Rental Truck Vandalized

[Mike]

Actually, I think the message is that crime is tolerable, even acceptable anywhere, except on Bonaire. On Bonaire you should be able to leave your Rolex President with the diamond dial on the dash of your locked truck all day long, and expect it to remain untouched.

Oh Jimmy, you're so funny.

Inaccurate, but funny.

 

[drrich2]

I have a question. Given the overall situation, let's say some enterprising local sets up an organization called 'Truck Watchers.' You'd call them, and they'd arrange for a poor local teen to watch your truck, oh, say, $5 for a half day, $8 for a full day. The kid would show up at your resort or be easy to pick up at a central location, and he'll spend the dive day with you.

This would effectively enable you to have very low risk of a break in, yet carry a non-housed digital camera, cooler with assorted stuff, etc..., to shore dive sites.

Now, before anyone starts in with 'I shouldn't have to do that! The government owes me to make shore sites safe for (compared to the locals) wealthy tourists to leave stuff laying around,' let's be mindful that for the government to do that, it would be taxing to fund the measures, so you'd be paying a tax (likely mixed in with other fees) whether you wanted to use such a service or not.

How many of you would frequently use the services of Truck Watchers?' How many of you specifically would not?

Richard.

 

[Mike]

My intent wasn't to directly reply to the post about the cooler

sure you did, whatever... the conversation has degraded to the point that you're just out-right lying now...

 

[agilis]

Actually, I think the message is that crime is tolerable, even acceptable anywhere, except on Bonaire. On Bonaire you should be able to leave your Rolex President with the diamond dial on the dash of your locked truck all day long, and expect it to remain untouched.

The impression I got is that the extent of breaking into locked vehicles is higher in Bonaire than in most places. It's also very high in some areas of the US and other nations. The issue seems to be that it is so common in areas of Bonaire where shore diving takes place that it is almost assumed it will happen. The universal advice that windows be rolled down and doors unlocked is a virtual admission of an out of control problem, one that divers on holiday might find unacceptable. We are not talking Rolexes here. Sunglasses, outer clothing like shirts, sneakers, etc., are what's usually involved.

 

[gypsyjim]

The impression I got is that the extent of breaking into locked vehicles is higher in Bonaire than in most places. It's also very high in some areas of the US and other nations. The issue seems to be that it is so common in areas of Bonaire where shore diving takes place that it is almost assumed it will happen. The universal advice that windows be rolled down and doors unlocked is a virtual admission of an out of control problem, one that divers on holiday might find unacceptable. We are not talking Rolexes here. Sunglasses, outer clothing like shirts, sneakers, etc., are what's usually involved.

And such a relatively easy threat to minimize if one is not too pig headed to listen to the advice of locals .

 

[T.C.]

Me make picture to explain better since wordz no work no more Understand now?

Sure. You place it in the cab, lock your door and roll up window. Guess what happens?

Here's a picture, since you're clearly too angry to listen to reason any more:

Oh Jimmy, you're so funny. Inaccurate, but funny.

Actually, he's nailed your argument to a T.

You want to take expensive toys and leave them unattended for an hour, and expect them to be there when you return. You don't even want to take the common sense precautions of leaving the stuff behind.

But then when someone point out how stupid this is, you get mad. Again.

sure you did, whatever... the conversation has degraded to the point that you're just out-right lying now...

No.

YOU are the one lying here. You are so worked up that you forgot to read the rest of his post, the part where he shows that this was just an example of not tempting fate: "Not when I go hiking at our local state park, not on the street in any US city, not at Disneyland. Whether stuff gets stolen depends mainly on how low the fruit hangs and how hungry the people are."

You need to calm down and realize that you're just being a jerk now.

The impression I got is that the extent of breaking into locked vehicles is higher in Bonaire than in most places.

It's not, it's actually lower- it's just that it's biased reporting. We only hear about it when it happens, we don't here about the many times it doesn't.
The issue seems to be that it is so common in areas of Bonaire where shore diving takes place that it is almost assumed it will happen.

The universal advice that windows be rolled down and doors unlocked is a virtual admission of an out of control problem, one that divers on holiday might find unacceptable.

No, the advice to leave your window down is so that you don't have to pay for it being smashed if there is a breakin. Why pay for something preventable? This isn't your vehicle back home, where you want people to stay out. It's a rental, and mostly a crappy one at that. Don't leave anything of value behind (or hide it extremely well), and let some one root around. They shouldn't find anything.

As DiverVince pointed out, people like a certain poster here who want to leave stuff behind with the unreasonable expectation that their unattended expensive toys be untouched, are the ones ruining it. If these people didn't feed the criminals, they wouldn't keep coming back.

Those of us who follow the rules and use our common sense have no problem.

How many of you would frequently use the services of Truck Watchers?' How many of you specifically would not?

To be honest, I probably would not. I'd frankly be coasting off of two things, the fact that knowledge that the trucks are watched deters some crime, and the fact I know better than to leave stuff worth stealing where a criminal will find it.

Second, there is the chance that this causes crime to escalate. Now, these are probably unarmed little hooligans, but if there's a kid sitting there on a truck, how soon until they decide to scare him off with a knife or 2x4?

With that, since TW has supplied a guard, will they assume liability if something does go missing?

Third, if I don't, does someone working for TW call their brother/cousin/friend and tell them about the unattended truck sitting at Karpata next to theirs?

 

[KathyV]

During our first trip to Bonaire, many years ago, the rental agency gave us The Club (the anti-theft steering wheel locking device) with the van and told us that we had to use it; along with leaving the doors unlocked and the windows down and nothing valuable in the van. They said that if the truck was stolen because we hadn't used the club then we would be held responsible! (But I don't see how they could enforce that!)

I remember being a little scared because we were in a new country and had never received such dire warnings and anti-theft equipment when renting a car before.

On later trips they weren't handing out The Club any longer. Maybe the theives stole them too!

 

[T.C.]

On later trips they weren't handing out The Club any longer. Maybe the theives stole them too!

It probably has to do with why you don't see it sold anymore. It was a great tool for assisting car thieves. You can cut through a steering wheel very, very quickly with a small, easy to conceal saw blade; then quickly remove The Club.

Now the thief has a large, hooked bar perfect for applying torque to break the steering lock, and making car theft easier. And they didn't even have to carry around a crowbar.

 

[driftwood]

As has been pointed out earlier, tourism is king on the island. Outside of a service industry supporting dive operations, Bonaire has as primary employment the following.

An oil transfer station, the solar salt plant, and two radio stations.

My guess is that the four combined don't employ over a couple hundred people. That leaves a lot of people with few opportunities to generate income.

We were diving at Angel City 9 years ago and there was a local man, mid 30's walking his dog. Strange place to walk a dog since there isn't anything round for better than a mile or so. Could just be an innocent dog walker or the dog was a cover for his scouting.

I am pretty sure that petty theft isn't just an issue with locals targeting tourists. Locals probably face the same issues we do. What irritates me is that there doesn't seem to be even a superficial attempt by the island's government/police to address the issue.

There are a lot of things Bonaire could do to boost local employment. A truck watching service is one of them. I am pretty sure that all the bigger/medium resorts could set this up by just using relatives of their current employees. Grocery shopping on Bonaire can be a time consuming. A local grocery delivery service would be a benefit to visitors. It works in San Pedro, Belize and no reason it wouldn't work on Bonaire. In Playa del Carmen, you can barely swing a cat without hitting a Lavanderia with a wash and fold service. It doesn't exist on Bonaire.

Edit: Personally I love talking to locals about where they go out to eat, Our best meals on Coz were all off the beaten path. BTW, nothing is better than coming back from a vacation with a suitcase of clean clothes. (and you get to pack at least half the clothes to begin with)

 

[chillyinCanada]

Driftwood,, I'm liking most of your post, unfortunately believe you to be completely naive with regard to having truck watchers. The honest ones will be overcome or weak in the face of peer pressure.