Bonaire's New Police Chief

[mike_s]

I'm glad to see they are finally doing something.

Their past efforts (or lack of...) have basically given the "green light" to petty theft.

 

[MN Lakeman]

This is very good news indeed!
I'd bet the entire thieving population on the Island is less than two dozen, so in my mind this is a substantial dent in the problem.
Rick

Having returned, incident free - from Bonaire last January, I felt that the theft problem was quite blown out of proportion. Negative experiences always get posted way more than positive ones. Whenever the discussion came up around there, nearly any veteran'ed Bonaire visitor would agree that it was probably a small group of bored teen's doing the deed. This is certainly good news - but personally, I hope it doesn't lure any more people their way - as it is I think this place has a chance of turning into the next over developed Coz'

 

[Rig Magician]

I was there in march and on more than one ocassion saw the police making rounds. they would stop at the differant sites and check things out. sometimes from the road and sometimes they would get out and walk around. we mad several night dive in the south and the north with no problems.

 

[scubaaaronh]

Glad to hear they are trying to make a dent in the crime. Hope they are going to throw the book at em and put em away for a while.

 

[dvrliz1]

Living on the island, I definitely agree with MN...Crime is not out of control on Bonaire, I think what the problem is, is that when there is a large amount of "petty theft" crimes that happen on Bonaire, it is usually NOT Bonaireans, it usually is an organized group (if it is Bonaireans, especially teenagers, it's usually organized by someone who has the ways and means to get the stuff off the island to their contacts in their native country). It usually happens with a small timeframe, (usually within a 2 week period of time), then they are caught. The last time there was a "crime wave", was last year, and they caught the NON-BONAIREAN people. What they do is investigate VERY QUIETLY, as this is a small island and word gets out quickly, then you read in the newspaper that they raided a house with the majority of the items recovered a people arrested. I think you are going to see more police presence on Bonaire, so that it will discourage these "rings" from forming. WE WILL NEVER BE A COZUMEL, or any other type of island like that. We will NEVER have high rise hotels, NEVER have major highways, heck, we don't even have 1 traffic light on the island. Anyway, if the crime was REALLY as bad as people who don't live here, I would have never moved here!!!!!

Thanks all for the POSITIVE postings!

Liz

 

[herman]

............, heck, we don't even have 1 traffic light on the island. ..................
Thanks all for the POSITIVE postings!

Liz

Now Liz you know that's not true.....and Pasa Bon Pizza is very proud of their stoplight!

I have always wondered if some (many?) of the crimes are were done by other touriest and not the locals. In any case 14 weeks, but who's counting.
Hummmm...there is the BC that I was wanting and I am headed back home tomorrow, think I will grab it.

 

[dvrliz1]

Herman...LOL...Yes they have a stoplight, but it is not necessarily a "traffic" light, unless you consider how crowded Pasa Bon is...LOL...

The majority of crimes are NOT commited by locals, but by others who are illegally on the island or are from Curacao or come to visit legal immigrates from other close countries. You might however have a small child who doesn't know better that is from Bonaire, they pay the kid a few guilders to climb in a small window to open a door, usually 8-10 years, or they use their own kids...

See you soon!

Liz

 

[Kat]

I'm glad to here that the police are starting to look into it. And it sounds like the are making major progress. More than likely, those that have been caught are the major culprits.

One shore dive site parking lot, one hilltop, one scoped rifle, one bullet.

End of problem. Forever. Okay, maybe it would take two of each before the message got around.

Simple.

I think that would be very effective.

As I have posted before, I had a few things stolen from a dive sight in Bonaire.
I figured it was not organized crime, since everything that was taken was basically crap.
I couldn't give a rats ***** who did it, actually. It does not make me feel any better/worse knowing it was locals from Bonaire or cross-eyed Swedes with a desire for half empty bottles of Gatorade, to ease their thirst from the unusally hot climate in Bonaire. Nor does their age matter either.

And, as I have stated before, their was nothing of any resale value taken. The absolute worst part was that they took our live logs & c cards. I can not tell you how much this sucks. We have still not been able to compile all the information & there is just tons of details about those dives that will never be replaced. Stuff can be replaced, big deal - who cares. I've got money, I can buy new sunglasses, shorts - whatever. The log books can not be replaced. For us, they were the most important piece of dive gear we had & the least valuable to anyone else. We just never realized how valuable they were until they were gone. So we didn't protect them like we should have.
Not having those books keeps this event like an open wound for me.

 

[Jcsgt]

When I was down there in 2004, I felt very safe the entire time I was there. People need to expect that when they go into any touristy area, that's where the bad guys will go to find victims. It's the same, everywhere in the world. If we simply take a few minor precautions, the majority of us will never fall prey to their efforts. Most criminals are basically lazy and don't want to work (which is why they are usually unemployed), so if we just make it a bit harder to be taken advantage of, we probably will be just fine.

 

[Kat]

OKAY...

I felt very safe the entire time I was there.

I felt safe also. Safety was not the issue.

...if we just make it a bit harder to be taken advantage of, we probably will be just fine.

I did exactly what was recommened for Bonaire, knowing full well it was a possibility. I left nothing of resale value in the car. Left the doors unlocked & the windows down. So they could take a look & then leave. Since nothing had any resale value I didn't think anything would actually get taken. If I had locked it up tight the window would have been smashed out. And I still would have had the stuff stolen.

I know now that I should not have brought the dive logs with me.
I am very interested in how you think I should have protected a small cooler with half empty Gatorade and 2 pairs of shorts??