Safer in a barrio or in a formal neighborhood?

In what type of neighborhood do you is safer to live in?


  • Total voters
    29

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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Through the years many expats and Dominicans have given advice regarding safety issues while living in the Dominican Republic. One recurring theme is the notion that its actually safer in the barrios as oppose to the more formal neighborhoods. The people that often make this claim lived in both types of places and, counterintuitive to what many may think, the barrios treated them and their property better than in the formal neighborhoods. By treatment I'm referring to being victim of theft/break ins/muggings.

How much truth is there regarding this issue?

Are barrios overall safer than formal neighborhoods?

Why do you think that has been the case with you?
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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There should be one more choice for those that feel it does not make a difference:

None of the above - Does not really make a difference
 

jstarebel

Silver
Oct 4, 2013
3,330
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I think it depends how you live and present yourself......and who you know.

Agree wholeheartedly with this. Our home base is in a Puerto Plata Barrio, and I feel very safe there. Barrios are a bit different and have their own ways of dealing with inner barrio issues. Outsiders are not very welcome but being that I'm attached to a family, I'm accepted as a resident and not had a single issue there. Everybody knows everybody else's business.. I've been 9 years in this barrio.
 

jstarebel

Silver
Oct 4, 2013
3,330
333
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I think it depends how you live and present yourself......and who you know.

Agree wholeheartedly with this. Our home base is in a Puerto Plata Barrio, and I feel very safe there. Barrios are a bit different and have their own ways of dealing with inner barrio issues. Outsiders are not very welcome but being that I'm attached to a family, I'm accepted as a resident and not had a single issue there. Everybody knows everybody else's business.. I've been 9 years in this barrio but to be fair, we are not there 365/year
 

Kipling333

Bronze
Jan 12, 2010
2,528
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FRom the sole issue of safety,my time in Zona Colonial ...I assume it is a barrio in this thread, has been remarkably safe especially over the past 6 years when the majority of discos were closed down but I do make sure my doors and windows are secure . I often stay at a home of a golfing friend in Casa de Campo where less emphasis is made on keeping the house locked up..I felt no safer there than in my own home in Zona Colonial ..
I really think that ,these days the saftey issue is often linked to where the drugs are .
 

drSix

Silver
Oct 13, 2013
1,323
0
36
I've lived in the campo (is that the same as a barrio), a 'gated' community with security and a mix of Doms and expats, and a GATED community. The 'gated', had decent security, only one entrance, but no real gate. It also had lots of people going through to the beach and other businesses. My current GATED community has walls, gates, amazing secuirty, and is only homes. No on is getting in. If I had to rate them from safest to least safe, I'd say:

1. GATED, I don't lock the doors and leave stuff laying out.
2. Campo, I felt mostly safe and secure. Didn't even have a fence, and lived in an open air house. But, the people were different.
3. 'gated', there were lots of unsavory folks around. There was a break in while we lived there.

Interestingly enough, I favor the people of the Campo. We were just people, not tourists or Gringos. If feels like in the expat communities, gringos walk around with targets on their back. I never dealt with harassment in the Campo, not like in Sosua and Cab.
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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dr1.com
I live in an area next to a barrio but not in a gated area. Our short street has a mix of new apartment buildings, older wooden homes ( not shacks) and some large homes. The street has a lot of traffic as it joins three different sectors of town together and is the only two way street for several blocks. Drugs are sold nearby, but somewhat covertly. Next street over has several " Haitian hotels " and low rent buildings. The local residents keep a hawkeye out for thieves and any thief caught is usually very glad when the cops rescue them. I feel safe here, and yes I keep the door lock when we go out but during the day when at home no. Our area doesn't fit any of description in the poll.
 

GinzaGringo

Member
Sep 29, 2010
382
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I fall in line with my Dominican relatives on this subject, as they are the unquestioned experts on the matter. They live in Santo Domingo (I'm thinking the answer could vary depending on location) and they prefer gated, apartment block style housing. This isn't just a stated preference, they have put their money (a not inconsiderable amount of money) where their mouths are a couple of times now. They buy on the second floor of said developments, for the explicit reason that in their opinion this the most secure arrangement. There is a guard watching the vehicles out front 24/7, there are other eyes on the whole place from neighbors and such and the second floor part gets them off the street. I hate those kinds of developments personally.

If I were to buy property in Santo Domingo to live in (I never will) my inclination (with my American bias) would be to buy a house, with a little bit of yard and garden area around it and to build imposing barbed wired walls around the property and to then fortify the house with bars and such, basically, a little fortress. I have seen some houses set up in that way that look pretty impenetrable.

It's sad, all of the millions or billions of dollars wasted on security in the Dominican Republic.
 

xstew

Member
Jul 4, 2012
528
0
16
We need a " campo" choice.

I'm in the same barrio type and same senario as Saunders. Lived in this Barrio for over 25 years. The discription he gives of his barrio sounds like he is living on the same street and barrio as i do. Every one is very aware of crime and are not un aware of keeping the door locked. But we are not parinoid or living in fear. One diffrence from His street is probably is the fact in our one block their are 15 dogs in residence and if one goes off at night over some thing they all chip in. It would scare me so it is a deterrent to break ins!
 

xstew

Member
Jul 4, 2012
528
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16
How can you take the poll unless you have lived in all the mentioned areas. Seems like you would just have to guess on this one!
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
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South Coast
My husband and just had a discussion about this poll, and we're both of the same mind about it.

We wouldn't live in a gated community of foreigners - it's too tempting for the crooks, we'd feel less safe despite the security. We *would* live in a gated community of mostly Dominicans, as he put it "it's a different class of Dominicans" and we'd feel safe. My in-laws live in them, in Las Praderas, so we're familiar with them. We both dismissed the non-gated community.

When we built our house, in the 80s, it was pure campo. Now it's a barrio. 99% of the people who live there have lived there for generations, we're "accepted" because Mr. AE had been going to that beach since he was a boy, and the old lady next door [who just turned 100] was a childhood friend of my mother-in-law. For the most part, the barrio folks look out for one another, and we are included in that. Yes, they steal fruits and vegetables from us from time to time. Our maid and our caretaker are from the same barrio, and we go out of our way to buy things from the barrio [the ferreteria, the colmado, the fruit/veggie guy, topping off the phones, etc.]. When we're not there, they keep an eye on our house. When the dog was poisoned, aside from the distress of losing a part of our family, we were worried someone was targeting the house. Now we have an alarm system.

For us, the danger isn't from the barrio peeps - it's from the hoards who come out to the beach from Santo Domingo and San Cristobal, busloads at a time. Down the road are a Dominican couple we are friends with. They live in SD and come out every weekend to the house. They have a caretaker who lives on the premises, and several dogs. Totally walled. But even though they are Dominican, they are outsiders. The wife goes through maids constantly, I think it's a combo of her personality and the people thinking they're ricos from SD - not good in a barrio. There have been several attempted break-ins of their house.

So, for us, "it depends".
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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I'm in the same barrio type and same senario as Saunders. Lived in this Barrio for over 25 years. The discription he gives of his barrio sounds like he is living on the same street and barrio as i do. Every one is very aware of crime and are not un aware of keeping the door locked. But we are not parinoid or living in fear. One diffrence from His street is probably is the fact in our one block their are 15 dogs in residence and if one goes off at night over some thing they all chip in. It would scare me so it is a deterrent to break ins!

We have two resident street dogs that know exactly who lives on the street. They do growl and bark at all non-belongers at night and we have three very bright street lights. The cops do a pretty regular patrol throughout the night and the banca near the intersection has both cameras and an armed guard. My cameras cover front, back, and sides of my house and the thieves that live behind me steal elsewhere. We have properties located in better looking neighbourhoods but my wife thinks this one of the safer areas due to the consistent residency of the people, the nosy old women and men that know everything and everybody, and how busy and well lighted the area is.
 

CristoRey

Welcome To Wonderland
Apr 1, 2014
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I think in a barrio you are more likely to be the victim of petty street crime. In a gated community you are more likely to
be the victim of a planned or targeted crime.
 

charlise

Bronze
Nov 1, 2012
751
0
0
I would never live in a gated community... It's almost a "shopping center" for thiefs... Too easy to enter the premises, since it's not really gated... Just a little gate at the entrance. What about the rest ??

I prefer to live in the community, get to know the people and take care of my own security. Walls, driveway gate, metal bars in windows and 1 or 2 street dogs that you adopted...

And my community people take care of their "gringas" (my sister and I) because they like us and we're nice with them. Like we say in Qu?bec "On p?te pas plus haut que le trou" (Translated in english to:) "We don't fart higher than the hole"....
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
i love love love living in a gated community among gringos. such peace. spent a year in a barrio and it was hell. never again.
 

Africaida

Gold
Jun 19, 2009
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I would never live in a gated community... It's almost a "shopping center" for thiefs... Too easy to enter the premises, since it's not really gated... Just a little gate at the entrance. What about the rest ??

I prefer to live in the community, get to know the people and take care of my own security. Walls, driveway gate, metal bars in windows and 1 or 2 street dogs that you adopted...

And my community people take care of their "gringas" (my sister and I) because they like us and we're nice with them. Like we say in Qu?bec "On p?te pas plus haut que le trou" (Translated in english to:) "We don't fart higher than the hole"....

Your quebecois are very polite. The French expression is better and vulgar. ..."plus haut que son c.." :)
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
1,327
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Obviously security has many, many variables..... so its complicated.

Its also very subjective. We feel safe, well as safe as can be, in our campo. Guests from europe always feel insecure for the first couple of days, mainly due to isolation.
Some people think security is in numbers, others think it comes in the form of cameras....etc, etc.
At the end of the day ANY house can be raided. NOTHING can be 100% secure ( think explosives, gas....etc )
So I guess its a mix between not-too-much-security-so-as-not-to-be-obvious,
common sense ( u can have 16 camears amd a 17 inch steel door, but if its unlocked......),
And adaptation to where you live.....( its the dr....not too many special forces trained dogs around...... i have seen personally how a dog adapts to an enviroment. Brothers of my 2 dogs live in a gated community in SD. Well they dont go mental at every strange noise and person, whereas at my place, they do ).
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
13,368
3,150
113
Correction

Wow, I just noticed that in the question on the poll I wrote 'is' instead of 'feel.' Sorry about that typo.

Original In what type of neighborhood do you is safer to live in?

Intention In what type of neighborhood do you feel safer to live in?