Crime - Las Terrenas vs. Santa Barbara de Samana

samanasuenos

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Oct 5, 2005
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First off, I would not want to frighten anyone off from either location mentioned. They both have much less crime than say, the capital. Neither is what I would call a "hotbed" of criminal activity. And I hope it stays that way.

Now ...

Why is it that we hear about more crime in Las Terrenas than in Samana (Samana town - not the Samana province)?

Does it have to do with a heavier expat/European investment and presence in LT?

Is it due in part to the (said) separation of locals and expats in LT? Whereas in Samana town the locals own more than the expats and both groups intermingle a bit, or seem to, than they do in LT? Or is this just coincidence? Or fabrication?

Is Samana harder for a criminal to escape from as it has only one road in and out? (I have heard this from locals in Samana town.)

And you can guess at reasons if you have not been to either or both lovely locations.

Bring it on.
 
G

gary short

Guest
I've spent time in Las Galeras, Las Terrenas and Samana. I found all to have a non threatening enviroment towards tourists. I don't feel I have to have my guard up anywhere however I've witnessed some incredibly rediculous behavior from Euro tourists at night in LT....I haven't seen it anywhere else on the Samana Peninsula. So these people are easily targeted in my opinion. The region is still incredible beyond description.
 

Rick Snyder

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Nov 19, 2003
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Speaking as a person that has no experience with either town mentioned in the OP would you be so kind as to give an explanation as to what you are considering as crime. Because of your reference to the expat makeup in LT are we to assume that the reported crimes there are against expats and tourists?

I'm sorry but having no knowledge as to the types of crime that are supposedly happening and against whom then a "guess" would be improper from my point of view especially with the OP using words like "(said)" and possible "fabrication".

Rick
 

Jasper

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Jan 10, 2002
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the original thread which discussed whether the new airport will "help or hurt" samana is a bit naive. the new airport will create alot of jobs where there is presently alot of unemployment so how can that be a bad thing if you are chronically unemployed? the person asking the question was only concerned with her own self which i guess is pretty normal for a tourist's point of view. the petty crimes committed are no different from the ones committed where you and I come from - generally from potheads looking for quick cash for a quick score. the root of the problem is that DR has become a trans-shipment point for drugs going to north america. consignees in DR are paid in drugs rather than money, so they sell that crap on the streets. Maybe there would be no problem if they were in fact paid in money. In LT there are lots of foreign visitors wanting to buy and many locals get caught up in the selling and/or consuming of drugs. Then the vicious cycle of crime, prostitution starts.

The Goverment says that its top priority now is to fight crime. CAFTA-DR will certainly be one of the factors which will eventually solve the problem - we hope - but the government also realizes that the citizens are fedup and the voters might turn to Chandelier's new party as he is known to have a "mano duro" regarding crime. Irony though is that this drug business likely grew under his nose when he was in charge of the police; and he surely knew alot of the players but did not - or was not able - to bring them down.

anyway, relax. Samana is a very safe area and no one - but no one - should scare you away from enjoying it. i suspect that for the 2 reasons above the drug trade will be severely minimized (it's an island after all and the tourism industry is too important to let this problem meander); and the booming economy will ensure that the pie is bigger so that more can enjoy a better life.
 

mountainfrog

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Shadow Economy

Jasper said:
.... the drug trade will be severely minimized (it's an island after all and the tourism industry is too important to let this problem meander)....

Si dios quiere.

IMHO, the profits in the drug trade are far higher than in tourism.

Many an AI-resort was forced to shut down (albeit temporarily) because its earnings were too low. Although the new airport will undoubtedly haul in more tourists, the profit margins will stay low.

The drug lords here don't care much about tourists, although they might launder money in tourist investments.
A grotesque situation.
This is why you can find hotels where one could not care less whether there are guests or not... A situation which makes a true hard working hotel owner have his hair stand on end.

The crux is, that many more people here gain much more from drugs than from tourism.
That's why drugs are here to stay.
To me it's like preaching mano duro with the other hand open for the morditas grandes.

Jasper, I do agree what you say, we only seem to have a different picture about the future...

m'frog
 

Andy B

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Jan 1, 2002
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Sam,
Again I wonder what you are attempting to stir up. As a non-resident you certainly have a lot to say about Samana. Let's not overstate things and try to keep them within context.
Yes crime is considerably higher in LT than the city of Samana. Samana is a business center and not a tourist center except during whale watching season when bus loads of tourists are brought to town only to leave at the end of the day. And the expat thing, yes I suspect that they attract a lot of crime (and bring a lot of it with them, given that many of them have left their home countries for less than noble reasons-the DR has attracted this criminal element for a long time). I find that the expats seem to be involved in more nefarious activities than do the local Dominicans (ie. drugs, prostitution, scams, etc). For whatever reasons, LT does has the highest crime concentration on the peninsula, but it is still a drop in the bucket compared to other parts of the country.
I've been here 10 years now and I can count the number of violent crimes (murder, rape, etc) I've been privy to on one hand. This includes a German couple killed near Las Galeras 5 years ago (rumored to be a payback from a former German business partner) to the killing of Sr. Polanco (a friend of mine) and his guard at his hardware store in LT several years ago. And the supposed recent murders and rape alluded to in Samana on another thread, I'd not heard a word about, and I certainly would have had they occurred. Not only is a Dominican NP friend of mine in charge of this kind of criminal investigation for the peninsula but the peninsula's coconut telegraph would have been abuzz over this.
The entire Samana peninsula is still a small community of less than 100,000 population and our crime is minimal, mostly petty at that. In my home state of Florida there is a far worse problem with crime (as is true in most of North America) than here in Samana. Case closed.
 

mountainfrog

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Believe it or not

Andy B said:
.... I'd not heard a word about, and I certainly would have had they occurred. Not only is a Dominican NP friend of mine in charge of this kind of criminal investigation for the peninsula but the peninsula's coconut telegraph would have been abuzz over this.

Could it be that your friend sometimes leaves out something or that the coconuts need rewiring?
As for LT, we had at least three more killings here (within the last two years), two involving PN personnel.

Those did not (as the above two mentioned) make it to the papers...

m'frog
 

Squat

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Jan 1, 2002
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mountainfrog said:
IMHO, the profits in the drug trade are far higher than in tourism.

The drug lords here don't care much about tourists, although they might launder money in tourist investments.

The crux is, that many more people here gain much more from drugs than from tourism.
That's why drugs are here to stay.
To me it's like preaching mano duro with the other hand open for the morditas grandes.

This is very right ! I couldn't have said it better...

The drug trade is the best manoey maker around... Hispaniola is a good stopover between Colombia/Bolivia and the USA/Bahamas/Puerto Rico...

Most politicians don't give a damn about little centavos made in tourism, but need the narco$$$$$$ to be able to keep up with their very expensive lifestyle...
 

Jasper

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Jan 10, 2002
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caucedo recently upgraded their security to screen containers before they leave the port. this will considerably minimize drugs leaving the country for north america and will consequently lead to less drugs entering the country as a trans-shipment point. containers originating from other ports such as rio haina and pop will face greater inspection than they have in the past. i haven't read through CAFTA-DR agreement but you can be sure that there are points there that will force a cleanup of customs rules and personnel (drugs going into and out of the country) and security issues involving Dominican waters. Besides, the Dominican voters protesting in the streets have already demanded that this problem be fixed and in any decent democracy, the voters ultimately tend to sail the ship.
 

Rick Snyder

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Nov 19, 2003
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There would be the hope that the DR would be able to find a way to bring under control the shipping of drugs into and out of this country but I am suspect that the desire is not to the extent that is made to appear. I only say this because of the powerful, important people that have their hands in the pie as has been reported by a number of sources. Hypothetically speaking if an X-ray machine is in position but is controlled by a high ranking official then the probability of that machine being turned on and operational at the time is needs to be on is questionable.

In the DR the use of the phrase "decent democracy" is a misnomer.

Rick
 

samanasuenos

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Oct 5, 2005
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Answer

Rick Snyder said:
Speaking as a person that has no experience with either town mentioned in the OP would you be so kind as to give an explanation as to what you are considering as crime. Because of your reference to the expat makeup in LT are we to assume that the reported crimes there are against expats and tourists?

I'm sorry but having no knowledge as to the types of crime that are supposedly happening and against whom then a "guess" would be improper from my point of view especially with the OP using words like "(said)" and possible "fabrication".

Rick

Rick:
Thank you. I am sorry - I was refering to two recent threads. One poster said that there had been recent violent crime in Samana town, the other was a poster asking about development and refering to crime in LT as per another board altogether. I made the mistake of thinking that everyone was reading those two posts with me. Apologies.

Andy: Thank you. I always appreciate your comments. And I respect you as alocal authority. You are there and I am not. I realize that. I apologize if I implied that I know a lot about the area. I do not. I know a few things and not much more. Mostly I know what I like and that is how safe the Samana peninsula feels. Thank you for all that you do locally and for your insights here.

I am started asking myself the questions in the first post only after I read two posts here - one after the other - refering to "crime." The posts sounded a (perhaps falase) alarm with me, and I wanted to get the scoop from folks in the know, such as yourself.

Additionally, I had accidentally hijacked another thread with my stupid questions, and so I brough it here out of courtesy. That is all.

Thank you M'frog and others for all of your news. -- Sam (Not an expert in anything at all!)
 

Andy B

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Sam,
Regardless of what has been posted in this thread about increasing crime on the peninsula, you are absolutely correct in feeling safe here, because compared to the rest of the island, it IS safer here. Despite the crime that foreigners have brought in with them, we have very few violent incidents that involve visitors. It's mostly petty stuff, having a camera stolen off the beach and getting ripped off by local hustlers peddling junk. And as alluded to in this and the other thread, crime will increase with development. Hopefully we can keep it contained to specific areas. Believe me, we locals are just as concerned as you are, maybe even more so as our livelyhood depends on our visitors having a safe place to visit.
 

atienoor

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Mar 8, 2004
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Petty Crime - Depends

Petty Crime - mmm, I wonder if that is what I would call two guys breaking into my hotel room at 2 .a.m. armed with shotguns and pointing them to my head and belly, and demanding for money. Yeah, happened to me and my family including visiting relatives in June in LT. The thieves did not take much but we were terrified beyond belief, especially the little ones were so traumatized. I still do not know which was worse, being robbed at gun point with your kids screaming or having the owner of the hotel downplay it saying it does not happen often.

That said, been to Las Galeras without incident. Samana town looked and felt pretty safe too. I live in Santo Domingo and never been robbed either.

The DR is still a very safe place compared to most places including our neighbors up north.
 

buthieo

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May 18, 2005
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maybe I am blind I have been to LT 17 times I have never seen drugs or usage............
 

mountainfrog

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Blind

maybe I am blind I have been to LT 17 times I have never seen drugs or usage......

Let somebody read this to you:
"Asimismo, en Las Terrenas fueron destruidos dos puntos de venta de drogas, donde los consumidores acud?an a adquirir estupefacientes. All? la DNCD se incaut? de 100 porciones de coca?na, en poder de Braulio de la Cruz, mientras en otro confisc? 33 de marihuana, propiedad de Pedro Castillo (Mayobanex), detenido luego en El Lim?n con 33 porciones de marihuana, en un allanamiento en su casa."

From:
Diario Libre Online