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Costa Rica tourism officials express concern about rising crime against US, other foreign tourists

August 6th, 2015 (ICR News) The National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur) and the Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ) expressed their concern this week that a rising number of foreign tourists and foreign residents are falling victim to crime while visiting the country, and the impact it could have on the country’s image internationally.

 

Through a report distributed with the OIJ, officials said the areas where crimes against foreigners are most often reported are Jaco, Quepos, San Jose, as well as Puerto Viejo on the country’s Caribbean coast.  Also of concern, though to a lesser extent is Tamarindo.

 

In the first five months of this year alone, well over 1,500 crimes against foreigners were reported, ranging from theft and robberies to assaults and even murder, amongst a variety of other crimes.

 

By nationality, US citizens suffered the greatest number of crimes, with 506 reports of crime against US citizens between January and May.  Amongst other foreigners, 129 crimes against Canadians were reported, along with 122 against French citizens, 118 against Germans, and 108 against Italians.

 

“We want to express our concern about the incidence of crime against tourists who visit [Costa Rica].  Clearly, these situations harm the country, and although we are still leaders in the region, reports from tourists [who have been the victim of crime] can affect tourism and the [country’s] image,” Canatur said in a statement.

 

Have you been the victim of crime in Costa Rica?  Tell us about it in the comments below. 

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  • prdatki

    What needs to be done is CR needs the death Penalty, ,very hard labor at it’s prisons, Allow more citizens to train and own weapons. When some one is arrested show their faces. Audit the courts many Judges are corrupt. Audit all Judges,police and politicians any one found guilty of corruption,they should be executed in public.This will build a much stronger and less paid Government.

    • dr meno

      I got my conceal carry permit.

    • duke ster

      prdatki, When I went through the concealed carry permit process, way back in 2005, there were alot and I mean ALOT of Ticos going through the concealed permit process and I remember being struck with the fact that all these Costa Rican citizens were getting permits to carry a gun, EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK! The place was full full full of Ticos. I mean I was super surprised. To me it seemed that almost the entire population will be carrying concealed guns if that amount of citizens received permits every day. So the guns are out there, believe me. Actually I can’t believe there aren’t more shootings after seeing how many Ticos are packing.

      • dr meno

        You are correct about being surprise that there are not more shootings. I am in the country, campo, and there are a lot of guns around, mostly illegal. You don’t hear about murders around here, well sometimes. 1 in a few years. Cars kill more people around here. I have always had a protection device in my home. Now I am legal. Yes getting the permit took me 4-5 months, along with a 4 hr. drive to SJ.
        My contention in the video is that people need to be afraid of the 400-500 angry Ticos with machetes. That is who will protect the country. Jungle warfare.

        You’ll like this video I did about CR’s militia.

        Costa Rica Has No Army. BUT Don’t Tread On The Ticos.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BZkxEtdLWk

  • dr meno

    Well when the USA realises that the whole world hates them, then maybe they will realise that they are subjected to attacks, as they do all around the world destroying countries, families and killing innocent people, And as long the CR media keeps putting USA friendly news crap on, the Ticos are smarter than that to believe the crap.

    • duke ster

      Thieves operating in Costa Rica are not attacking citizens of the USA because of the political policies of the U.S.government. You are giving WAAAY too much credit to Ticos. I can’t understand what you are referring to as “Ticos are smarter than to believe the crap”
      When, Where, How can anyone EVER refer to Ticos as being smart? Are you serious?
      If you are referring to the Tico thieves, you are actually referring to about 99.999 of the populace. Everyone who has ever even visited Costa Rica immediately realizes Ticos are thieves and liars. That is simply a fact of life and everyone knows it..
      Actually to not attack Ticos and single them out as thieves, it is an unfortunate flaw in the make up of Latinos of every stripe that they are liars and thieves. It is a fact of life, pure and simple. If you get something stolen from you, the Latin culture figures you didn’t have a big enough lock and you probably really didn’t want it that much anyway.
      I am not being facetious, it is really the truth and Latinos accept it as such. Ticos don’t attack Foreigners because of U.S. Policy, they steal out of opportunity, whether they need the object or not is immaterial. if it is not locked up good enough, it is fair game. This along with lying is something passed down to the children from the parents. Monkey see, monkey do.

      • dr meno

        And Gringos don’t steal. They are the bigger liars and theirs. Their thievery is more of a white collar criminals. All the way up to the bankers. Why is it OK for a corporation and your government to rip you off, and no one says nothing about it. But when someone steals a tool or a camera or phone, All hell breaks lose.
        ONE major criminal act going on right under your noses is that you have lost your country to the Federal reserve and the bank$ters. No one seems concern about that. You pay taxes to support ISIL and wars that kill millions of innocent people, AND no one says anything about that.
        So I can conclude the USA is full of murderers that pay and support killing.
        I have been fraud down here from Ticos and Gringos.
        Ticos are smarter in the respect they don’t believe the politics and lies from the USA. They look past the propaganda from the USA.
        Ticos joke that they are a country of thieves , not a country of murderers.
        Living in CR is almost a social paradime shift. Most Gringos can make that social adjustment here, and expect to keep living under their old standards.

  • Joe1047

    I would imagine these statistics are very inaccurate. In places like Nosara and Samara the nearest OIJ is in Nicoya in one of the hardest places to find so very few people even bother reporting it. I’m sure it is like that in other places as well. Also anyone who has had to deal with the OIJ knows its fairly frustrating and in my experience a waste of time.

  • Jimmy Kirk

    When tourism is the largest industry of any country and you start allowing the criminals to molest the tourist, then there will be less tourism. A very basic fact of life. I see the government more concerned over taxi fares and the outrageous salaries of upper class echelon than protecting the very lifeblood of the country. A real shame.

    • zzzzz

      and this clairvoyance, you pull out your ass?

  • duke ster

    It’s one thing to carry a concealed gun if you are a foreigner and another thing altogether if you ever use it against a Tico. I actually asked the chief of OIJ in San Jose if it was OK to shoot these assholes ( I was angry that a couple of girls I rented to had their passports stolen while riding a bus on their vacation) so I asked this question in a rude manner. The chief was very professional and acted very mature while I was acting like a rude Gringo. He calmly told me that it would be best if an attacker had a similar weapon if I shot him, It was not perceived to be good to use a gun against a person with a knife. Remember the poor foreigner who knifed a thief who he caught stealing his car. I don’t know what ever became of the foreigner but he was locked up after the event. Hopefully he got out but I remember it didn’t look good for him at the time the story came out. Does anyone remember the story? The foreigner was out west somewhere in CR. I think he killed the thief. He should have received a medal but that is not how it works in CR. If you are only getting robbed and don’t believe you will be in actual physical danger, it will probably be better for you to lose property than end up in a CR jail for killing a Tico.Remember if you are a foreigner you are already guilty. This is Costa Rica, a third world country,not the USA or a country with rule of law. I have even heard of judges saying a tico was poor and that the foreigner has more than the poor Tico does so the Tico thief goes free. Also if you shoot a Tico and don’t kill him,he will sue you and you will end up paying him and his family the rest of your life and be stuck here forever. They simply won’t allow you to leave because you will be held accountable for the thief’s family and have to pay and pay. Even the cops will tell you to kill them and get rid of the body. Do you realize that if you are with a woman and she calls the police and tells them that you simply YELLED at her the police will come and arrest you, throw you out of your house and the woman immediately takes possession of your home? By the time you get out of jail she can sell or steal everything you own and you still can’t go back to your home until you go to court and we all know how slow the legal system is in Costa Rica. By the way, do you remember why you ever came here to start with?

    • Anthony

      If I’m thinking about the same person the initial confrontation had nothing to do with his car. He owned a bar in Playa Coca, he threw a drunk out of his bar, the drunk came back and tried to kill him, he killed the drunk instead, there were witnesses to the entire event, it didn’t matter he was thrown in jail. He did have a limousine rental service, and the vehicles were vandalized while he was in jail. I remember it well, there is a lot more to this story including the police wanting him to pay a bribe to get out of jail, he refused. He was eventually released and went back to Canada where he died. It was in the Tico Times newspaper and AM Costa Rica a lot. His name was Roger Crouse, I’ve been to his bar several times after the incident. I don’t want to name the bar and jinx the present owners. One of the owners after Roger left had a very popular bar in SJO Centro.

    • Joe1047

      After my house was broke into, I also had a retired police officer tell me the best solution would be to shoot them and dump them deep in the jungle. He told me that “there are lots of things to eat a body in the jungle”.

  • disgusted

    I told my family and friends in USA not to come here any more. Broken justice system and unconcerned police department. My concern was if they came and something happened to them I would feel responsible.. They say then why are you there. I said I have a lot of things house, property and years being here. So Jake’s family went to Hawaii for a month said it was expensive however felt safe.

  • dr meno

    A good trick for new arrivals to CR, is to let the word out in the pueblos that you are looking for a gun. They’ll come out of the woodwork. BUT the idea is that, you are letting the hombres know you are armed and dangerous. Just keep it hidden in your home and not take it out. Just that rumour and knowledge in the pueblos will deter many prospective thieves away. So now they call me Gringo Loco. And that is fine with me.

  • Yeims

    I have been told several times and even overheard several conversations in Spanish when riding the bus, that especially in the lower class, it is not really much of a crime to score on a gringo; indeed, it is more like a “feather in their cap” to rip off a gringo.

    This seems to be consistent with the country’s reputation as having a bad case of xenophobia.

    • duke ster

      Wow Yeims, that is real confirmation, yes I figured it but to actually have overheard such a conversation is really bad. I was riding my Harley through San Jose and pulled over on the sidewalk to look in a storefront window . There was a water pipe access hole in the sidewalk and someone had stolen the metal lid so it was open. My foot went into it and the heavy Harley fell over and I was pinned. This was outside a bar full of Ticos who had a field day laughing at the Gringo who had an accident and was hurt. They started clapping . Finally I got up and after resting and drinking water I didn’t pass out and finally was able to get back on and ride away. Yes Ticos are sooo happy to see a Gringo hurt. Also I was trapped under my truck when I fell down a mountain side. The newspaper article was very mean and gleeful and sarcastic about the Gringo who was hurt. They HATE US!!! The Gringos here who write stories about how proud they are that their Tico neighbors actually accept them are IDIOTS ! They are actually proud that low life stealing, thieving hateful, jealous third world people accept them? That is a HUGE step backward to come from generations of stable honest hard working European stock. Ancestors who lived and prospered on principals of honest trading and honest values-NOT being a people who are world famous for being a culture of thieves and liars and lazy leeches who use any opportunity to take advantage of situations where they can cheat the next person out of whatever they can and the more the better. Without the Gringo money which used to come pouring in here steadily this small pretty country full of natives would be called Nicaragua South. Poor and desperate.

  • Chris Thomas

    Stay out of CR one of the most corrupt countries on planet earth, inhabited by the biggest thieves and liars.

  • Ken Morris

    You write that “well over 1,500 crimes against foreigners were reported,” yet the count of reported crimes against North Americans and the citizens of three European countries combined totals to fewer than 1000. What are the nationalities of the other victims, and in particular how many were Nicas?

  • http://www.forgoodintent.com Ben Hagon

    Yep, here now, robbed three times in 7 days. May never come back to Puerto Viejo, at least until they get this under control.

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