Cancun, Q.R. — The newly sworn-in head of Tourist Police in the Cancun Hotel Zone says his focus will be drug dealers and extortionists. Ricardo Morales Santos, the new Director of Tourist Police, was officially sworn into his position Thursday.
“In the Sixty-Fourth Ordinary Session of the Benito Juárez Council, the appointment of the Director of the Tourist Police of the Municipal Secretariat of Citizen Security and Traffic was unanimously made,” Cancun City Hall (Ayuntamiento de Benito Juárez, Cancún) reported Thursday.
Photo: Ayuntamiento de Benito Juárez May 9, 2024.
Ricardo Morales Santos took the position after his predecessor, Alan Galván Ponce, was moved to another position within the same municipal corporation.
Morales says his team will be reinforcing the Strategic Security Plan that had been implemented by Ponce in the hotel zone after recognizing the main problem is detecting drug sellers and extortionists who disguise themselves as street vendors.
“We will reinforce the approach. If there is something to improve we are going to improve it. We continue to deal with the same incidents. The one we have the most of is street hawking. Many times criminals disguises themselves as street vendors who end up being illicit substance sellers or extortionists,” he explained.
He said that is part of what will be worked on in the Hotel Zone. He said surveillance is reinforced with personnel from the Secretary of the Navy and the National Guard who cover various points of the Cancun Hotel Zone beaches.
Photo: Ayuntamiento de Benito Juárez May 9, 2024.
Captain Alan Galván was recently appointed Director of the Undersecretary of Control and Operation of the Municipal Secretariat of Citizen Security and Transit. His left-behind position was occupied on an interim basis by Ricardo Morales, who on Thursday, received the official appointment from Cancun City Council.
