Police, residents turn to WhatsApp to fight crime in Costa Rica coastal communities

Nosara’s Tourist Police are using WhatsApp to keep the community safe. (Photo: Ariana Crespo / La Voz de Guanacaste)

Roberto Acuña Ávalos / La Voz de Guanacaste
Additional editing by Inside Costa Rica staff

April 16^th, 2015 (La Voz) Many use the popular smartphone app WhatsApp to send messages, photographs of friends and even funny memes. However, Nosara residents are using the app to keep the community watchful, informed and alert.

Since mid-January, the Tourist Police and the Nosara Security Association have maintained a WhatsApp group with 100 members from all over the district with the goal of maintaining communication between community members and the police.

According to Jason Vargas, chief of Nosara’s Tourist Police, the app is also being used in other communities in Guanacaste.

“It’s such a good tool, so efficient, that at least in my case I’m in a chat for Monteverde, Potrero, Playa Grande, Nosara; so this allows us to exchange information about suspects that are going around committing crimes, which is useful to all of us since we are from nearby coasts,” Vargas explained.

The group is administered by the Nosara Security Association and currently has 100 members.  Agnes Pineiro, an association member, said the community hopes to create a second group soon to allow more members to participate (WhatsApp currently permits a maximum of 100 people in a single group, they say.)