Close encounter with justice in Tijuana, Zona Norte

I speak Spanish. OK, haltingly at best, but I can communicate in the language quite well. I know the culture. I have "street smarts." Si senor! I've been there before and done that, Oh Yes! I do street photography all of the time, on the trips that I take and know all of the tricks of how to take candid photos. I think. Of course I do. Of course. No problema, si, como no! Well, maybe not... quisas?...

Photo: Tijuana cop car is parked near the police station on Av. Constitución, about a half block north of Articulo 123. Note the prostitute to the right, who shades herself from the warm sun by an umbrella.

However, a small problem arose on the streets on Tijuana in the Zona Norte as I was visiting the area on August 24, 2005. Just north of "El Centro" in Tijuana, there is an area known as "Zona Norte" which is, literally, downhill from the famous Tijuana arch. Basically if you're heading the the area, you approach the Tijuana arch, and walk a block down the hill, and you'll be in the famous "Zona Norte." Zona Norte consists of several blocks of honky-tonks, strip clubs, and sidewalks frequented by streetwalkers; how do you say it politically correct for all generations, well, whores.... How could a dedicated street photographer, like myself, stay away from a place like this? All the action, all the drama, all the color, all of the gritty street life... I was drawn like a moth to a flame into the whole scene...

OK, picture this, as I'm at the corner of Av. Constitution and Calle Articulo 123, or in plain English, First Street. I'm near the street taking digital photos and suddenly a man in blue comes up to you and says, "Sir, would you move over to the sidewalk with me." You look at him and he's dressed in blue, wears a badge and is, in fact, a Tijuana sworn officer. What do you do? You freeze. You think that the jig is up. What will I tell my wife... my boss? But you do as he tells you to do, as you're in a foreign country. Sure, you can gaze north a few blocks and see the U.S... border fence, but dude, you're in Mexico!

I had known for quite some time that it is frowned upon to take photos of hookers in Tijuana's Zona Norte. Several years ago, the Tijuana city council enacted a law that prohibited street photography in the Zona Norte, except by express consent. That means if you see a working girl on the street and you tell her she's beautiful and, most probably give her a few pesos, you can take her photo, no problema. However if you're like me, a fan of candid photography, this poses a problem, which almost got me into a lot of trouble. I like to take photos of real people, be it hookers, prostitutes, office workers or whatever you want to label them as. Things are very different in Mexico as it is a foreign country, and as a traveler to Mexico for nearly 30 years, I was going to get a dose of Mexican culture, up close and personal.

So, in perfect English, officer Victor Hernandez escorted me to the sidewalk and asked me for identification. Since I had not been planning on driving in Mexico, I'd left my wallet in my car at the border parking lot and I only carried my U.S. passport, which I reasoned should be good enough for any situation. When I showed the officer my passport, he seemed a bit confused and asked me for more identification. I explained the fact that I was walking and that I'd left my wallet and drivers' licence in my car to avoid the pick-pocket situation that can happen on crossing the border and the fact that a U.S. passport is basically, as good as it gets, to identify a U.S. citizen. He really didn't seem to understand the significance of a passport and the fact that I wasn't carrying a driver's license, but I took off my sunglasses and baseball cap, and he agreed the passport photo was indeed, yours truly. Whew!

Now here is when things started to get scary, as he ordered me to show him everything that I had in my pockets. I had stashed U.S. dollars in the right, front pocket of my jeans, and Mexican pesos in the left front pocket, as dollars and pesos seem to be interchangeable in much of Tijuana. Not to mention a cigarette lighter (in case I wanted to smoke one of those nasty Cuban cigars,) car keys, loose change and the remote to the Camry. So I fished a huge wad of bills out of my right front pocket, and officer Hernandez's eyes went bug-eyed! However, being the seasoned traveler that I am to Mexico, most of the bills were dollars, with a few fives and a couple of twenty's mixed in. Altogether, I had only a couple of hundred dollars of cast with me. Naturally, I showed the officer that the huge was mostly ones, and he relaxed a bit.

Photo: The Zona Norte police station is the red and white building in the middle of the photo, and it's surrounded by hookers, showing that prostitution is legal in Zona Norte. However, you must obtain the girl's permission before you take her photo, which will almost always cost you a few bucks.

Next was the left pocket which contained the Mexican pesos. Things got a bit tricky, except that I pointed out to him that I really only had about $60.00 in U.S. funds, not a whole lot of money if I was up to no good.

Bear in mind that officer Hernandez is a nice person, a well-trained officer, and a man dedicated to maintain the friendship traditionally enjoyed between the United States and Mexico. If officer Hernandez is a representative of the Tijuana municipal police force, I can attest that as a whole, the police force is a professional, well-trained, dedicated municipal entity. But after showing the officer the contents of my pockets, he asked me to accompany him to the precinct police station, just down the street on Av. Constitucion from the restaurant that I had dined at a few minutes before, Kentucky Fried Buches. By now, I was shaking in my boots, as I really did not want to visit with a Tijuana judge.

It was a one-minute walk to the police station from where I was. Once inside, I noticed that there were 3 police dispatchers, in front of computer terminals. Unlike the U.S. where the universal call for help is 9-1-1, Tijuana if you need help, the number to dial is 0-6-6. At this point in time, officer Hernandez asked to see my camera to see, in fact, if I was taking photos of Tijuana working girls.

As I had previously testified to him, I had been taking photos, but of the "whole scene," not just of the working girls. That is a "sort of" truth, as I had indeed been taking photos of working girls. I thought as a street photographer that I had all of the "street smarts," yet I was out-witted by the Tijuana working girls; I take my hat off to them. Officer Hernandez asked me to show him all of the photos that I had taken in the Zona Norte. I "fibbed" to him that I had just bought the camera before this trip and only knew how to playback the most recent photo. This I did for him, and it showed a photo of the restaurant Kentucky Fried Buches, a totally innocent photo. I also suggested that we go there (it's only about 100 feet from the police station) and verify to the Ouches guys that I was indeed there, as they would be sure to member me, as I had taken many photos and HAD obtained their permission to take photos in their place of business. Before the photo of Kentucky Fried Buches, there were many photos of the prostitutes. Guys, mama told me not to lie...

Well, this broke the ice, as officer Hernandez took on a whole different personality. He revealed himself to be a true professional police officer, a compassionate human being, and nice guy. He told me that the penalty for my infraction would be to stand before a judge and pay a fine, and maybe a day or so in jail. He said that some of the guys on the police force would have taken the "no-nonsense" approach and done the deed, by the book and hauled my sorry body before the judge. He told me that he has a wife and two kids and is taking courses in English at night to further is English-speaking abilities, as he likes Americans and realizes that tourism is an important ingredient to the economy of Tijuana. Wait a minute! This is a guy who speaks about 98% perfect English who is taking college courses at night to learn even better English? Gee, if I could even speak 10% perfect Spanish, I'd consider myself fortunate!

Photo: Thinking back on things, I'm sure the girl in the pink was the one who ratted on me for taking this, and other illegal photos. This view looks north on the west side of Av. Constitución which shows a pretty good line-up of street girls on this Thursday afternoon.

Officer Hernandez also let me know that he would not have busted me, except that one of the girls had noticed that I was taking photos and complained, and that he had to respond to the complaint, as that was his job. I got a chuckle out of that and told him that I understand about that, as I have a lot of b.s. associated with my job and you just have to deal with it, as that comes with the territory. He asked me what I did for a living and told him that I work for the phone company, and that I do yadda, yadda, yadda ...

So I assured the officer that I would keep the camera in the bag, unless I had expressed permission from my subject to take photos. After a parting gesture of allowing me to take his photo in front of a police car, I was allowed to go.

So if you're hiking around in Tijuana's Zona Norte, heed my advice:

* Forget about the candid photos of the chicas; ask their permission before you take photos

* If you're eating at a restaurant, ask permission before taking photos

* Watch out for all flavors of Tijuana cops, if you're taking illegal photos

* If you dare to take that photo, get out of Dodge...

Personally, before dining at a restaurant, if they don't grant permission to take photos, and it that's important to you, I would recommend to go elsewhere, as most restaurants don't care about photos. Most of them are not aware of the Internet, but if you tell them "por periodico" (newspaper) they will get the idea of that you're doing.

"Sort of" being arrested by a Tijuana cop was indeed, a scary experience. I don't want to think about what life would be like in a Mexican poky, albeit for only a day or two, as that would be a fate too terrible to comprehend. I was lucky in that I used by "street-smarts," my gift of gab, Lady Luck, and had the chance encounter with a very professional police officer and a nice person, in the form of Victor Hernandez.

Photo: I couldn't believe it when Officer Victor Hernandez gave me permission to take his photo! If all Tijuana cops were as honest and straight-forward as Officer Hernandez, the "bad cop" rumors would die immediately.

However, you can bet your bippy that I will keep my digital camera inside the bag at future visits to Tijuana's Zona Norte, except for express permissions when I dine at various restaurants. But for me it's not a "biggie," as I have lots of candid street photos for further publication.

So my advice to you when you visit Tijuana's Zona Norte is to keep your camera in the case and don't even be tempted to take photos of the working girls, or anything without explicit permission.

Web page design has been created by eRench Productions, Inc., custom photography for any occasion...