SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — The Citizens Council for Public Safety in Tijuana is asking police agencies in the region to change course in the way they protect the public from crime.

“The recent wave of violence that has whipped the city and the state is not just total disrespect for authorities, but the law as well,” said Roberto Quijano Sosa, the council’s president. “What’s happening is a joke.”

Quijano is urging local, state and federal agencies to find new strategies and methods to patrol the streets.

“If authorities keep doing the same thing, the results will be the same,” he said. “We need new strategies and a total change in the way they confront delinquency.”

Quijano told reporters Wednesday night that police agencies also need to be more accountable to the public.

“We’ve said it before, as long as there is no prevention plan in place and officials don’t recognize the seriousness of the problem, the public will feel even more unsafe in the city and the state.”

The number of homicides in Tijuana is well over 700 for the year, according to figures from the Baja California State Attorney General’s Office.

Just in the last 24 hours, a man and a woman were found shot to death in a canyon.

A third man was found dead and had died from an apparent blow to the head.

The day before, in the parking lot of a Costco, two prominent businessmen were shot to death while sitting in a car in broad daylight. One was an event promoter the other was the owner of a strip mall known for its Asian-themed stores, restaurants and other businesses.

“What needs to be recognized is the impact crime has in our state of mind, the economy, tourism and primarily on society,” said Quijano. “How do you send your kids out onto the streets where every day there are deadly confrontations, how are you going out to a restaurant in peace on a Sunday afternoon knowing you might be robbed or assaulted, this needs to change.”