SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Overall crime in Rosarito, a beach community that is very popular with visitors from Southern California, is significantly down compared to 2022.

According to numbers made public by Rosarito’s head of public safety, Francisco Javier Arellano, 117 murders were committed in all of 2022. In the first eight months of this year, only 37 have been reported.

Rosarito is about 25 minutes south of the border and is home to the famous Rosarito Beach Hotel and an annual music festival on the beach.

Arellano says car theft, robberies and carjackings are also down, with only 11 so far this year. In 2022, 49 vehicles were taken by force in Rosarito.

Arellano praised a program instituted earlier this year, which aims to cut down complaints against police officers accused of extorting money from tourists.

“Whenever we have a concern with one of our officers, it’s investigated promptly by our internal affairs division,” said Arellano. “Our officers know they are being watched and if they do something wrong they will be prosecuted”

Under this program, the officers’ whereabouts are tracked and traced at all times.

“We know where their locations are, and times and distances between calls are recorded,” he said. “This helps avoid a lot of crimes against residents and tourists.”