crime in bali

[vladimir]

Here's a stat, from the JAKARTA POST:

The increasing crime rate in Bali could affect the island's tourism industry, with 10,430 cases reported in 2009, a 22.49 percent rise compared to the 8,090 cases in 2008, Bali Police chief Insp. Gen Sutisna told reporters on Tuesday.
He said a tourism boom may have led to the increased crime rate.
Bali saw an increase in criminal cases such as murder, drugs, rape, robbery and petty crimes, he said.

Bali has a population of about 3.9 million. If that figure, 10,430 crimes in 2009, is correct, that would be a very low crime rate. 10,430/3.9million = 267 crimes per 100,000 population. For comparison, San Diego, the United States' safest large city (over 1 million population), has 428 violent crimes per 100,000 population. And I would expect the 3.9 million to be an understatement of Bali's population if you consider all the transients, making the rate even lower.

 

[highdesert]

It would be interesting to learn where in Bali the crimes were occurring. I'm sure that, similar to anywhere in the world, crime rates, as well as numbers, are directly tied to population density. And as others have noted, escaping that density without missing any of the beauty or culture of the island can happen literally in minutes.

 

[buiszie]

Bali is just like a big city, every city has areas where the crime rate is higher. There is no difference with at all.

 

[gee13]

This does absolutely nothing to put things in perspective. Compared to what? You gave no denominators and no numerator for Bali.

For example, Indonesia has 8.1 murders per 100,000, the United States has 5 per 100,000. That doesn't tell us much about Bali (or southern Florida), but at least it's a comparison, and a comparison of equivalents.

This is a more useful comparison...for all of those who are familiar with Chapel Hill, or for those who are trying to decide between Chapel Hill and Bali as a vacation destination.

I never said anything about comparing like to like. Because you cant in this instance and you wont really get a fair comparison as reporting of crime in Bali is different to Florida, that is if its accurately documented in the first place (given the level of corruption that may exist in the police and government depts). And the ones that are highly publicised usually involve foreigners in drug cases or non local muslim indonesions of the fundamentalist persuasion.

Taking into account statistics are just that - stats and prone to error of reporting accuracy there still seems to be a fairly high rate of violent crime in Florida. Looking at the total of crime per population then of Florida 18.2 million - annual violent crime rate average of 126, 265 makes it 6.93 per 1000 compared to National average of 4.5 makes it not the safest place around to start with. But the perspective it puts for the OP is that the state they live in is most likely more dangerous then where they intend to go for a holiday. A place tainted by media sensationalism and anti- bali rhetoric.

 

[vladimir]

I never said anything about comparing like to like.

You said, "Just for comparison," and then you cited the gross crime numbers for Florida and compared them to...?

Taking into account statistics are just that - stats and prone to error of reporting accuracy there still seems to be a fairly high rate of violent crime in Florida. Looking at the total of crime per population then of Florida 18.2 million - annual violent crime rate average of 126, 265 makes it 6.93 per 1000 compared to National average of 4.5 makes it not the safest place around to start with.

Compared to what!? It is useless data if you have no figures for Bali!

But the perspective it puts for the OP is that the state they live in is most likely more dangerous then where they intend to go for a holiday.

Most likely? Based on what evidence? There is nothing in your posts that would logically lead to this conclusion. As it turns out, based on that statistic that I cited from the Jakarta Post, it appears that your conclusion is correct.

 

[gee13]

You said, "Just for comparison," and then you cited the gross crime numbers for Florida and compared them to...?

Compared to what!? It is useless data if you have no figures for Bali!

Most likely? Based on what evidence? There is nothing in your posts that would logically lead to this conclusion. As it turns out, based on that statistic that I cited from the Jakarta Post, it appears that your conclusion is correct.

Now we are getting to semantics. Perhaps I should have been more specific to state a 'general comparison'. Not like for like. And perhaps without hard figures yes we cannot even do a general comparison.

However..

Im curious how many times have you been to Bali Vladimir and what kind of crimes did you see?

I havent seen one post from any of the numerous replies here that state they have had significant problem with crime in Bali.

Ive been to Bali numerous times in many different places (except for North and Far East) and have never seen any kind of crime, let alone violent ones. Not to say that it doesnt happen but imagine a visit to say..Mangonia Park in Florida for a week.

If we had the hard statistics from Bali for crime I would be ready to wager with you that (violent) crime rates in Bali fare significantly less than Florida per capita of population.

 

[vladimir]

Im curious how many times have you been to Bali Vladimir and what kind of crimes did you see?

I have been there about 15 times (don't have my old passport to check). I have not witnessed much crime of the sort that should worry a tourist. I have been offered drugs, had solicitations of prostitution, and the shakedown by the police that I mentioned above. We can extrapolate from that to conclude...not much, actually. We have only a handful of data points, spread over more than a decade.

I havent seen one post from any of the numerous replies here that state they have had significant problem with crime in Bali.

When we include the other posters in the thread, we then have the basis for...not much, still.

If we had the hard statistics from Bali for crime I would be ready to wager with you that (violent) crime rates in Bali fare significantly less than Florida per capita of population.

No bet, sir; we agree:

As it turns out, based on that statistic that I cited from the Jakarta Post, it appears that your conclusion is correct.​

 

[kkfok]

Be careful on those money exchange shops in Kuta, they can be tricky.
I had 2 dive trips to various places in Bali and there was no problem, but my friends went there last year and one of them lost his wallet and the other lost his iphone...maybe just they are careless I am not sure.

 

[Tippytoes12]

Hi there

I am about to head to Bali from the UK for my third trip in about 10 months.Honestly the crime in Bali is no big deal at all. We never met anybody that had been robbed or pickpocketed or anything like that. For sure the increase in crime levels is probably worrying for the Balinese administration. However I'm sure that the Irish Minister for Justice would be a happy man or woman if there were only 10,000 or so crimes in the whole year.

Seriously though Bali is wonderful for diving ( particularly for big things) , it's way underrated and is a fabulous entry point for even more exciting diving areas such as Komodo , Sulawesi and the Gilis.



What my husband and I didn't like personally was all the traffic.Try to not move around too much , for 2 weeks 2 or a maximum of three stops would be enough. You can always come back.


Have a wonderful trip

 

[vladimir]

What my husband and I didn't like personally was all the traffic.Try to not move around too much , for 2 weeks 2 or a maximum of three stops would be enough. You can always come back.

Great advice! The traffic is as bad as New York City at rush hour, almost all day long.