Bonaire Crime - Our experience - Looking for input to share

[oldschoolto]

Please stay away from my beautiful island of Bonaire... We love the "HIGH" crime rate.. I feel free to go and do anything at anytime of the day or night...

Jim....

 

[Schwob]

Holy moley, batman - hundreds over 10 years - police working on it - only one conviction.

ROFLMAO. It's petty crime. Check the statistics for NYC, Seatle, Orlando, for cripes sake, Miami or Key West. Take a look at statistics for the camps in the Adirondacks, Green Mountains, any small town in appalachia. Let alone the drug problem. My guess is that economically stressed areas in spain aren't a whole lot better. You just have an irrational, unjustified obsession to bash Bonaire. Please never go there again. They don't want you. And I'm excessively tired of reading your vitriol so off to the ignore list with you. Ah, that feels good.

Wow.
Having quite loved my stay on Bonaire and wanting to go again some day, this topic is quite interesting to me ... although for some reason it seems to come with a lot of baggaga / way too much emotional content.

I for one would like to see the comparable petty crime statistics you seem to know about. Any links?

I can confirm that at a place where I once lived the police, while taking a report did essentially lough me out the door about that stolen bicycle. Since it was my only vehicle I felt quite different about it, of course to no avail... So yes, petty crime does not get a lot of attention in a lot of places. I do agree with that. But what do your numbers say @Kharon ?

 

[kelemvor]

for some reason it seems to come with a lot of baggaga / way too much emotional content.

In my experience, crime victims are always extremely emotional about it. Conversely, those who love something (in this case, Bonaire) feel protective of it and see the crime reports as an attack on the island.

To me, this looks like exactly what I'd expect to see. Other than the odd lack of response from Bonaire PD. I can only assume those guys either have some vested interest or have much bigger fish to fry.

 

[Schwob]

Please stay away from my beautiful island of Bonaire... We love the "HIGH" crime rate.. I feel free to go and do anything at anytime of the day or night...

Jim....

I think I know which post and poster you reply to, but the way you are doing it makes it not very obvious. You might keep in mind that many others tead this thread to and are interested in coming to Bonaire and are for that reason interested in those numbers and how they might compare. Not everyone is as hardened as some.
For what it's worth, the emotion and what seems like hate displayed towards a differing point of view does very little for me to shed more comparative light on this situation.

 

[boat sju]

Other than the odd lack of response from Bonaire PD. I can only assume those guys either have some vested interest or have much bigger fish to fry.

When I was a kid I had a car stolen (old and used but three days old to me). Police called to tell me they found it and where it was. Said to take a battery when I went to get it because there was front end damage. By the time we got to it there was no front end. End of story. Detroit police had bigger things to worry about.

Essentially, it's not worth the effort it would take for the Bonaire authorities to reduce the petty crime. Especially when there's a simple solution to not having stuff stolen from vehicles. We still see divers lock their vehicles up tight with gear in the back seat.

 

[Pedroinspain]

Makes sense.
But how about the far more damaging cases of airBnB break-ins .... cough up for more expensive gated lodging I suppose.

 

[KathyV]

...Essentially, it's not worth the effort it would take for the Bonaire authorities to reduce the petty crime. Especially when there's a simple solution to not having stuff stolen from vehicles. We still see divers lock their vehicles up tight with gear in the back seat.

It may be worth their effort because the economy of our beloved Bonaire depends heavily on tourism and the crime reports probably deter some visitors and hurt the economy. We first visited Bonaire in 1995 and it was a problem back then and it has been a consistent, recurring issue.

And it is not just rumors and exaggerations, all of the car rental agencies, resorts, and the dive ops give you heavy warnings about crime risks and prevention. That didn't stop us from coming back many times because we loved the island. We took the precautions and we were never robbed on Bonaire, but people we know had their room broken into and some jewelry and other valuables were stolen while we were on the island - during a night dive - and they never came back again. It's a shame and I wish that the authorities would make a serious, concentrated effort to address the problem.

 

[boat sju]

Makes sense.
But how about the far more damaging cases of airBnB break-ins .... cough up for more expensive gated lodging I suppose.

I agree that break-ins are a bigger problem. However, I have yet to feel vulnerable on Bonaire. Tourists everywhere need to be careful of the attention they draw to themselves. I've heard stories of people losing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry while on vacation. Why take that kind of jewelry to Bonaire in the first place? I had a dive watch stolen at a park here in Michigan. Honestly, it was my fault that I got lazy and stashed it instead of locking it in the car. Someone saw me do it.

 

[tursiops]

I've been to Bonaire 32 times over 20 years. The only dive gear I've had stolen was from the old Lake Rawlings, now Lake Phoenix, near Richmond VA. I reported it to the sheriff, and was then banned by the manager from returning to Rawlings for having embarrassed the facility.

 

[Schwob]

I've been to Bonaire 32 times over 20 years. The only dive gear I've had stolen was from the old Lake Rawlings, now Lake Phoenix, near Richmond VA. I reported it to the sheriff, and was then banned by the manager from returning to Rawlings for having embarrassed the facility.

Ouch...