Tip Line Helping Both Sides of Border
El Paso and Juarez authorities say since theyve teamed up to investigate the unsolved murders in our sister city, theyre making serious progress.
Now a new tip line has multiplied their efforts.
Since El Paso and Juarez joined forces in March, theyve received at least 25 good tips into the murders and disappearances in Juarez.
But just as authorities on that side of the border ask for more help in solving the hundreds of cases, theyre downplaying the seriousness of the issue.
Steve Slater, Chihuahua State Judicial Police, "These homicides are terrible and we are doing everything to resolve them but it's not the big mystery over there. A lot of people portray Juarez of being a disaster. It's not that way."
Steve Slater, an advisor with the Chihuahua State Judicial Police, says they do need help in solving the murders of dozens of young women in Juarez but he doesn't want that to give Juarez a bad wrap.
But Juarez has been under a certain amount of scrutiny.
Over the last decade, it's estimated that more than three hundred women have been raped, murdered and dumped in the desert.
Although an exact number has never been pinned down.
In November 2001 eight bodies were found in East Juarez months after they were dumped there.
Commander Diana Kirk, "Crimes that occur in Mexico affect us here in this community. That's our sister city. And you can just go a few miles across the border and we have a number of women being murdered over there."
The El Paso Police Department and the F.B.I. began providing assistance to Mexican authorities in March.
Together, they have set up a tip line.
Also, El Paso officers are now training Mexican officers in crime scene investigations to prevent mistakes.
They even assisted at a crime scene just last month.
Jaime Hervella, Association of Disappeared Persons, "And to see that the Mexican police called the El Paso police and the FBI and they all rushed out there and protected the scene of the crime, and all of these things are great."
Jaime Hervella helps families who have loved ones missing in Juarez.
He says with the help of El Paso authorities two suspects were arrested shortly after the body of a woman was found last month.
However, he remains skeptical.
Hervella, "We going to teach them to fly an airplane. That's wonderful. The only thing is they do not have an airplane."
Hervella says until Mexican authorities get the tools needed to handle murder investigations properly, families of slain women and men will never get closure.
There is still a lot of uncertainty over the number of cases authorities are handling.
The number of missing or murdered women is anywhere between 300 to 500.
But today, Chihuahuan police officials said the Attorney General's Office was handling 74 murder.
Copyright 2003 KFOXTV.com