What do thieves on Bonaire call an ATM machine? A locked car at a shore dive spot... What do they call an ATM card? A rock...

When one is vacationing at a destination resort, one should be able to take a long a camera to show others the beauty of it. Unfortunately in Bonaire one can not.

I live in Detroit Mi and leave my camera, cell phone and radar detector in my car every day and have never had a problem with a B&E.

I just retuned from a visit to Bonire last week. At a shore dive site, the car next to us was broken into and the victim has been going to Bonaire for ten years. They were elderly and stated that they would not return to bonaire anymore. There are too many other dive destinations that are safer. I carried my money in a plastic waterproof case(as advised) and unfortunately for me it opened and a turtle is now playing with my credit card, Atm card and money clip.

This forum is continually posting warnings about the car thefts and in many cases blaming the victims for their stupidity for leaving valubles in their locked cars. If you told me you were visiting Detroit, the thought of telling you to never lock your car would never enter my mind.

It appeared to me that the people of Bonarie have worked very hard to establish a reputation for friendly service and educated professionals. It is a shame that all that work will be ruined by petty thieves, and it will.....

On a lighter side, we had a great time on the island. We stayed at divi and the staff was excellent. We ate at It rains Fishes three of the nights and the food, service and value were excellent. We learned how to windsurf at Lac Bay and the day trip is perfect for the day before you fly.

The problem with the car breakins is the isolation of the dive sites added to the likely hood that divers might have left something valuable in the car. I leave my car unlocked all day in front of my house in Hato. No one has ever stolen cloths, toys, or whatever from it. But my house is not isolated and obviously (by the dirt and its condition) it is not a rental car.

The most important things crime victims can do for Bonaire is to take the time to report the thefts no matter how minor it may seem. A t-shirt or sandels who cares but the police need to see a pattern of thefts. Unless someone looses something valuable like a camera or has a window broken, many people don't report it. If you don't want to bother with police, it would help to report it to Bonhata (hotel and tourism association). They also work with the police on these kinds of problems.

Office Address:
Kaya Gob. Nicolaas Debrot #67, Office #201, Bonaire, NA
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 358, Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles
Telephone 599-717-5134 Fax 599-717-8534
Email: info@bonhata.org

Hey, everthing is sounding so great for our first trip to Bonaire except this. I have been a lot of places in the Caribiean and nerver had anything stolen. Are these isolated events and what can one do to avoid them?
Brad

We've never been victims of crime on any Caribbean Island (including Bonaire).. I certainly hope we never will be. But I have to say that we've always been very careful, we never leave valuables in the car and always lock up the property when we're not there.. another thing, we never leave items of higher value in the property either, they're locked away elsewhere! Sadly, these are necessary precautions, if you take them, you've less chance of experiencing a loss. I get a lot of my tips from someone who is really in the know about this, and that's my Uncle,(a criminologist)and also ex-police.

No matter what people say about this, certainly, being a victim is awful, but why give up your favourite destination? I think I've said it before, just use a little common sense.. and enjoy your holiday

I'll no doubt return to Bonaire; however last week they got me also. I followed all the instructions and left my car unlocked.. but they went in through the rear seat and stole the spare tire (somebody forgot to list "remove the spare tire" in the instructions). As I said, I'll go back but let me say this, all it would take is a few stake outs and a few arrests to stop a lot of this petty looting, but it seems to be an accepted way of the island. If Bonaire is going to raise the bar on tourism, they're going to have to do a better job on petty crime.

Hey Brad, sorry to hear about your inconvience. I'm reading more about car breaks on this forum lately. Having been to Bonaire 6x's last time being 18mos ago, and never victimized, I can't help feeling that petty thefts are starting to spike some what. We never leave anything in the car except a towel, tank or tire to tempt a thief. This sounds rediculous at the moment but I'm curious, how did your vehicle rental provider handled the stolen spare, did you have to replace it? If so at what cost?

I too never leave anything of value in the vehicle while diving but on November 2001, had the spare tire stolen. Since the spare tire on the pick up I rented is located under the vehicle, I did not notice it was gone until I had a flat and was left stranded without a spare.
After informing the car rental company and reporting it to the police, I acquired a used tire and rim at a local garage. This used tire & rim was rejected when I turned the vehicle in and was forced to pay $215.90 for a new tire and new rim.
My credit card company ( Citibank ) did not cover it because, as has been stated in this board before, some credit card insurances do not cover pick up trucks.

This is the 2nd time I was victimized while in Bonaire, I wonder how much more I can take.

I wonder if the rent a car agencies could have a "scam" going...maybe people should post which rent a car they are using....Seems like they are the ones that are making a profit with that amount. Are tires hard to come by on Bonaire?

Meryl, that's a very good point!

ps: is your daughter back from Europe yet, I never did get that "emergency call", so I guess all went well..S

Sarah..she got home last night! Thanks again...they had a wonderful time,,,very glad she is on the ground!

My tire experience cost me $201.00 and the police seemed more concerned in filing the report for the rental agency than to ask questions about the theft.
I personally think the thefts are a part of the accepted culture. It would be too easy to break it up if they really wanted to. I've been to many island places and parked in many remote areas without having to leave my car unlocked, or having to worry about the spare tire, seats and bubble gum being stolen.

geez, i have to say that this whole thing is beginning to sound like it IS getting worse. There do seem to be more postings about vicimization while on the island, and now we have to worry about our spare tire being stolen? Kids on bikes can't ride away easily with those. I wonder if Meryl has something with the agencies (don't want to point a finger) but certainly, whoever is taking the tires has to be doing something with them, selling them, etc. Maybe the car rental agencies could mark them with their logo, name, etc. this is quite disconcerting.

Hi, as I mentioned in my trip report Feb5-20, we too were victims. The owners of Coco Palm were insistent that we fill out a theft report even though our loss was small. We made several trips to the north shore and more than once we saw "youngsters ducking in the bushes" [must be used to the thorns!] It's time the island took control of the situation. It sure would be nice to bring a camera along for surface pictures between dives.

Does anyone know if you take a lock with you, will it fit the spare bracket? Then you could just remove it before you turn the p/u back in.

We will be on Bonaire 22-31 March for the time and are concerned about the theft problem, down to the point on discussing is it really worth it to take our good and beloved water/trekking sandels? Think I might just pick up a cheap plastic pair for dive days. Anyway, what we will probably do with our spare tire is chain it and our spare tanks together with a bike chain and a good padlock, working on the assumption that all of it together will be too much bother and too heavy to carry. Here's hoping it works.

Gerry is correct. Crime and particularly theft has become part of the accepted culture on Bonaire. Filing a police report is less than a waste of time. The police don't give a damn, and really don't want to fool with you unless the crime involves personal injury. Even then they have little interest, no compasion and almost never catch anyone or even make an honest effort. As to whether you become a crime victim while visiting Bonaire; it is a crap shoot. You may visit over and over again and never experience it, or you may be victimized to some extent each time you visit. one thing is for sure, if you haven't been a victimized yet, please don't crow about it, you soon will be despite all your common sense advice and precautions. When fate strikes don't expect the police or any official on Bonaire to give you the time of day, because the most certainly will not. Crime against visitors has become pervasive, and official Bonaire is, as it has been for the past 10 years or so, completely apathetic and unwilling to tackle the problem head on. Until the people and government are willing to declare war on crime and pull out all stops to detect it, prosecute it and punish it, crime will continue to grow pretty much unchecked. I can remember when it was nearly unheard of find someone who experienced crime while visiting Bonaire. Now it is common place to find numerous tales of crime victims on these threads and elsewhere. Without a doube, the crime problem is increasing on Bonaire exponentially. If shoddy and inept police work and apethetic leaders remain the rule rather than the exception, where will Bonaire be in another 10 years? How many visitors will risk their lives and property to visit?

How about a boycott? Pick a month during high season (Nov, Dec, Jan '03?), and avoid it completely. If everyone on BT (excluding those who live there, of course!) abided by it, that might be enough to get some attention. The ONLY way things will change is if there's a good enough reason, and apparently just the theoretical possibility of decreased tourism isn't enough.

I know we are looking forward to our first trip, but with some trepidation. We almost didn't chose Bonaire due to the reports of crime we'd read. (And it certainly didn't help to read of a recent break-in in the EXACT unit we've reserved at Bonaire Beach Villas.) We won't be taking anything of much value with us, but I know that if we encounter crime despite our care, we will NOT be back. Fish be damned; there are a lot of other places in the ocean (even if they aren't quite as good).

Ken

Lonnie, we know people that have been visiting Bonaire for some 20/25 years and have never been a victim of crime on the island. I, along with all of you, agree that something has to be done, but I hope you don't think that us "fortunate" ones are being somewhat apathetic, we're not! Further, I hope that those of us who have said "they haven't been victims of crime on Bonaire", will be saying that in years to come. I'm sure that would make you, as a Judge, very happy indeed?

In the interim, we shall continue to use common sense, and to start securing our spare tire!! Sarah

lonnie, you as by your profession, what can be done to contact the local government/officials as to the concern of future visitors/tourists? Possibly contacting and communicating with the local government officials that it is a growing concern amoungst tourist, which feeds their mouths...

All of you new visitors to Bonaire, who are concerned about petty theft, have an option. Photo Tours, a dive shop, has the Pink Bus. The Pink Bus goes has a schedule that covers a different southern dive site everyday for a week. The dive bus provides security in the way of small storage lockers, and a pair of eyes to watch over the parked vehicles. It also has first-aid and oxygen available. This is all provided at NO CHARGE. You can buy a cold drink or a snack and sit under the awning and meet some of the nicest people on Bon. The only drawback, a minor one for first timers, is that it only its limited itinerary. If you are really worried about the crime problem then try diving "with the bus".
http://www.bonphototours.com/divebus/index.html

Lonnie,

We've talked about this in person before, and I wish, as do you, that something more constructive could be done. One of the few times I wish that hardline U.S. laws existed here in the Antilles.

Unfortunately, complaints to the government here do seem to fall somewhat on deaf ears. The police department claims they are underfunded and can't do everything expected of them - they claim they need 90+ staff to keep the law on Bonaire, but they have less than 40 (last numbers I heard).

It's worth noting, however, that in the U.S. and elsewhere, larger territories with larger populations are well served by law enforcement forces smaller than what Bonaire currently has, partially because there is more of a can-do attitude, and the laws allow for easier investigation and processing. I've sadly heard very little positive about the attitude of Bonaire's police force towards locals and tourists alike - universally the complaint is that if they show up for a call at all, they are aloof, arrogant, or even insulting to the victim - "How could you be so stupid as to...", etc. Not everyone in the police acts this way, but enough do to create a sense of double victimization - once when the crime is discovered, and once again when the police show up.

Of course, as has been pointed out here, one should not take unnecessary risks with ones valuables either, but there's no good excuse for uncivil civil servants.

Further complicating matters extensively is that the police here, while responsible to the Lt. Governor of the island, are actually beholden to the Central Government of the Netherlands Antilles, and more particular to the Minister of Justice - all located in Curacao, and Curacao treats Bonaire like an unwanted step-child, seeing Bonaire only as a source of tax revenues, but not a location where any such revenue should be spent (police included).

As a result, while tourism groups here on Bonaire share your and my frustration about the fall and rise (most recently it appears that way) of petty theft, Curacao doesn't give a s**t, to be blunt.

However, the more information we all give local groups - BONHATA (Bonaire Hotel & Tourism Association - the private sector tourism association), AKIB (Bonaire Business & Industry Association - works like a U.S.-style Chamber of Commerce), etc. - on crime incidents, NO MATTER HOW TRIVIAL, the better these groups can lobby with Curacao, and possibly even Holland (intervention is rare, but has happened in the past in St. Maarten when the Antillean Prime Minister indicates that the Central Government is unable to fulfill its law enforcement obligations, as is the case, in my opinion, on Bonaire).

Crime incidents - even if it's a stolen t-shirt, beer, whatever, can and should be reported to BONHATA, which keeps copies of these and uses them as proof of problems, and proof of poor attitude (and poor record keeping perhaps?) on the behalf of some members of the police - the past district attorney has been very interested in detecting such irregularities in actual vs. reported crime, and he in a way has some power to effect changes. And the current district attorney is quite a bit more aggressive (in a good way) than the past one.

These reports can also be used to perform some rudimentary analysis to see what the geographical distribution of crime incidents, allowing for possibly better monitoring of those areas by the Bonaire controlled SSV (kind of like an island security force with less power than the police, but who can still arrest people caught in the act), or, under whatever arcane and narrow rules which permit sting operations, choosing locations for those.

The BONHATA crime form can be found at http://www.bonhata.org/crime-form.doc, and can be found at most hotels and resorts as well. BONHATA's FAX # is +5997-178534. For those not wanting to make an International call to send this form, I'll volunteer one of my eFAX numbers in the U.S. - +1-305-847-0582 - FAX to that and I'll get it to BONHATA.

I'd recommend that anyone reading this message who has had a crime problem any time of any magnitude in the last year or two on Bonaire to download that form from the BONHATA Web site, fill it out and send it in. Each such report adds to ammunition which can be used by those people most concerned about crime on Bonaire - the tourism community - to effect the changes necessary to fix the problem.

Jake

PS I've attached a copy of the BONHATA Crime Form here too.

BONHATA Crime Form crime_form_-_990811-us.doc (40 k)

Jake, your response is excellent and absolutely correct. The problem is not only police apathy and inactivity but Dutch and Antellian law, which tends to, in my opinion, over reach to the extreme to protect the perpetrators of crime. There are several common sense approaches to curb the pervasive criminal enviornment on Bonaire. First, the police, with the scant number patrolling on Bonaire should concentrate more of their efforts toward burglaries, theft, robbery and vandalism, which more and more are occuring in the wee hours of the morning. Usually only one or two officers are on duty during this most crime-apt time from midnight-6am. Bonaire needs roving and plain clothes patrols(6-8 or more) on duty during these hours. More "safety" stops should be made by police during these hours. On Bonaire, any car on the road after 2am should be highly scrutinized by police, and pulled over for ANY suspicion or infraction, for atleast a brief chat with the police and identification of occupants in the vechicle. There are many legitimate reasons to make a stop, such as speeding, weaving in the road, tail light out, or any furtive or suspicious acitvity within the vechicle. The stop should be brief and to the point. Honest people about their business should not find this overly offensive, because it is them the police are trying to protect. Secondly, An all out effort should be made by police to detect and arrest any law breaker, even petty thives. I strongly believe that 75%-90% of all crime on Bonaire is being committed by a handfull of individuals, perhaps as few as a dozen or so. Thirdly, once any perpetrator is arrested, the prosecution should act swiftly to make an example of that person and should ask for maximum punishment. Maximum punishment should be given. Once the criminal element realizes officials are no longer playing their game, there will be a break in the action. Bonaire is still very much at the crossroads of crime. A strong unified official "zero tollerance" stance toward crime could turn around the situation very quickly. Official Bonaire must make crime a very very costly proposition to the criminal. If this happens, criminals will go elsewhere to ply their wares. For petty crimes(ie stealing a mask, a few dollars from a parked car,etc.) consider the best punishment of all, PUBLIC HUMILIATION. Sentence the petty perp. to walk the streets of Kralendijk for a month with a sandwich board on his back reading: "I am a thief" "Ask me to tell you why crime does not pay". If the thief is a juvenile, make him walk the path of shame with a parent at his side. This might encourage parents to take more responsiblity for their children. When perps. are arrested, the local media should jump on the story like flies on honey and report every detail to the public. Let the public know what is happening so they can begin to talk about the problem and get behind official efforts to curb the problem. You only need to use a little common sense and press the edge of the envelope a little to make a big difference. Make no mistake about it, the criminal is willing to press the edge of the envelope and a lot more when he goes out to find a victim. The criminal will use every break society allow him to have under the law. Beat him at his own game, without appreciably diminishing your civil liberties, and thereby making the island safe for all.

My husband and I and another couple are going to Bonaire for 2 weeks in May. We have been to Bonaire before and loved it. We were warned not to leave anything in the rental car and had no problems. This time we have one female non-diver in the group and we were thinking that having someone stay with our things would deter any thieves. Would there be any danger to her? Are there any particular dive sites that the thieves tend to target?

Gloria,,,it is still Bonaire...not the South Bronx in NYC! The thieves only want to make money (I would think) Bonaire is quite a reserved island! Have a good time! Relax!

Meryl, that's just what Hugh was saying earlier on!!! He lived in NY for 2 years, and like many New Yorkers, has seen and experienced a LOT worse!

ps: a quick note on car insurance. We pay for our rental with a Citibank card, we're covered if our spare tire gets pinched! Phew..

Gloria, the criminals on Bonaire are, like elsewhere, are cowards. During daylight hours crime is basicly limited to petty theft, usually taking items from parked and temporarily abandoned cars. There is little or no direct violent crime during daylight hours, as a rule. However, if you leave your friend alone at a lonely remote dive site, the unexpected could happen. Violent crime(burglary, robbery, assault and vicious vandalism) usually occur at night, and in the wee hours of the morning(midnight-5am). Time before last, when I was there, two girls, one from Denmark and one from Italy were assaulted at knife point by four young, apparant Bonairean, hoods. The motive was theft of the girls' van(which was unsuccessful). Each girl was hit in the face, one falling to the ground, however neither was hurt badly enough to require hospitalization. Both were badly shaken by the ordeal. Only their screams for help and others comming to their rescue(at 4:00am) averted a more serious situation, including the very real possibility of rape. Ofcourse this was reported to the police, who arrived over an hour later to half heartedly take the report. Nothing was done to try to solve this crime, eventhough a very good description of the men was given by three people. If fate strikes and you should become a victim, you should expect absolutely no help whatsoever from the police, or any official on Bonaire. I assure you, they don't care, or if they do, they should win an academy award for acting like they don't.

"...But I have to say that we've always been very careful, we never leave valuables in the car and always lock up the property when we're not there.. another thing, we never leave items of higher value in the property either, they're locked away elsewhere!..."

Sarah
Where is the somewhere else? If items of higher value are not locked in your room and can't be locked in the car, where is it safe to lock things? Joan

Jake
I just read
Trip report 2/24-3/4
under trip reports and read your long response to Lonnie the judge and his responses and everyone else's also. I must say I'm even more disturbed. Now I have to bring a bike chain with lock to lock up the spare tire.
Something has to be done. Had I known all of this I would never have planned my trip to Bonaire. I lock my car in every city and town I've lived in here in the states, with my cell phone, and other valuables in it. I have NEVER had a break in. That's in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, Washington, DC, Minneapolis/St Paul. I've lived and traveled overseas extensively. While I had someone try and steal a motorcycle out of our fenced and gated yard in the Philippines, I have never suffered a break in to my car trying to steal tires, shorts, sun glasses, bubble gum. I do know that these things occur in every city, but we are talking about a small island with very few people, not a big city with more than a million people with "bad areas"! Per capita, it sounds as if you've got a problem that is OUT OF CONTROL on your Island Paradise!
I pray that we have no problems while we are there, but if we do it will be our first and LAST visit to Bonaire! Maybe BT should send the Hotel Association, dive shops, rental car agencies resort owners and police Department a copy of all the comments on BT about thefts and crimes against tourists. Maybe it should be recommend to all the rental car agencies that they ID the tires on their vehicles so when they are stolen they cannot be resold. Maybe it should be required that all hotels and resorts provide a large safe...large enough to lock cameras, etc., in. (other resorts in the states and Caribbean do this) Maybe the dive resorts are going to have to get together and provide more that one pink bus (my commendations to Photo Tours who seem to be the only people on the island trying to do anything about the theft problem). Maybe the police or hotels if the police are so inept, are going to have to start a CrimeStoppers and offer rewards for the arrest and conviction of petty thieves. As the judge saidBonaire can't take for granted that tourist are going to put up with this for very long. There's lots of great diving in the Pacific where we've never had to worry about petty thievery!
Bonaire has to take ownership of this problem and stop blaming the tourists. Tourists should be able to bring cameras on a trip and yes even leave them in their car along with their clothing, shoes and sunglasses. If vehicles don't have a trunk, then the rental car agencies should be required to provide a locked storage box bolted to the floor of the cab so a tourist can leave their wallet, credit cards, ATM cards etc.
It's becoming clear that there is no safe place to leave possessions the whole time we are in Bonaire. Our room is not safe, day or night, whether we are there or not, and the car is not safe.
As the judge said:"The criminal will use every break society allow him to have under the law. Beat him at his own game, without appreciably diminishing your civil liberties, and thereby making the island safe for all."

I'm posting this on both this topic (Everything Else...room theft-car theft)and the above mentioned topic.

In order to consolidate this thread, any comments to the above should be posted where the duplicate message was posted, namely at:

http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/27/22164.html

I'll close this thread to help ensure that happens.

Jake