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Burglaries


judybrick

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condos are not always ideal. depends upon the neigbors. sometimes they are vacation renters, deaf, very elderly, or "my husbands here" (hes 83, & medicated). try having a discussion about crime, see how far it goes.

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We have sensors in the garden forming an invisible wall around the house. It is set not to go off with our dogs and will go off if a person approaches the house. Someone tried 3 times to get in and then gave up. We have skylights so we had a grid installed inside under the skylights and we have a sensor on the roof.

We feel pretty secure , at least we know no one will surprie us in our sleep.

We use SOSE and are happy with their response.

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I don't read the bickering. It seems valid to me to draw comparisons when discussing safety or how to be safer. The bottom line to me is-- if you are perceived as a member of the "haves" and you live amongst many who "have not", then I'm suggesting crime will be a problem. This is likely true in any part of the world. There are good suggestions as to how to improve the security, nonetheless, considering a safer place to live is also an option.

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satnrose, as i said even the poor get robbed. they have breakins & the cash is taken. if they own a TV, that gets taken. but they do have bars, & dogs. the police robbed the night guard @walmarts, when it was in process of being built. it was pay day, & he was robbed for 800 pesos for his weeks work. the policeman didnt lose his job, they transfered him to another town. poor get mugged too. there are no ramifications for robbery/mugging/breakin.

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When we first started to come out to Chapala for the weekends, it was a process finally moving out here full time, we had an apartment. This was 7 years ago. The apartment was right on the carretera and probably most people to this day have no idea it's there, but in a very busy popular area. One time we left for 3 days with the main door, to the street, wide open. No one walked in, to our knowledge, or stole anything. Friends walked by and thought we wanted the door open. There were other times the door was left open for shorter periods of time. It was a night that the street lights were out, it was dark, we'd left to shop and were gone longer than expected so I didn't leave any lights on inside. It was 3 years ago this week that someone easily entered our home because I didn't use the key to lock the dead bolt. It was one of those locks that locks when you close the door but the dead bolt is open. They are the types of locks that robbers like to easily "bash in." The night we had a break in, they bashed in one of these locks that was on another door inside, so we understand about it when reading it happens to others. We had a schnauzer in the house that was locked onto the balcony. They closed the drapes so she wouldn't bark. I understand how a dog can be an alarmist, especially IF you're home. This incident changed so many things for us. I lost some heirlooms, a wedding gift and other things but now I hope I'm wiser and won't just leave my wedding gift lying on the dresser because I've been using it lately. We made so many careless mistakes having taken it for granted that nothing happened before.

Bennie, you've really got some good points there. :) What a blessing for the 83 year old, who doesn't have to concern himself with these things.

bmh, that sounds like an amazing set up!

satnrose, I'm able to read the Mexican papers online and just yesterday they're talking about the problems with breakins in and around Guadalajara. Some of the poorest of the poor are the hardest hit. The government tells residents to put up higher walls with protection, get a vicious type guard dog and or an alarm system. We can try and stereo type who's going to be the victim but Mexicans drive nice cars and have bling too. There's ways to be "street" smart and there's ways to be home smart. If I lived in El Dorado, which I never hear about anything happening there, I wouldn't expect too many problems because of the way it's set up. For those who have single family homes, or single family homes rural, we have to have a different set up than a small gated coto or community. Yes, the guy with who's house backs up to the mountains will be more vulnerable than the home inside or away from the mountain. Common sense, right? So, if you like to have the "green belt" behind your house, you know you'll have to take more precautions for the luxury of not having a neighbor back there. It's important that the expats not feel singled out because they're foreigners because it isn't true. The good news is that we can do things to protect ourselves, even if we aren't gun owners, like NOB.

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lol, gotta love internet communication. I never said the poor are not robbed. It's about oppotunity, and there is a better chance of snatching a lap top or two from a well off Mexican or gringo than from the poorer families. Sure, if you,re homeless, fall asleep on the curb, wearing tennis shoes, you might not have any shoes the next morning. What ever opportunity exists.

I'm gonna bail on this thread due to what might be seen as hyjacking. I am considering opening another thread on an apparent "shakedown" attempted on two foreign women.

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How about a reality check? If you are living NOB in a neighborhood where high walls, electric wire, broken glass and razor wire are standard, you've made some bad life choices along the way.

I am here till the bitter end as I am too old to move anywhere, but I don't kid myself that the criminal environment here is better than NOB.

I guess you would be serving time in the local county stockade ..it is amazing how much preventative protection is now being used at Lakeside Homes, its worst than a NOB getto

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All I know is that my taxes are next to nothing here, so I am not buying that much protection. So I don't mind spending a large sum for great perimeter protection one time. I've got it all, and considering how much I'm paying in real estate taxes on my small condo in Seattle (a little more than $6,000 US per year), the amount I paid down here for the best system I could get with the best perimeter protection I could get was much, much less than the taxes I have paid up north during the last 4 years since I installed my security system in Ajijic. How much are my taxes down here per year? So little, I don't remember. Perhaps as high as a couple of thousand pesos per year.

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when I read these reports (and I am sorry for those invaded in their private homes) I cannot help but think about how we take nothing with us, and one view is to see it as an opportunity to clear out our "stuff" before friends or family have to do it for us. Looking inward and getting ready to meet our creator in whatever form you hold that to be, makes more sense, esp in a retirement community. I love it here with all the spiritual growth help available. Does it occur to anyone that getting robbed is possibly a blessing in another way of looking at it? Let them have it all!

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suz, insensitive. speak for yourself. peter, dont be naive, no matter how much tax you pay, it wont go for your protection. this is not the US. what are you thinking? islander, i mentioned that robbery (& worse) has little ramifications. i agree thats the bottom line, but thats the culture here. noone likes except the criminals.

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