Crime in Costa Rica is DOWN

Did you see this article about crime?

I can not work out how to ‘copy and paste’ in the chart that is in the article but you can see it at http://www.amcostarica.com/072007.htm#31 and clearly shows robberies and thefts for June 2007 are MUCH LOWER than any month this year.

Let’s hope this will be a continuing trend.

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June statistics show a decrease in San José robberies
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Although a clear trend may not be evident, crime statistics show a reduction in June over other months of 2007. That included both robberies of individuals and burglaries and thefts.

Law enforcement officials have been conducting sweeps in San José and adjacent areas to pick up known criminals. They also have been targeting the international shipment of drugs from Colombia which results in an influx of cocaine to Costa Rice.

The drug effort has been so successful that officials claim that hitmen had been sent to Costa Rica to kill to government officials.

As the cocaine passes through Costa Rica, either on the water or overland, locals who help usually are paid off in cocaine that then enters the local market.

Statistics from the Judicial Investigation Organization show a decrease of 78 robberies of persons in the Provincia de San José from May to June. In May 297 robberies were reported. In June there were 219 cases.

In just the central canton of San José itself during the same period, there was a reduction of 58 reports: from 173 in May to 115 in June.

Thefts from persons and home burglaries also were the lowest in June of all the months of 2007.

Thefts include those done by stealth, such as pickpocketing, those committed because the victim was inattentive to his or her property and also thefts committed with trickery.

Many victims in Costa Rica do not report crimes to the police, in part because they do not expect any action. So the statistics are suspect when trying to measure the amount of criminal acts. But crime reports at least show general trends.

During the first six months of the year, there were 2,382 reports of what investigators call asaltos in the Provincia de San José and 1,291 in the central canton, which can be considered the city of San José. There also were 1,468 reports of thefts, burglaries and con games during the same period.

The statistics come from the Unidad de Análisis of the Oficina de Planes y Operaciones of the Judicial Investigating Organization.

Fernando Berrocal, minister of Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública, has embarked on a two-pronged program against street crime. One effort is to cut into the drug trade. The second is to pick up criminals with pending warrants and a history of street crimes. The program has been adopted by other law enforcement agencies which now work together.

The signs of this are an increase in drug arrests and law enforcement sweeps at odd hours in areas where they are likely to encounter criminals.

Robbery or asalto here is defined as use of force or threat, and street robberies frequently lead to injuries or death when the victim fights back.

People have died on Avenida 2 in early evening because they would not surrender their cell telephone to a drug addict.

Just Thursday the Fuerza Pública and the Judicial Investigating Organization detained four men suspected of distributing drugs in Aurora, Heredia. The Fuerza Pública detained three men in Alajuela with crack and marijuana. And in the Alajuela district of Pital, officers announced that they had detained a man wanted for investigation of robbery. He had marijuana, cocaine and crack in his pockets, police said. This is a typical score for a weekday in recent months.

The biggest anti-drug bust of the week was at Playa Zapotal en Carrillo, Guanacaste. Wednesday three men beached what appears to be a drug boat and fled. The presumed crew, three Colombians, were caught a few miles away after one stole a bike from a 14 year old, said Berrocal’s ministry.

The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted the boat at sea and drove it to shore, eventually into the hands of the Fuerza Pública, the Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas, the Vigilancia Aérea, the Policía de Control de Drogas and the Unidad Canina (K-9). When found, the boat was empty, but officials are conducting extensive searches to see if drugs have been hidden nearby. The boat could carry up to two tons of cocaine as well as two more tons of fuel.

The boat, typical of its type, had four 200-horsepower outboard motors. It carried 1,175 liters (about 310 gallons) of fuel. Some Costa Rican fishermen have a steady business of supplying fuel to these drug boats, and the crew of this craft might have made a mid-ocean pit stop before being detected. Fishermen usually get cocaine as payment, and then sell the drugs in the internal Costa Rican market.

Berrocal was at an unusual closed meeting with the Comisión de Narcotráfico of the Asamblea Legislativa for two hours Thursday in which he discussed the recent arrest of Colombian men who were accused of being hired gunmen sent to Costa Rica. They were ordered by Colombian drug lords to kill Berrocal and Rodrigo Arias, minister of the Presidencia and the brother to the president, in revenge for their efforts to block drug shipments, officials said at the time.

When the men were sent back to Colombia as illegal aliens, officials there set them free.

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