking night. Tijuana police activities for the last days of spring break will continue to focus on: driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (a felony), drinking in public, disturbing the peace or being a public nuisance, fighting, and urinating in public. Tijuana Police routinely find youth possessing, consuming or importing drugs in relation to contact with other violations. These are felony violations under Mexican law.

Youthful appearing tourists hoping to travel into Mexico may be expected to show identification proving that they are at least 18 years old, or have a notarized letter of permission from a parent or legal guardian. Anyone arriving at the U.S. border check point without it will be turned away by police. Police routinely send a letter home to the parents of would-be crossers to let them know what their teen was attempting to do. Also, beginning at 10 p.m., police officers will detain underage curfew violators until they are picked up by their parents.

Over the next two weekends, Operation Safe Crossing, a multi-agency task force that includes the San Diego Police, CHP, Alcoholic Beverage Control, INS, U.S. Customs, and U.S. Border Patrol will be joined by Tijuana law

enforcement. The following community organizations are among the many who are taking an active role in the Border Project: MADD’s Youth in Action, San Diego County Youth Leadership Council, San Ysidro Chamber of

Commerce, Friday Night Live (sponsored by the San Diego County Office of Education); South Bay’s Reach Out to Youth & Families, Paradise Valley Hospital’s Partners for Prevention and El Cajon Communities Against Substance Abuse. Volunteers from these and other organizations will be at the border crossing over spring break passing out information about the laws in Mexico and California’s Zero Tolerance laws for underage drinking.