Bonaire Crime - Our experience - Looking for input to share

[salth2owannabe]

Just returned from another two weeks of great diving from our third trip to Bonaire.

Unfortunately, it did not go as smoothly as we all assume our fun in the sun will go.
My wife and I had rented a beautiful house in the Sabadeco area through VRBO. Towards the end of the first week I checked the gear, locked the doors, checked the windows, brought my wallet and keys into the bedroom and we went to bed. During the night I thought I heard what I would describe as a dull wood on wood noise, but with the air conditioner running I dismissed it and fell back to sleep. I got up a little after 0:700 and immediately noticed a drawer in the living room open. A quick look around confirmed that we had been burglarized during the night. They got a cell phone, a couple of cameras and a tablet. The home we had rented had a shutter and louver system but no glass over the windows. The thieves reached between the louvers and cut the window screen in only the three places necessary to access the two hasps and a pin which allows the entire louver frame to swing open. It was very obvious those involved were very familiar with the design. I went to the neighbor's house to borrow a telephone to contact the local police and found that they were also hit during the night in a similar manner. We had a moment of laughter in that every home in the neighborhood had a dog (including them), some two, that woke us up every night previous except the night we get broken into.
Chapter 2 - The local Police
I will give you a heads up that I have 25 years in law enforcement - During the 45 minutes I waited for their arrival, I looked the area over and made mental notes of what evidence was left at the scene and located the probable area they entered the yard and narrowed down how many were involved based on foot prints and marks left on the wall. When the local officers arrived I shared with them what I knew and offered to walk them through it. Suffice it to say the only thing they did was take my personal information and verbal report of the items taken. No photographs, no evidence collection, no walk around, no interviews with the neighbors, nothing.
As you can imagine this didn't sit very well with me so I did it myself, including interviewing all the neighbors in the area. It's a good way to meet neighbors by the way. During my investigation I found out that there were actually three home invasions that night, the third in the subdivision to the south where they took the rental truck and the flat screen TV. To fast forward, over the course of the next week, more interviews in the area and about 5 trips to the police station we left with providing them a license plate number of an individual who I'm very confident was involved, we'll see what they do with it.
What I learned -
-Home invasions involving theft are looked upon by the locals and the PD as being "Petty Theft" nothing more.
-Little, or no time, is put into solving these crimes.
-Police Department is short staffed (but whose isn't)
-40% of the population is below the poverty line and items taken from tourists are tolerated.
-There is animosity between the "locals" and the Dutch, the Dutch Government and the tourists in general.
-There are some individuals and groups who are genuinely concerned about these crimes and the consistent lack of action from the PD. They realize the potential affect it could have on tourism.
-When you dig into these types of crimes it becomes evident that the ones we hear about are just the tip of the iceberg, It is much more common than gets reported on the Bonaire crime reports, or forums such as this.

This is where you come in:
As a result of being a pain in the neck I have the ear of a number of individuals, homeowners/rentals and groups including BONHATA who are awaiting a report from me. What would you like to share with them?

Did it affect this trip - sure. Will it keep us from going back - Nah
Lessons learned, and don't be complacent

 

[tursiops]

I lead groups of divers to various places, incuding Bonaire. I've made 30 trips to Bonaire. In all those trips and people, there have been two instances of theft from my groups, both many years ago, both from the dive lockers/rinse tanks at Buddy Dive, therefore presumably by a diver, not a local. I have heard of one other such theft. Therefore, I have no personal experience that makes me feel Bonaire is unsafe, but note we always stay at Buddy Dive, which is reasonably secure.

The bad news is that stories of the local crime are many and increasing, and there are folks now who will not travel there even with my groups even staying at Buddy Dive. I would think BONHATA would be the local group most concerned about this. However, people still go to Belize and Honduras and other places where the stories are much worse.

 

[drrich2]

Very sorry to hear this happened to you guys.

An idea that's come up on one or more other threads is that maybe dive tourists are less likely to be broken into/burglarized staying at big dive resorts (e.g.: Buddy Dive Resort) as opposed to renting private residences. Wonder how true that is?

Theft is bad; criminals entering your living quarters, especially while you are there, is a whole other level of bad.

 

[mmmbelows]

Theft is bad; criminals entering your living quarters, especially while you are there, is a whole other level of bad.

thief confronted in the middle of the night while burglarizing your room that ends up with tourist stabbed or bludgeoned to death will be very very bad

criminal activity tends to progress when it's left alone, what starts as somebody stealing from unlocked cars at dive sites, progresses to breaking windows of locked cars at dive sites to steal, which progresses to non-violent home invasions which progresses to violent home invasions.

 

[redacted]

What is it that keeps the local police so busy?

 

[darook]

I think drrich2 may be onto something regarding the resorts vs. home rentals. I have had zero problems while at Buddy, Caribbean Club, Bamboo Bali and Divi. I have always been tempted to looking at doing a VRBO in Sabedeco or up in Santa Barbara but anecdotes here point to Sabedeco being a crime hotspot.

It sounds like the police are busy being indifferent to the issue.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Curious if products like this would help: Duffels with Security features | Pacsafe

 

[tkaelin]

It sounds like where you where you were hit was known to the thief or thieves and wonder if they hit it before. Did you find out anything about the history of crime at the place where you were staying. I feel safe on Bon but feel safer staying at place with security and owned and run by someone on island who is around or on island during our stay. I have limited experience with 4 trips since 2009. Have only stayed at Coral Paradise. I have noticed with each stay more security features. I have felt safe on our stays. On my last trip, on each of my early morning dives over at Capt Dons I did encounter their security guard walking the property. I don't recall seeing a guard on prior trips.

 

[wwguy]

We've enjoyed regular visits to Bonaire since 1997, including 20 weeks on the island since the major change in Bonairean government occurred on October 10, 2010. I think that the "10/10/10" change is worth noting because it simultaneously impacted taxation, law enforcement responsibilities, and cost of living to name a few. Most importantly it widened the divide between those with money and those without it while presenting no viable opportunities for those without to catch up purely through hard work. I guess I'm saying that while there's no excuse for the increase in crime, there are socio-economic reasons behind it.

This is where you come in:
As a result of being a pain in the neck I have the ear of a number of individuals, homeowners/rentals and groups including BONHATA who are awaiting a report from me. What would you like to share with them?

With all due respect to your motivation (and sympathy for your recent experience) you aren't covering new territory here. Local government, businesses, and residents are very much aware of the problem. Island residents are often victims too. Bonairean police are increasingly getting a reputation for telling victims 'It's your fault for bringing things to steal".

Here are a few recent stories that come to mind:
Our rental villa was robbed last night
2 Calls to Police in 24 Hours
Robbery at Bellevue
I loved Bonaire up until Friday night
My dive gear was stolen from the back deck of our rental

.. and from this Trip Advisor thread:

"We are returning from Bonaire right now after having our rental villa (Crown Ridge Villas near Andrea 1 and 2) robbed the last night. They broke into the unit, destroyed the alarm system and broke into the "safe" that contained about $6000 in jewelry, gifts and electronics. Much of that was purchased on the island, so we didn't tempt fate by rolling in with expensive things. IF you think Bonaire is safe, that's fine. This is our 4th trip there and it's the first personal encounter with theft we've had. But is still felt like despite all the measures you take at a resort or villa, if they want your stuff they will get it. The car thing is common sense...don't leave anything in it. Period. The robbery at the rental property was terrible and we won't likely be coming back to Bonaire until they get this theft crap under control. Renters beware." 9/19/2015

"We are currently in Bonaire on vacation. We read about not leaving valuables in the car. We are renting a house and last night, while we were at church, they broke into the house, forced the safe and stole a laptop, mobile phones, money, cameras, tablets. You are not safe..not even in the house. We called the police and they they told us this is becoming regular in the island and they never find the thieves or stolen property." 12/28/2015

There have also been similar letters to the editor published in the Bonaire Reporter, such as the letter on page 6 if the recent Christmas issue:
"... According to the police we should not have brought the stolen items to the island to tempt someone to steal them. We locked the house and the robber broke into the house. The owner of the house had to prod the policemen to even go into the house to look around..."

Adding to the frustration BONHATA, TCB, and the local government have repeatedly refused to publicly acknowledge the problem, or at least the true extent of it, apparently out of fear of driving tourism away. The police department's refusal to address it is adding insult to injury for those in the know, including the local law-abiding population.

I've made 30 trips to Bonaire. In all those trips and people, there have been two instances of theft from my groups, both many years ago, both from the dive lockers/rinse tanks at Buddy Dive, therefore presumably by a diver, not a local. I have heard of one other such theft. Therefore, I have no personal experience that makes me feel Bonaire is unsafe, but note we always stay at Buddy Dive, which is reasonably secure.

Not picking on Tursiops, but his statement is a timely and classic representation of the outside views on Bonairean crime that are often repeated here and on other internet forums discussing the topic. Basically they're different iterations of "I felt safe during my visit, so it must be safe" or "nothing bad happened to me, so everything must be okay." If you read through the previous crime threads here and elsewhere you'll see frequent recurrences of this theme in response to claims by other that Bonaire is growing increasingly unsafe. As it is now tourists seem divided on whether crime is a real issue or not. Put another way, the reports seem to be the exception and more often than not are met with skepticism or "well that was just a rare occurrence" from the tourist community.

An idea that's come up on one or more other threads is that maybe dive tourists are less likely to be broken into/burglarized staying at big dive resorts (e.g.: Buddy Dive Resort) as opposed to renting private residences. Wonder how true that is?

This is very true, primarily because the "resorts" maintain a 24/7 management or other security presence. The same can be said for smaller properties with on-site hosts.

thief confronted in the middle of the night while burglarizing your room that ends up with tourist stabbed or bludgeoned to death will be very very bad

criminal activity tends to progress when it's left alone, what starts as somebody stealing from unlocked cars at dive sites, progresses to breaking windows of locked cars at dive sites to steal, which progresses to non-violent home invasions which progresses to violent home invasions.

I'm sad to say that I agree with this. It's inevitably only a matter of time before this happens. Frankly I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.

It's also worth noting that Dutch law is very much different than USA law regarding home invasions and protection of private property etc. A homeowner can't just whack a thief with a baseball bat or machete if he catches one ransacking his house in the middle of the night. The homeowner must prove in court that his life was in imminent danger and that violence was the only way to protect himself.

Sorry for rambling on. I love Bonaire and it's wonderful people. These changes make me sad. Unfortunately I think things will get worse before they get better, at least statistically speaking anyway. Still... our next trip is already booked and we look forward to returning.

 

[tursiops]

Not picking on Tursiops, but his statement is a timely and classic representation of the outside views on Bonairean crime that are often repeated here and on other internet forums discussing the topic. Basically they're different iterations of "I felt safe during my visit, so it must be safe" or "nothing bad happened to me, so everything must be okay."

I obviously did not make my point well. There is definitely crime on Bonaire; it has not happened to me BECAUSE I do not rent an exposed villa, I stay at security-conscious Buddy Dive. One trip, a local divemaster got hold of me before the trip and asked me to bring him a security system, which he ordered from Amazon, had shipped to me, and I took it to the island. Given his salary, that was a pretty expensive item, but he felt he needed it. Given the attitude of the local police, if I were robbed at gun point in the middle of the day right downtown, I don't think I'd even bother reporting it.