Bonaire Crime - Our experience - Looking for input to share

[drrich2]

Where petty theft from trucks at dive sites is concerned, beware what you ask for. Whether putting guard stations at popular dive sites, running sting operations at them, trying 't.v. cop-style' detective work to track down fenced stolen goods, and/or building more prisons, all this is going to cost...money. A lot of money.

And where are they going to get that money? Oh, yeah...from us.

So instead of a low average risk of being robbed by amateur thieves, which we can largely avoid with some simple precautions, every last one of us will be robbed every time unavoidably by professional 'thieves' (the government). Departure tax, nightly hotel room tax, marine park fee...so many ways they can get us.

Richard.

 

[mmmbelows]

Richard you seem to forget you're already paying for it. There is a victim in a theft and a financial loss.

In regard to stopping crime at dive sites it doesn't involve costly infrastructure changes, the most effective portion would simply be the police start arresting the thieves, the judicial system starts prosecuting them, there is no additional cost for that, that's already included in their salaries now. There aren't 10,000 thieves involved in the dive site crimes, probably 3-4 pretty hardcore frequent perps and probably a dozen at most who infrequently are involved. The police already know who they are, it doesn't take much to catch a crook once you know whom to watch. As for the cost of a continued policing the dive sites, all it takes is some random patrols to catch a few in the act and most importantly that the word gets out that there is no more tolerance for it, word travels fast that the candy store has been closed.

 

[drrich2]

I don't pay for it if I don't get robbed.

Arresting the thieves for petty theft from trucks isn't that easy. Unless you do a sting operation, a lot of what they steal isn't clearly marked to original owner. By the time the case came up in court, would the victim be on the island, much less willing to testify?

If much of it is due to 3 - 4 hardcore frequent offenders, as you suspect, maybe a few more, yes, might be possible to get them and 'do something.' But I'm not sure what. Unless you turn the prison into a profitable slave labor camp, so it can sustain itself and growth rather than being a drain on island resources. I wonder what hurdles there are to that in the Dutch system?

I'd like to see a crackdown on the truck thieves, too. I believe most of us would, and that it would reduce the theft rate.

But I don't think it's going to make such a huge difference consistently over time that the standard practice of 'doors unlocked, windows down, no valuables left unattended in the truck' will change.

As much resentment as some have for that, I'm reminded there are places where people don't need to lock their home & car doors, yet how many of us do, and worry about it when we forget, without railing against a society that fails to apprehend and prosecute criminals effectively enough we shouldn't need to lock our stuff?

I lock my house door for the same reason I unlock my Bonaire rental truck door; crime deterrence.

Richard.

 

[mmmbelows]

Arresting the thieves for petty theft from trucks isn't that easy. Unless you do a sting operation, a lot of what they steal isn't clearly marked to original owner. By the time the case came up in court, would the victim be on the island, much less willing to testify?

If much of it is due to 3 - 4 hardcore frequent offenders, as you suspect, maybe a few more, yes, might be possible to get them and 'do something.' But I'm not sure what. Unless you turn the prison into a profitable slave labor camp, so it can sustain itself and growth rather than being a drain on island resources. I wonder what hurdles there are to that in the Dutch system?

Yes, it's an impossible task. Mankind walked on the moon, we cured polio, we mastered how to fly, we can visit the deepest depth of our oceans and return, but putting a dent in a dozen individuals ability to steal at will with impunity is an impossibility.

Like I said, some of us don't believe in the victim mentality, those that do cannot fathom that change is possible.

Believe me when Bonaire someday finally decides that this all needs to stop, to fix the dive in tourist income, they'll fix it easily and very quickly.

 

[Skeptic14]

I lock my house door for the same reason I unlock my Bonaire rental truck door; crime deterrent.

Richard.

Locking your house door is a deterrent, but an unlocked rental vehicle is capitulation.

 

[oldschoolto]

I can't help myself, Please "mmmbelows" tell us where you live that has NO CRIME... Please tell us where you go diving that has NO CRIME... Please tell us how you seem to know what the problem is on Bonaire and how you know that the whole island is in on it ???

I am far from a person with a victim mentality ... I'll be dammed if I am gonna let a stolen towel and flip-flops ruin my diving vacation... I'll be dammed if I'm going to let a small chance of stolen flip-flops stop me from going to a island like Bonaire... I'll be dammed if anyone is going to stop me from having a good time... I'll be dammed if the small chance of losing a cold drink and snack is going to stop me from bringing it... I've never and I mean NEVER let anyone or anything stop me from enjoying life... Life is to short to get all worked up over the small stuff... You are the VICTIM if you let others stop you from enjoying the wonderful 24/7 diving freedom of Bonaire...

Jim.....

 

[salth2owannabe]

I am far from a person with a victim mentality ... I'll be dammed if I am gonna let a stolen towel and flip-flops ruin my diving vacation...

Jim.....

Well Jim it cost us about $2000.00 and counting......
No victim mentality here either.

 

[mmmbelows]

I can't help myself, Please "mmmbelows" tell us where you live that has NO CRIME... Please tell us where you go diving that has NO CRIME... Please tell us how you seem to know what the problem is on Bonaire and how you know that the whole island is in on it ???

I am far from a person with a victim mentality ... I'll be dammed if I am gonna let a stolen towel and flip-flops ruin my diving vacation... I'll be dammed if I'm going to let a small chance of stolen flip-flops stop me from going to a island like Bonaire... I'll be dammed if anyone is going to stop me from having a good time... I'll be dammed if the small chance of losing a cold drink and snack is going to stop me from bringing it... I've never and I mean NEVER let anyone or anything stop me from enjoying life... Life is to short to get all worked up over the small stuff... You are the VICTIM if you let others stop you from enjoying the wonderful 24/7 diving freedom of Bonaire...

Jim.....

Your wife only buys $3.00 hats because she only likes $3.00 hats, or it's because she fears it will be stolen and she wants to minimize the inevitable loss as you both become victims again?

 

[oldschoolto]

I have made a few friends in the past 2 yrs with so many trips in a short time frame... Having just back from 2 weeks and last night bought tickets for a 45 day stay starting in october... The local do talk about the crime and want to see things get better... But like the rest of the world, Bonaire has a drug problem and a large gap in the haves and have not's...

What Bonaire does not have is a Violent crime problem and We can be thankful for that... Crime has been around for ever and in almost every life form... Some places chop off a hand, Some a bullet in the back of the head... But most places a slap on the wrist is all they get for petty crimes... Funny as it is, Places that chop off hands still seem to have no shortage of thieves... Should we try and lessen crime and drug abuse ? Of course... But for people to think putting 4 or 10 or even 20 people in jail is going to stop it is just plan foolish...

Well Jim it cost us about $2000.00 and counting......
No victim mentality here either.

I'm sorry you got robbed... It's a $hitty thing to have to go through.... I'm very happy that you are not letting them keep you from returning to Bonaire or any other dive vacation ... I'd love to see work done to improve the drug problem and the work problem and that will of course bring down the crime problem...

Jim....

 

[drrich2]

"Your wife only buys $3.00 hats because she only likes $3.00 hats, or it's because she fears it will be stolen and she wants to minimize the inevitable loss as you both become victims again?"

That's no different than the common advice for travelers in foreign places not to wear expensive looking jewelry in plain sight, making them more attractive targets to criminals.

And it's not inevitable her hat will be stolen. Lots of people never get their truck vandalized on Bonaire.

If you stay home and skip the island, perhaps you've robbed yourself of an opportunity and thus been 'victimized' in your own way.

Richard.