Acapulco, once known as the hot spot for L.A. stars looking for a quick beach getaway, is now a center of Mexican cartel activity.
The seaside town currently finds itself in the middle of a cartel turf war between the Independent Cartel of Acapulco and the Beltran Leyva Organization. Violence between the two cartels started up in April as gunfire went on for hours along the typically touristy Las Playas area of Acapulco.
Violence in the once thriving resort town has caused the Department of State to forbid employees from going to the beach town.
Crime has gotten so bad it is now ground zero for a new policing tactic which consists of ramping up the presence of law enforcement and the military after several homicides are committed. Men are often spotted with small black bags that resemble purses but are actually meant to discreetly hold pistols and federal police and military forces are easily found throughout the town.
A lack of community policing is partly responsible for many of the inefficiencies in Acapulco law enforcement. The Associated Press reports the almost foreign nature of federal cops in Acapulco means they can’t handle dealing with the hillside slums looking down on the city — a dangerously different terrain to confront cartels in.
Murders are down in the town from a 2012 high of 146 per 100,000 people to 112 per 100,000 people, which still exceeds the national average. The Jalisco Cartel-New Generation has provided the Beltran Leyva Organization with backing. It has been in disarray since the 2009 death of its leader, Arturo Beltran Leyva.
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