Chip00, have you ever been to Cabarete? Barrio Seguro is kinda overkill? Yes? The barrio has about 3, perhaps 4 roads and really does not look or feel like a barrio. There really is not a barrio there, just a Dominican community. I took Spanish classes there some years ago and it was a friendly, welcoming real piece of Cabarete with wonderful food. Had some of the best food there that I ever had on the North Coast.
Cabarete (tourist Cabarete) has one road with a few going off to 'new' gated communities or pink and green condos.
The history here is remarkable. As long as the development stayed in Cabarete (Tourist Cabarete), things were fine. As soon as the development moved off of the main drag, things are not so fine. The crime is not Cabarete Dominican people, it is those that move in for a while and pick the low hanging fruit.
It is strange, first time I went to Cabarete years ago, it was the same thing. At that stage however, it was Europeans and Germans that had the crime problem as Americans had not really appeared on the scene yet. There are stacks of abandoned developments hidden behind overgrown trees.
Seems to me it is a self-perpetuating cycle. Perhaps this little place does not want to be developed?. It sure has lost most of its charm for me with all the rampant, as quick as you can, cement block painted in pretty colors, 'development'.
I lived just outside of Cabarete without ever locking any doors. The 'iron' that we had was for decoration only. We left for a vacation without closing our back door. When we came back, one of the Dominican neighbors' son had moved in for the duration, just to keep an eye on the place and make sure the chickens don't take a hike. It is such a heartache that this wonderful little spot in the sun has attracted so much development that it is losing its charm and has become a crime magnet in the process. Don't get me wrong, there was theft, but very seldom was there any violent crime. (Unless two Germans lit into one another at the Hexenkessel and we all watched!)
I guess the froggy feels the same about Las Terrenas.