Bonaire Crime - Our experience - Looking for input to share

[Lorenzoid]

. . . , and then resort to straw man reasoning such as, "I once heard that crime is worse in Gambia (or ... pick a place), so the crime and indifference on Bonaire is acceptable"..

Home. The crime is worse here in Atlanta. That's one reason I take vacations to places like Bonaire.

 

[Lemuzzon]

Home. The crime is worse here in Atlanta. That's one reason I take vacations to places like Bonaire.

Well said.

 

[DustyC]

Home. The crime is worse here in Atlanta. That's one reason I take vacations to places like Bonaire.

Yeah, same with Little Rock.

 

[mmmbelows]

Home. The crime is worse here in Atlanta.

In your neighborhood, or 'some parts of Atlanta'. If there is horrible crime in your neighborhood why would you live there?

So lets think reasonably about statements like that - Atlanta is a city of 500,000, about 5 million if you consider the Atlanta region, the 9th largest in the USA. So you want to compare the crime rate of a tiny 100 square mile island to Atlanta, a place with a 35,000% larger population? Try a comparison like Brunswick Georgia pop (15,000) to Bonaire for a comparison that starts to make any sense.

 

[DustyC]

In your neighborhood, or 'some parts of Atlanta'. If there is horrible crime in your neighborhood why would you live there?

So lets think reasonably about statements like that - Atlanta is a city of 500,000, about 5 million if you consider the Atlanta region, the 9th largest in the USA. So you want to compare the crime rate of a tiny 100 square mile island to Atlanta, a place with a 35,000% larger population? Try a comparison like Brunswick Georgia pop (15,000) to Bonaire for a comparison that starts to make any sense.

Where I live, not just my city, is far more dangerous than bonaire. We have 10ish shootings a year in the fire district I live in. Which is roughly the same population of Bonaire . Car break ins, assaults, etc are daily occurrences. I'd happily bet that crime on Bonaire is actually very low, any survey here is anecdotal at best. And that some of the theft is tourist on tourist.

 

[Lorenzoid]

In your neighborhood, or 'some parts of Atlanta'. If there is horrible crime in your neighborhood why would you live there?

I frequently ask myself why I live here. Because my job is here, and when I first moved to Atlanta I enjoyed being able to commute on foot and later by bike? Because there's a great airport that I can be at in 20 minutes, and from there I can be whisked to Bonaire in 3 hours, Cozumel in 2, etc.? Because I can drive down to Florida in a few hours? Because I can walk to the Georgia Aquarium from my residence in 10 minutes? Sure, I could live in the supposedly safer northern suburbs, further from the airport, but I choose not to. The commuter traffic is abominable--as bad as Los Angeles. So I and many other urban dwellers prefer to tough it out. There are restaurants and bars in town--it's really not so bad a life ... except for the crime and the traffic.

Most of the shootings I see on the news each morning are indeed in parts of the city comfortably distant from where I live. But I can think of very few of my urban dweller friends who have not told me of SOME kind of criminal act they suffered, whether a smash-and-grab from their car, or a home burglary, or something even worse. I live in a supposedly upscale loft condo building--converted old warehouse, etc.--populated by professional types like me. In 15 years here, I have had my car window broken twice--once in the supposedly secure parking lot, and once elsewhere in downtown while parked on the street. Vandals have hit our parking lot several times over those years, and I don't know how many smash-and-grabs there have been in total, but probably quite a few. Similarly to Bonaire, people with convertibles DO leave their car doors unlocked in my parking lot. We haven't had any serious incident of violent crime--the closest might be someone on the first floor who just last week found an intruder on his patio who had somehow hopped over the security fence. The cops were called, and the intruder's story was that he was escaping someone chasing him with a gun. Friends who live in houses, not condo buildings, elsewhere in the urban Atlanta area have suffered burglaries. A simple burglary is a big yawn here. The alarm goes off, and the burglars are gone with the valuables by the time the cops arrive 20 minutes later. This is the reality of a gritty American city. I can't imagine it's better in New Orleans or Detroit or wherever.

I suppose the crime has some impact on the city as a whole, and that the city would have some motivation to crack down on crime. Atlanta is a major convention city, for example. But despite whatever efforts the city has made, the crime persists. I guess the authorities everywhere are just as unmotivated.

So lets think reasonably about statements like that - Atlanta is a city of 500,000, about 5 million if you consider the Atlanta region, the 9th largest in the USA. So you want to compare the crime rate of a tiny 100 square mile island to Atlanta, a place with a 35,000% larger population? Try a comparison like Brunswick Georgia pop (15,000) to Bonaire for a comparison that starts to make any sense.

I don't have per capita figures to compare, but that's what I would like to see. I suspect figures are hard to come by for Bonaire because so much of the petty crime goes unreported. Burglaries, sure, but not all the smash-and-grabs. Bottom line is that I feel safer in Bonaire than Atlanta. In Atlanta I park my car every day and it's almost always left alone. In Bonaire I believe I can park my truck all over the island during my one week a year stay and it's almost always going to be left alone. If I were a victim of just one smash-and-grab (which I won't be because I leave the windows down) over the course of many many vacation days, I would think little of it. A burglary might be a different matter, but then I am cautious about where I stay on Bonaire.

Your mention of Brunswick, GA is interesting, because I know it's considered a high crime region. I couldn't resist Googling:

"With a crime rate of 92 per one thousand residents, Brunswick has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 11." Brunswick GA crime rates and statistics - NeighborhoodScout

Bonaire seems safe enough from my perspective. Sure, they could improve law enforcement if they want to keep the tourist revenue flowing, as could Atlanta, Brunswick, and many other places. I don't have the answers.

 

[oldschoolto]

You guys do understand that petty crime is just not on the list as far as the big picture goes... Rape , Assaults , Shootings and Murder are the very top of the list.. Even here in the USA, people are up in arms about all the people put in prison for drug crimes.. But, Drug use is the number one cause of petty crime...

When 99% of the people are involved with drug use... They have 3 ways of supporting that habit... Sell drugs , Sell their body for drugs and money or stealing to get money for drugs... Bonaire has a drug problem.... Just like the rest of the world... China killed 100,000+ drug users and didn't work... We are all dealing with some type of crime in are home towns and cities... Most of these petty crimes also go on in the homes of their own family and friends...

So , In as much we would all love things to get better... They won't... So either lock yourself in a bunker and live in fear... Or do what most do... Take simple precautions and try to be smart... Live life and don't let someone ruin your day... Life is to much fun and way to short to sweat the small stuff... I'll be in Bonaire for the whole month of October... Diving, Eating and Dancing.... And leaving my car unlocked with the windows down... Just like I've been doing for the past 4 trips...

Jim...

 

[salth2owannabe]

So , In as much we would all love things to get better... They won't... So either lock yourself in a bunker and live in fear... Or do what most do... Take simple precautions and try to be smart... Live life and don't let someone ruin your day... Life is to much fun and way to short to sweat the small stuff... I'll be in Bonaire for the whole month of October... Diving, Eating and Dancing.... And leaving my car unlocked with the windows down... Just like I've been doing for the past 4 trips...

Jim...

I'm following you Jim, except that I think things can get better. When I started this mess I mentioned the complacency of the Bonaire police department. This wasn't just my concern but the concern of many locals I visited with who also had experienced it as a direct result of a burglary . In fact one of the main reasons I started this silly thread was to pass information on to a few concerned locals who wanted to try to make an impact, and I did that. Whether they will or not is yet to be seen. In law enforcement I can't say "I'm not having an impact on crime so why bother? Crime existed before I was in law enforcement and crime will continue long after I retire. But while I'm working, I can have an impact on crime. I do believe this complacency I heard about, and experienced on Bonaire, is contributing to it's increasing crime issues.
I've e-mailed the Bonaire Police department back asking for follow up information regarding the burglary and this is what I've gotten to date -
Thank you for your email.
I have forwarded it to our Chief BPZ. He will let me know or inform you.

One point that I did want to bring to the attention of folks here was that I was surprised by the number of home burglaries that were occurring on Bonaire that we never hear about. I think this does give a false impression of the lack of crime affecting dive tourists. I challenged anyone on this board to locate any mention of the three burglaries that occurred the same night that our house was broken in to and to date no one has found anything to my knowledge, I know I still haven't seen anything on line. I didn't mention this so crime rates could get compared but rather bring it to the attention of folks so that they don't get complacent, and don't have the mindset that "this will never happen to me" because I'm on vacation.

In the end, all total our home burglary cost us about $3000.00. I hope that it doesn't happen to anyone else and affect their vacation the way it did ours. It should by no means influence anyone to not go to Bonaire. As I've mentioned previously, Bonaire is a great place and I'd like to see it stay that way. What pisses me off the most is that amounts to the cost of about another trip to Bonaire I could have taken on that money. We'll be back there soon, just maybe not this year.

 

[mmmbelows]

Where I live, not just my city, is far more dangerous than bonaire. We have 10ish shootings a year in the fire district I live in. Which is roughly the same population of Bonaire . Car break ins, assaults, etc are daily occurrences. I'd happily bet that crime on Bonaire is actually very low, any survey here is anecdotal at best. And that some of the theft is tourist on tourist.

I wouldn't live in your neighborhood either. Thankfully I have a choice where to live and where to vacation.

 

[BRT]

I think if I tried I could find the keys to our house but I haven't seen them for years.