Boquete Crime Wave

Link does not work :-(

Correct the spelling of panama and it will work

www.panamaprattle.blogspot.com

Even Google finds it when misspelled.  Since I messed up the link, I will add a few more excerpts. 

(31 July)  "In the last two days there have been at least 5 robberies in this sleepy mountain town.  Four of them involve the use of firearms".

"Compared to US or Canadian statistics, five incidents may not seem like much.  However, for this small community, it is huge and cause for significant concern".

"It is a harbinger of problems to come and marks the shift in status of this retirement haven".

This blog is a good addition for research if planning to visit or move to Panama.

I would be interested to know if they think or know if this grouping of 5 robberies are the same people?

I have not read the other forum but this is correct. I live here and yes there have been an incredible number of home invasions within the last 2 months. However, I am sure and I will look at the forum next that it is full of incorrect information.  Rumors here are out of control. I was personally involved in one situation and do not want to disclose any more about it other than it has been a very difficult time. But what I know came directly from the victims and directly from the police.

Since arresting five people over 2 weeks  ago, to my knowledge, there hasn't been another home invasion. I may be incorrect on this but other people I have spoke with, agree.

That is not to say it won't happen again and there will be and are more "malientes" - bad guys, criminals more or less. This is a growing area and what a difference from when I first came here 2006 I believe. With growth comes more crime. I have felt that and known it for a long time - it is inevitable. Gangs are staring to be a concern.

Extra security measures need to be employed- that's not going to be 100% but neighborhood watches for example. When an alarm goes off here, people take it seriously - not like the U.S. where  everyone would have the attitude "another false alarm" and continue with their day from my experience - but the police would be called. We came  home from work to a completely ransacked house in a very nice neighborhood in Ft. Laud. Why? We were the only ones without a security system in the neighborhood because we were about to remodel. Somebody  knew that and our patterns - we were targeted.

I am not trying to compare a theft to a home invasion, but I will compare extra security measures and the potential for being a target under certain circumstances.

I will look at the other forum and if I have anything that I know to be a fact I will add to it.

Regards to all.