Crime in Bonaire?

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ggunn once bubbled...
When I go somewhere (even in the US), I try to be informed on the local scene and "do as the Romans do" in order not to become a victim. If I can't live with the compromises, I go somewhere else or stay home.

YMMV.

Your point is well taken. Like you, I check out what's going on before I go. I abide by and respect other countries' laws and culture when I travel.

However, being the victim of looting is not something I'm willing to accept. Neither is posting a guard or emptying my car of everything in order to stay safe. For that reason, I do not choose to live with the compromises. That's why I go somewhere else and recommend it to people who ask me.

From the sound of it, we are not talking about expensive stuff. My shoes, clothes and sunglasses are not high value items.

I truly doubt that the people or government of Bonaire care one way or the other whether I travel there. On the other hand, the monies spent on a family vacation in GC or Bermuda probably wouldn't hurt the Bonaire economy. Its their choice.
 
Northeastwrecks once bubbled...

...being the victim of looting is not something I'm willing to accept. Neither is posting a guard or emptying my car of everything in order to stay safe.

For many years I drove a ragtop MGB. I never left anything of value in it and I never locked the doors, and that was in the US. You make your choices and do what you have to do to deal with the consequences of those choices.

But that's not exactly my point. When I am a guest in someone's home, I don't try to rearrange their furniture. ;^)
 
SharkOfBonaire once bubbled...
they get welfare
And that, my friend, is why they have nothing else.
E.
 
ggunn once bubbled...
But that's not exactly my point. When I am a guest in someone's home, I don't try to rearrange their furniture. ;^)

Yes, but when I catch their teenage kid rifling through my wallet or my wife's purse, I leave and never go back. When I hear about it happening to someone else, I add them to the list of people I avoid.

I agree with you about choices. At least there are enough places to keep us both happy.
 
Northeastwrecks once bubbled...


Yes, but when I catch their teenage kid rifling through my wallet or my wife's purse, I leave and never go back. When I hear about it happening to someone else, I add them to the list of people I avoid.

I agree with you about choices. At least there are enough places to keep us both happy.

Ah, yes, but (realizing that we are stretching an already thin analogy WAY past the breaking point, but what the hell) if you knew beforehand that the little bugger would do that given the opportunity, and you knew that the parents' attitude was "boys will be boys", and for whatever reason it was STILL worth it to to you to go for a visit, you'd do what you'd have to do to deny him the opportunity, wouldn't you?

BTW and FWIW, I've never been to Bonaire and I have no plans at this time to do so.
 
we were stupid enough to leave a camera in the truck while diving - sure enough, it was gone when we got back. We were lucky to be able to claim it against our insurance but it was a real hassle - after that, we just left it wide open and had no problems after that.
 
Epinephelus once bubbled...
And that, my friend, is why they have nothing else.
No, that is why car break ins and petty theft are the WORST crime we have here, and no muggings, armed robbery or murders.

Northeastwrecks once bubbled...
I truly doubt that the people or government of Bonaire care one way or the other whether I travel there. On the other hand, the monies spent on a family vacation in GC or Bermuda probably wouldn't hurt the Bonaire economy. Its their choice.
If that's really how you feel, than by all means, do stay away. We value people coming here, but as ggunn said, as guests, not as money machines (from our point of view) or new-age colonials (yours). Generalizing a whole people because of a couple of bad elements does not win you friends. But if you come with an open mind, to enjoy the island and relax (it amazes me to no end how stressed some people still are, when on holiday), you'll find that Bonairians truly welcome you. That is you, not your money.
 
SharkOfBonaire once bubbled...

If that's really how you feel, than by all means, do stay away. We value people coming here, but as ggunn said, as guests, not as money machines (from our point of view) or new-age colonials (yours). Generalizing a whole people because of a couple of bad elements does not win you friends. But if you come with an open mind, to enjoy the island and relax (it amazes me to no end how stressed some people still are, when on holiday), you'll find that Bonairians truly welcome you. That is you, not your money.


I haven't heard anyone on this thread generalize a whole people, or say Bonairians aren't welcoming. I've simply heard some people say they're willing to accept/deal with this problem caused by a small group of troublemakers, and other people say they're not. Both groups are perfectly within their rights. Apparently you don't think the second group is entitled to their opinion.
 
SharkOfBonaire once bubbled...

No, that is why car break ins and petty theft are the WORST crime we have here, and no muggings, armed robbery or murders.


If that's really how you feel, than by all means, do stay away. We value people coming here, but as ggunn said, as guests, not as money machines (from our point of view) or new-age colonials (yours). Generalizing a whole people because of a couple of bad elements does not win you friends. But if you come with an open mind, to enjoy the island and relax (it amazes me to no end how stressed some people still are, when on holiday), you'll find that Bonairians truly welcome you. That is you, not your money.

Petty theft to you. Not to me.

I certainly don't believe that the entire island is responsible for the looting. However, the people who do it, coupled with the apparent unwillingness to deal with the problem aggressively, is enough.

New age colonials??? I don't think so. If that were the case, I'd say that we needed to come down and handle the problem or offer some type of oversight. Instead, I'm simply suggesting that Bonaire needs to address this issue.

Its obvious that enough elements view visitors as cash machines from whom a withdrawal can be made at will, i.e., by stealing it, that your view is not correct.

You're right. Were I to come, it would be as a guest. But as a guest who has paid several thousand dollars to visit, I expect and require that my property will not be stolen by hoodlums while I'm there. In addition, I expect that the police will protect my property there at least as aggressively as I protect it up here.

Finally, it appears that I not only need to come with an open mind, but with an open wallet, open window, open trunk, etc... Unless, of course, I want them opened for me.
 
I really, really mean for this to be my last post about this...

A problem that a lot of folks have with US citizens abroad is that we tend to go into someone else's country and expect things to be like they are in the US. If they are not, and we don't like it, we expect them to do something about it. We complain loudly to people who a) can't do anything about it, and/or b) really don't care. It's the Ugly American syndrome; ask just about anyone who is native to another country. I have lived abroad and seen it from the outside.

Not everyone in the world agrees that it is one's God given right to leave an expensive camera in a car parked on a lonely stretch of road unattended for a couple of hours and expect it to still be there when they return. Some people just think you are being careless or stupid if you do that. Some law enforcement agencies don't think that it is their job to watch your stuff for you when you go off and leave it where anybody could just walk up and take it.

And lastly, and I do really mean for this to be the end of it for me, there are plenty of places (frequently tourist areas, not at all coincidentally) right here in the good old US of A where one needs to take exactly the same precautions about leaving valuables in an unattended parked car. Complaining to the police about it in, say, the French Quarter in New Orleans, will result in them telling you that you should have been more careful with your stuff. Been there, done that, got the T shirt. ;^)

Peace,
 

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