Crime is down in San Jose, Costa Rica
When you read about Costa Rica on the chats, blogs, reviews etc, one thing that always is talked about is, “Stay out of San Jose, the crime rate outrageous, stealing, robberies, and the worthless of the police are no good as we posted on the armed robbery of a Tortuguero bus a few weeks ago.
However, surprise!
The Judiciary and the Ministry of Public Security reported this week, “the crime rate HAS declined in the last year in the capital.”
Robberies and thefts during the first half of 2009 in the central canton (areas) of San José, decreased by approximately 1514 cases (40 percent) compared to the same period in 2008.
According to the Minister for Security, this decrease is due to the new way of doing police work, because now the system work requires staff accountability for their performance.
Accountability? Yes each police precinct is now held accountability for the crime in their area, which is now monitored by a crime awareness delegation composed of 100 personnel.
Now if I read and translated this Spanish report right, it claims that last year each month about 456 burglaries and thefts occurred the first half of last year, this year the average dropped to 381. The director of the Public Force in San Jose said, although a reduction was achieved, work for these numbers down further. Which by the way, San Jose has around 2 million people, so considering, the percentage of crime is lower than any country in Central and South American, and that is pretty damn good.
However, we also must consider, that tourists and many do not always report crime. And that tourism is down a lot, which is a main target with their $400 Niki cameras dangling and/or laying unattended at a restaurant table when heading to the restroom. In other words, many do not use common sense!
Despite these new reports on the decline in crime, the Merced district (northwest of San Jose) is the most dangerous in the capital with a marked difference to other sectors and that is because it falls within the Red Light District a place where drugs and prostitution and just plain bad people hang out. You enter at your own risk.
From January to July this year, 700 robberies and thefts reported in Merced. Cathedral (Southeast) remains dangerous as the second district with 277 complaints. Pavas had 246 cases and 142 complaints The Uruca.
This delegation will also claims it will create four new branches in the central canton to counter the higher crime areas.
See Carrying Cash in Costa Rica, Traveling Mistakes In Costa Rica, and How Not To Get Robbed
Where is the report, I can’t find it anywhere on their site?