Chapala police chief Ramon del Arco scratched Unit 026 off his inventory of functioning patrol vehicles after a freak fire reduced the pickup truck to a useless heap of charred metal.

One of the pair of heavy duty patrol trucks delivered to the Jocotepec police department in March is out of commission after colliding with a cow that crossed its path on the outskirts of town early Thursday, June 26.

The fiercely territorial nature of policing in the metropolitan area thawed a little this week with the start of joint patrols by Guadalajara and Zapopan municipal cops.

After just six weeks on the job as the chief officer of the Lake Chapala area division of Jalisco’s Secretaría de Movilidad (SeMov), Pedro García Aguilar is making good on his promise to reach out to the expatriate community.