Serious crime statistics for the bay islands

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18 murders per 100K? Roatan has a population of about 30K

No need to read any more if the rest of the post has to do with this ridiculously wrong statistic. BUT I already read it so lets see, "heavily armed"... Honduras is poor, If they had the chance do you think they would turn down the opportunity for police to all have a new glock or S/W, or similar on their side and the long rifles in the trunk of each of their cars as in much of North America. The M16 and AK style rifles you see are old cheap surplus from various prior military happenings, Kind of like local police now having full military gear . You see many in one truck because it is often the one vehicle that is running just as you will often see two police on one small motorcycle, SURE they would prefer to each have their own vehicle, there is NO money.
 
I don't know where Thook gets his population numbers but the last census for Roatan showed 65,000 people & there are an estimated additional 20,000 people living on the island that were not included as they are scattered throughout the island in undeveloped areas. While it is true that there are occasionally pick up trucks seen with armed National Police and Military Police this is a recent development due to the newly elected President of Honduras pledge to improve security & law enforcement throughout Honduras, the Bay Islands included.

In the past there has been a problem with petty criminals hiding out in the jungles of the undeveloped east end of Roatan. This is far from the tourist areas, however their presence is not welcomed in the Bay Islands anywhere. To that end, the government has built & staffed a new police station in Oakridge with 20 officers providing 24 hour per day patrols, increased the police staffing in Coxen Hole and West End, and is building a navy base in Oakridge to provide police & navy patrols of the waters of the east end. That base is already staffed with navy marines running 2 high speed patrol boats 24 hours per day, and it coordinates with the new navy base built in Guanaja a couple of years ago. The reason you are now seeing the trucks with officers is movement between these various facilities.

I for one welcome this increased commitment to safety & security on Roatan, both for tourists and residents. I fail to see how this can be perceived as a negative development. By the way, can someone tell me what "Just sayin...." means?
 
Actually Zepellin, I have seen the Police in their Blue and White pickup for many years without any noticeable change in presence, long before the recent elections, Time will tell if the new National and Local governments can make any type of long term difference but for sure the new local Government has made more noise and been more public with intentions and actually started some projects that are noticeable.


As for Thook, Most people I speak with about Roatan population put it around the 70k mark.

And then there is this


Bay Islands Voice Magazine » Blog Archive » Roatan Population Tops 100,000 Up Four-Fold Since Last Official Census in 2001
 
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There is no doubt that the police in their pickups have been around for a long time, we have just seen a fairly big increase in the frequency over the past 8 months. Regarding the increase in other facilities, I have personally seen the new police station & navy base & spoken with the officers at both. We had our charter boat in the boat yard in Oakridge for 10 days this month and I can attest to the 24 hour patrols. In fact, when the power was off one night for about 5 hours at the boat yard and there was no lighting the navy posted 2 marines at the yard to help the local security guard ensure there were no problems. Their base is directly across the harbour.

The preliminary numbers for the last official census were first estimated as around 65,000, based on that article it appears they were too low. The barrios around Las Fuertas & La Colonia alone each have an estimated 20,000 people living in them, you can't see any of that from the main road but if you take a drive & walk up through them you will see it's a maze of lanes, roadways, & foot paths with thousands of people living very close together. This does not even include the main towns of Coxen Hole & Santos Guardiola. While we may not have an completely accurate count of the number of people I think it pretty safe to assume there are around 100,000 people living in the Bay Islands.
 


A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

This thread was reported to moderators. This is the Bay Island forum and so discussion about American gun laws is off-topic. Posts discussing such have been deleted. If you wish to discuss gun laws in the US please take it elsewhere. Marg, SB Senior Moderator
 


A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

This thread was reported to moderators. This is the Bay Island forum and so discussion about American gun laws is off-topic. Posts discussing such have been deleted. If you wish to discuss gun laws in the US please take it elsewhere. Marg, SB Senior Moderator

That's why we can't have nice things. Confine your comments to Honduran (or Canadian) gun laws. All better.
 


A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

This thread was reported to moderators. This is the Bay Island forum and so discussion about American gun laws is off-topic. Posts discussing such have been deleted. If you wish to discuss gun laws in the US please take it elsewhere. Marg, SB Senior Moderator
Oh sure, take down my post about thongs on the airplane and others that were factual even though they may have strayed from the original topic a little and leave this one which is completely false bullsh!t
18 murders per 100K? Roatan has a population of about 30K, Utila 7K, Gunaja 10K. So we're looking at a Bay Island population of 47K.

I don't know but 18 murders out or 47K people is not a good statistic. In Roatan there is a reason there are pick up truck LOADS of heavily armed police traveling up and down the roads and posted in West End carrying M-16's. ....
And I believe it is on Topic when pointed out these "Heavily armed" police that are so scary are armed less than the average north American police officer and ride in truck together in groups becaue they don't all have their own car, heck they share motorcycles .
 
We made it in to RTB around noon today. So far, we haven't been robbed. Drank a few beers, smoked some Marlboros and made a pitcher of sweet tea.-
 
We made it in to RTB around noon today. So far, we haven't been robbed. Drank a few beers, smoked some Marlboros and made a pitcher of sweet tea.-

Were you skeered by the polocia? I saw them drive by my place yesterday in their Nissan pickup and there were two very skeery guys in the back
 
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