Crime in Cancun

All this in Calle Cielo?

 

I found this interesting.. although I have a feeling that some of the countries are fudging their numbers.

Here is a breakdown of Mexico by crime.

& the US just for comparison.. keep in mind the US has more than 1 in 100 already incarcerated so that will affect the numbers since the US has more people in chains than any other country on the planet! Yet somehow there is still crime going on?! Guess more prisons will need to be built and even more harsh sentences to make the problems go away. :aktion034:

Edit: FYI I think some of these numbers are out of date.... below are some wiki links with (presumably) more up-to-date figures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Mexico

Second Edit: Top 5 Most Dangerous Cities in the world 2009
1. Mogadishu. Somalia
2. Ciudad Juárez
3.Caracas. Venezuela
4. NEW ORLEANS Tied for 3rd with Caracas according to other sites, 2nd on sites that don't count Somalia! Why haven't I received a travel warning about that from the State Dept?

 

How easy is it to get...robbed, in Cancun?

All interesting to read. I thought the name of the thread should be changed to the above, but Steve solved that problem by splitting the thread.

Steve's is a very sober, sensible analysis and where most people would find themselves, trying to live successfully, in Cancun, or anywhere on this planet.

In five years, my car was burglarized twice, in Dallas, Texas. I was cautious when walking on the streets, and cautious when driving- in a place where a traffic dispute could lead to gun play, every fifth driver possessing a firearm hidden under the front seat.

 

Yep.

The dudes who attacked me were in the pinkish-building. You can ask the guard on Calle Cielo(the old man who patrols at nights...)

Same dudes, accompanied by 2 women, also beat up two by passers some 2 weeks after my incident. Bats, bottles and rocks = neanderthals? :clappyinghappy:

The week after they took off. Haven't sen them since, but I think I still have pictures of their car that I took the same morning when they went berserk, ha ha

3 of the break ins have been on the ground floor(quite logical) - they entered from the back, so we all went together and bought a metal gate and installed a light.

The attempted rapes are in the park, so not necessarily at our building. But yeah, the park is tiny and I have heard most of the shit going on, so I run outside to help.

People tell me not to do so, considering the risks, but if I were in the same situation, I sure as h*ll would want someone to assist.

The last assault (my downstairs neighbor, a middle aged lady...) occurred just 3 weeks ago. She got stabbed in the right arm and in the back when running away. They never got anything, plus she never carries cash.

Just some months ago, a woman who refused to let go of her bag, was slashed in her hand with a machete. Obviously she let go...

A lot of people blame the construction workers who occupy the opposite side of the park.

In two of the break ins, special tools were used to remove the protection bars, then they removed the windows, part by part(the crappy windows that are divided into pieces and you have to turn to open... "Hurricane proof" I believe they are marketed as..?) and the guys left building material(dust, concrete pieces etc.) behind...

Pet killers were just 1 week ago when we found the 5th cat with a crushed head... Sick f*ckers.

They are also putting out poison - lets see how long it takes until a human kid eats it...

I still "fear" the cops the most in our park... They simply take whatever they can.

They ALWAYS tell me that its a "requirement to carry my FM3 at all times"... BS I say - I have a drivers license, curp, Swedish ID(multilingual). etc.

Most people seem to be more annoyed by them than the actual hoodlums.

I would assume one would not notice half of the things here if one doesn't wake up/run outside.

My wife doesn't wake up, but I do really easily.

"Funny" that this still isn't close enough what I experienced in Australia :icon_eek:

 

Well I don't live under a rock. A lot changes in one year.

I found a bag of heroin on the beach, a big bag, among a ton of empty plastic bags, and I learned that that area is a drop off location for drug runners. So now I don't feel safe going there, even though it used to be one of my favorite beaches.

The bodies of 3 murder victims were found in a parked car on a street where I walk my dogs. I ran with one of my dogs the morning the bodies were found, so I think I may have actually run right by the car with the bodies in it, along the sidewalk. Talk about creepy.

And I was run off Isla Blanca by 12 guys with machetes. So another of my favorite beach areas is restricted now.

All that happened in the last year, or less, actually.

Meanwhile I've been reading the paper, paying attention to things here, and my knowledge of what's really going on has increased. So yeah, I feel less safe now than I did a year ago, and I have good reasons.

Steve - I know that you know a lot about my personal struggles. And while I may be somewhat unhappy these days, for reasons I won't bring up in public, I'm not more paranoid about my safety in Cancun because my personal issues. That's not it.

If anything it's the opposite. If anything I'm less happy here because of what I've learned in the last year about crime here. Some of my personal discontent would dissipate if I hadn't seen so much bad shit here, and if I didn't understand so much about the organized crime here.

I wish I could go back and undo all this learning. But now I don't even feel safe on my favorite beaches here.

 

I do want to report a robbery in Cancun. I arrived with $500 and left with nothing. Damn shot girls!!

 

Predicting what our emotional response will be to events in our lives is tricky business, and sometimes it takes less to set us off, than at other times. For you, it sounds like these recent experiences have sensitized you, emotionally, where they may not have, at a different time in your life, under the same circumstances.

In some countries, people will mark houses and rooms in which unfortunate events have occurred, or people have died, and it can be hard to get people to live there, or stay in those rooms. We recognize this as superstition, though we, too, may be "creeped out" at the thought- as you apparently found yourself, after learning that people's dead bodies had been found on a street you like to use.

In the end, your response is a species of superstition, too, as I see it. Your neighborhood did not become more dangerous as a result of what happened there, any more than your favorite beach did, when you found the bag of drugs on it. Feeling it is less safe doesn't make it so, any more than another feeling safe there makes it more safe.

As I said earlier, I believe this thread is less about what we're aware of than how we respond to what we're aware of: those who feel unsafe, personally, are never comforted by others saying it is safe, or seems so, to them.

Mexico is, and always has been, a crime ridden place, just as most other places in the world are: no country is crime and corruption free, but that thought can't comfort you either, if you are dealing with a powerful aversive emotional reaction to a place, and time.

 

So because I used the word "creepy" you think that my sense that Cancun is more dangerous than I previously thought is due to my own trauma?

Aren't you playing an elaborate game of blame the messenger?

I've lived here for almost 7 years. My knowledge of Cancun and its history and its goings-on has increased naturally in that time, as it would for anyone who is paying attention and who is interested in this place. Over time I've developed an accumulation of experiences and knowledge which now make me understand clearly that there is a lot more going on here than one can see with the naked eye. And yes, I feel less safe, though I still walk my dogs at all hours. But more I feel that Cancun is much closer to a kind of brink of chaos than I previously thought.

Perhaps I'll save my breath for a more sympathetic audience.

 

Well, no, Rivergirl, because I didn't think the message surprising: I was more surprised you were surprised to discover there is a lot of crime in Mexico.

I don't think so, anyway. I was referring simply to the three "crime" related things you spoke of experiencing in the last year. As for other traumas you may have experienced, as perhaps referred to by Steve, and known only to your friends, I have no knowledge.
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Rawkus, I'm impressed at your willingness to take on the "bad guys", when the situation calls for it. You can do a lot of good with that attitude; and, I agree with you, I'd be grateful for someone to came to my aid if people were trying to get physically rough with me.

However, I'm a little askance at your willingness to live in what is- by your own description- an extremely rough neighborhood! My neighborhood is also rough to live in, but that's from dogs barking at night....
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Many years ago, when I was a young professional, criminologists were beginning to understand that a very small number of criminals could commit a lot of crime and make a situation, bad as it was, seem worse than it was by suggesting that there were many criminals afoot. What they discovered was that young men who had decided to make committing crime the way they would earn their living could be just as "hard working" as others that showed up for work everyday; that is, if they were assaulting people, they might assault several a day, if they were burglarizing cars they might hit a good number of them a day, if burglarizing houses the same thing, creating the appearance of a "crime wave". Thus, it's conceivable that many of the assaults and other crimes you described were committed by the same few people who had chosen to operate in your neighborhood- not that that makes it any better....

 

V: The thing is, that this is not at all considered a "bad neighborhood" - quite the contrary.

My "problem" is that I wake up from the slightest of noise(Good luck living in Mexico, right?), so I always run outside to see if, A: Anyone is in need of help/assistance and B: It comforts me to know whats going on outside my window. Not that what I may see will comfort me as such, but Id rather see it with my own eyes that having to hear the gossip about it.

From what I understand, its not the neighborhood itself, but all the crap that passes through it at night, looking for opportunities to steal, rob, rape etc.

Its central, has two big avenues just around the corner(Tulum and Bonampak), making a "hit and run" fairly easy. The park lights have been off for quite some time(mostly different sections of it rather...), making it even easier and more tempting. To all this, you add the amount of cars(many nice ones) parked, creating a very tempting spot to steal a vehicle and head straight to Bonampak, thus escaping police, whom if even bothered to come at all, will be here in anything from 30 mins - "never"...

I like our neighborhood, but really believe that much can be improved, even with small funds.

Its just the will to do it thats lacking when it comes to the municipal...