Be careful in Bonaire (Burglaries)

[mike_s]

did the one time he went to Bonaire... YEARS AGO.... did he have anything stolen from him?

 

[shortcuts]

Guys I have been monitoring this thread for a while now and have to say that I'm really quite dissappointed. My wife and I were planning to make our first trip to Bonaire this year. We have travelled and dived all over the world (literally) and so know how to be aware and look out for our own safety whilst travelling. The operative phrase being "whilst travelling".

My concern here is that when staying somewhere (particularly a resort) it is my opinion that the resort owners/management staff have a "Duty of Care" toward their clients in terms of security of the clients and their belongings whilst on the complex. This responsibility seems to be becoming largely ignored by the resorts. (From what I'm reading here).

Unfortunately, totally as a result of reading this thread, I am going to have to rethink my plans and take my dive holiday elsewhere.
I regard that as sad because I have been looking forward to experiencing what I am assured is excellent diving available in Bonaire.

It isn't just the thought of my property going missing even though I have taken all reasonable precautions but we have all heard of tourists getting up in the night for whatever reason and inadvertantly stumbling in to somebody who has found his way into your accommadation. Now the resort owners surely should be able to stop ANY undesirable from entering the complex area 24/7. Not too much to ask for is it.

I wanted to say more but I'm struggling to express myself fully and don't want to leave too many avenues for my thoughts to be misconstrued and thereby misunderstood.

Have fun people. Travel and dive safely. Good luck.

 

[ReefHound]

Papa,

I agree the right to know is important, hence my statement to contact the resort/accommodation/hotel for security information.

So are you saying that if a prospective customer called you up and asked specifically if there have been any robberies/burglaries on your property this year that you would tell them if there has been?

I think names are important because while every hotel may have been victims at one time or another, that doesn't mean all hotels are equally at risk. Over time, all hotels will be named but perhaps a pattern may emerge showing some are reported more often than others?

 

[ScubaSteve]

This certainly is your perogative. I agree that there is a duty of care (I do not know that the legal term actually applies but we will use it because you did) owed by the hotel or resort operators. You are assuming that they did not offer that. In lots of places, this very duty of care applies (not just on Bonaire contrary to what Pilot Fish would have you believe) and thieves find ways around it all over the place. A house just down the street from one of our rental properties (not on Bonaire PiFi so settle down) was broken into last week by three men and the owners were held at gun point while they were robbed and then the 3 men left. Is this acceptable? Absolutely not. And I going to over react like some here? Absolutely not. Does the fact that this happened mean that the police are NOT doinf anything about it? Absolutely not. This crime does not mean that most people will stop visiting that city. Those that choose not to.....good on ya. But I digress.

It is your choice to travel elsewhere. You feel uncomfortable and want to travel somewhere else? You are freeing up a spot for two other divers which is an OK situation by me.

Guys I have been monitoring this thread for a while now and have to say that I'm really quite dissappointed. My wife and I were planning to make our first trip to Bonaire this year. We have travelled and dived all over the world (literally) and so know how to be aware and look out for our own safety whilst travelling. The operative phrase being "whilst travelling".

My concern here is that when staying somewhere (particularly a resort) it is my opinion that the resort owners/management staff have a "Duty of Care" toward their clients in terms of security of the clients and their belongings whilst on the complex. This responsibility seems to be becoming largely ignored by the resorts. (From what I'm reading here).

Unfortunately, totally as a result of reading this thread, I am going to have to rethink my plans and take my dive holiday elsewhere.
I regard that as sad because I have been looking forward to experiencing what I am assured is excellent diving available in Bonaire.

It isn't just the thought of my property going missing even though I have taken all reasonable precautions but we have all heard of tourists getting up in the night for whatever reason and inadvertantly stumbling in to somebody who has found his way into your accommadation. Now the resort owners surely should be able to stop ANY undesirable from entering the complex area 24/7. Not too much to ask for is it.

I wanted to say more but I'm struggling to express myself fully and don't want to leave too many avenues for my thoughts to be misconstrued and thereby misunderstood.

Have fun people. Travel and dive safely. Good luck.

 

[ScubaSteve]

So are you saying that if a prospective customer called you up and asked specifically if there have been any robberies/burglaries on your property this year that you would tell them if there has been?

I think names are important because while every hotel may have been victims at one time or another, that doesn't mean all hotels are equally at risk. Over time, all hotels will be named but perhaps a pattern may emerge showing some are reported more often than others?

And what if that question was asked over an open forum such as this?

 

[Diver DennisP]

An apology must first be deserved and you are far from deserving PiFi. What I will do is state for the record that you have now copied and pasted your first truth it seems. Which, for the record you did not validate.

Have you changed anyone's mind about Bonaire? Doubtful but I suppose anything is possible. Has anybody denied that crimes exists on Bonaire? Never that I have seen. Has anybody said that they are happy about (or content with) the crime on Bonaire? Never that I have seen (excluding sarcasm). Have almost all of the posters stated clearly that they love diving on Bonaire so much (owners and travelers alike) that they are willing to take some simple precautions to prevent crimes (as works for most tourists to Boanire)? Definitely. Do those precautions work . Definitely. Do you still run the risk of being a victim of a crime on Bonaire even after precautions? Definitely but most people accept that this is the case anywhere in the world (even if you do not because it pokes holes in your scripted bashing notes). Is Bonaire any more unsafe than the rest of the world? Not in the opinion of many. Is a tourist more likely to get robbed on Bonaire than anywhere else in the world? I have not seen statistics that say that.....

If you can produce validated statistics proving that you are more likely to get robbed on Bonaire than anywhere else then I bet people will listen (maybe even me). Just repeating that "nothing is being done" does nothing but make you feel better and annoy all but a few posters (but it is still your option so carry on). Once you can produce the SOP for the Bonaire police force showing that they are intentionally doing nothing to curb crime on the island, then I bet people will listen. Once you can show statistically that crime has increased (or even not reduced but factoring in volume of tourists and the story behind each crime), then people will listen.

Until then, I am just thankful that you will be nowhere near the island when I am there next. By the way PiFi.....follow through on your promise to me just once.

I already clicked "thanks"

But Thank you a million more times!!!!
That is the first post in the last 20+ pages of posting that put my thoughts into words. It's been too much "my dad is better than your dad" "I'm right, your wrong... no compromise"

the fact is.... THERE ARE NO FACTS!!

Not one person on these boards has been able to show proof of anything to show crime is increasing or decreasing on Bonaire.

If you're worried about being a victim, you can HOPE the police and citizens are doing their part to stop crime. You can go to the island and try to minimize the criminals chances to commit said crimes. You can go and do your own thing and see what happens. You can go elsewhere. Or you can STAY HOME. Lets keep the discussion to fact based ideas and info and not a bunch of "what ifs".

Thanks, and Have a Nice Day

 

[shortcuts]

You are freeing up a spot for two other divers which is an OK situation by me.

Exactly what I meant by having my post missunderstood. But I'm glad that all is ok with you. That is what is obviously important after all!!!!

 

[clafrieda]

Update as of 2/12/2010:
Called the Bonaire Police today. They said they recovered some items, but none of our stuff. (I doubt they recovered anything significant because they were quick to say none of our stuff was recovered.) They had a few people in custody, but we heard there were more burglaries after the arrest. They confirmed this. The groups committing the burglaries may be part of a 'ring', but there seems to be no direct connections that led to more arrests or recovery of any of our stuff.

Additional Details (I wanted to add this to the initial post, but I can't seem to edit it anymore. Perhaps a mod can do it for me.):

Our plane from JFK to BON landed at 4:35pm on 1/30/2010 (a little late because of weather). By the time we got our bags and got to our rooms it was about 6:00pm. There were 5 in our group spread between two adjacent rooms (3 in one, 2 in the other). We unpacked some of our stuff and put the important things into the safe. Then, we made a run to the supermarket to get some essentials (Amstel Brights). At about 7:30pm, we decided that we would go out to dinner instead of cooking (big mistake). We locked all the doors and headed out. I should note that only 1 out of the 5 rooms in the immediate area was vacant.

We got back from dinner at about 9:00pm. We decided to have a few beers together, so we walked together to one room. We noticed the door was open and the room was ransacked. I immediately ran to the other (my) room and it was also completely ransacked. The door had a deadbolt, but it appeared that a crowbar was used to break in. The door frame was destroyed to point where it would no longer close. The safe was also broken into. I started screaming obscenities and got the neighbors' attention. (I just got hit for about 6k, no insurance.) Nobody saw anything, and nobody heard anything.

All of our phones were taken, so 2 people drove off to get the police. I ran around the area to see if I saw anyone, but they were long gone. When the police arrived, I finally took a good look at what was taken (I already knew all the stuff I cared about would be gone). The thieves had unfolded every piece of underwear, every pair of socks, and opened every zipper. They must have filled our carry-on bags with our stuff because those were gone. To make matters worse, my passport and my wife's passport were taken. The thieves seemed to be smart enough to take only the (slightly) older US passports w/o the chip. The passports were in the safe in a pouch. Unfortunately, in that pouch were the photocopies of the passports.

The police had us write down the things that were taken. They said there had been a lot of burglaries lately. I was angry when I heard that because if I would have known I would have brought my passport, laptop and video camera with me to dinner. (Some people may find that odd, but those items are always on my person when I travel to Europe.) The police believed that the thieves were following people from the airport. Well, some of them definitely followed us to dinner because they were able to take their time and go through all of our stuff carefully and quietly.


IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE RECENT VICTIMS IN BONAIRE OR KNOW SOMEBODY WHO IS PLEASE MESSAGE ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. I did get email addresses for a couple of people, but I would like to get as many as possible. I am already getting the feeling that very little is being done. I think we will need to keep them motivated.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Exactly what I meant by having my post missunderstood. But I'm glad that all is ok with you. That is what is obviously important after all!!!!

How exactly did I misunderstand your post? You chose not to go which is OK (is it not?) and that frees up spots for other divers (does it not?). What part of this is unacceptable? Or are you not happy with the fact that I am alright with you changing your plans and not visiting Bonaire?

 

[ReefHound]

I beg to differ, but then again we can always agree to disagree. I am not asking for supression, but for the client to make an informed decision. It is up to the client to determine where they stay and the level of security they expect. How can a client make a truly informed decision, using a board, forum, thread, etc, if it does not have a complete listing of every resort/accommodation, private rental, etc, with all of their security measures and if they are sufficient? Who and what determines what is sufficient? If a resort/accommodation, etc is doing everything in its power (based on what is available in the area of security on the island) to provide safety for a guest (cameras, security, bars, door jams, alarms, etc) and the guest decides or forgets to lock something), then what?

With all due respect, I have to call that nonsense. There is NOTHING you can say over the phone that you cannot type in a post, and it would take far less time to type it once and update ass necessary than to say it over and over to an endless number of callers. So if a customer cannot get accurate info on your hotel on these forums or your website, whose fault is that?

As for "complete listing", few tourists call EVERY hotel and ask information. They would have to have a complete listing of phone numbers to do that and it would be expensive and take a lot of time. Most, if they call at all, call two or three based on reputation then pick the one that fits them best. So maybe there is a fortress hotel that they miss by searching forums but they are just as likely to miss it by calling.