Bad Ending to Otherwise Good Bonaire Trip

[H2O Gal]

Check eBay for a replacement camera--we flooded an old Nikon and was able to get one that worked in our housing there without any problem and it was pretty cheap, since people are always unloading old cameras when they upgrade.

 

[Chocoholic]

This thread scares the $%&* out of me.... I have never heard any reports in the Cayman or the Coz sections where a room invasion happened... and THREE people on just this one thread had a room invasion happen. I've had stuff stolen here in Alaska, but I wasn't in the room or in the car when it was stolen. That's what is so weird about this thread, this was a threat to the occupants of the room, not just a theft, people don't seem to get that.

 

[pilot fish]

That's what people in this thread, some people, are just glossing over, this is a dangerous situation and it happens all too often on Bonaire.

This thread scares the $%&* out of me.... I have never heard any reports in the Cayman or the Coz sections where a room invasion happened... and THREE people on just this one thread had a room invasion happen. I've had stuff stolen here in Alaska, but I wasn't in the room or in the car when it was stolen. That's what is so weird about this thread, this was a threat to the occupants of the room, not just a theft, people don't seem to get that.

 

[pilot fish]

These are scary numbers. As has been the rule here, posters will come on and say, if you were a victim of crime on Bonaire, it's because YOU didn't use common sense.

My problem with the "don't claim you were a crime victim without a police report" idea is that it ignores the likelihood that many tourists will not report, and of those who do, many will not ask for a report or jump through whatever hoops are necessary to get one and then finally, of those, how many are willing to fax the thing as proof?

They don't require you to prove it if you post that your luggage was lost, or prove that you aren't connected to a resort or restaurant when you post a glowing review, or that you are a certified diver when you discuss a dive. I can't help but beleive it is an effort to minimize posts about crime.

Some "stats": (Such as they are and for whatever they may show.)(I suspect getting real stats from the police would require a local resident)


BONAIRE- 72% of the citizens over 16 years old were victims of a crime in their lifetime. In the 12 months preceding the inquiry 27% were victimized.
In 1995, 58%. The most common crimes were being burglarized,robberies from unsecured areas like a garden, porch, or car. In 39% of the cases victims reported the crime to the police. In 1995, that was 50%. The most important reasons given for not reporting the crime were: The police force will do nothing. The police force could have done nothing because of lack of proof, the matter was too
small to report/there was no loss/it was done by a child, the matter was solved by the victim-he/she knew the perpetrator. Of those who reported the crime only 33% were satisfied with the policeÃÔ efforts. In 1995, 43% were satisfied. That is a fall of 10%. Of the people surveyed 35% showed strong to very strong fears and feelings of disorder. Compared to 1995 (62%) thatÃÔ considerably lower.


Bonare Reporter, November, 2008




Liz, I am not trying to slam Bonaire, I just want one of those great deals at your place!!!!

 

[pilot fish]

Valid arguments on both sides of this issue, however I don't think this thread would be 13 pages and counting if we simply had statistics and not anecdotes. It was listed that Bonaire Talk only allows discussion of incidents if there is a police report filed - sounds reasonable to me. Simply take the number of police reports filed and divide by the number of visitors or residents or some other figure so you can have something to compare to other places. Just saying Bonaire crime per capita is no worse than any other place doesn't make it so. What is the most concerning to me is the absence of crime statistics given this issue is posted about frequently (71 THREADS returned from searching for ţonaire, +crime?. Where are the stats?

Bonaire dishonestly wiothholds those fropm the public. If the truth were ever known, divers would not go there, which is why they do not publish them

 

[keithdiver]

Bonaire dishonestly wiothholds those fropm the public. If the truth were ever known, divers would not go there, which is why they do not publish them

Does anyone notice the only one posting negative information about Bonaire is this pilot fish guy I think he has maybe beeen there once

 

[ONESPEED]

Bonaire dishonestly wiothholds those fropm the public. If the truth were ever known, divers would not go there, which is why they do not publish them

Obsess much?

 

[pilot fish]

If the OP's passport and cell phone had been in the safe it would not have been stolen.

Oh, on his night stand, in his locked hotel/condo room, is not considered safe from crime? huh? I guess you haven't read the reports on this board of safes being ripped out of the wall, with crow bars, in hotel rooms and rented condos? Oh, yeah, it's the victims fault, they didn't use common sense.

 

[ONESPEED]

Does anyone notice the only one posting negative information about Bonaire is this pilot fish guy I think he has maybe beeen there once

In his defense, judging from the spelling and time of his posts perhaps he wasn't sober when he made them.

 

[pilot fish]

Here, let me fix that for you

Does anyone notice the only one posting truthful information about Bonaire is this pilot fish guy: I think he has maybe been there once -but knows the score better than most