Jump to content
Chapala.com Webboard

Expat article about increased crime in Mexico


Recommended Posts

25 minutes ago, HookEmHorns said:

The answer to the OP is found among the responses here, but he needs to be wise and able to decipher it. Corruption was not mentioned and that can lead to a vast amount of problems in many areas. If you are looking for a place similar to where you came from, it is not Mexico. If you can live a different life, and learn to become cautious, always aware of your surroundings, patient and accept the way things are, Mexico maybe.

Again, good advice. Thanks. I take the corruption as a given and work from there. Learning to "surf" it successfully will be on the agenda.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 54
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Check out this article from your hometown newspaper, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, with the headline

"AT RISK: Santa Cruz crime among states's highest". http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/ZZ/20130406/NEWS/130408129

Sounds scary,  but probably doesn't reflect your experience. Same holds true here in the Lake Chapala area. 

The vast majority of people living here are here by choice. Like you, we have been many places, seen lots of

potential retirement locations, and specifically chose here. That says more about the quality of life here than any newspaper article possibly could.

There are no valid crime statistics, especially relating to ex-pats. So ask 1 simple question, 

"Would thousands of old retired people  be living here if they felt it was dangerous ?"

Then throw out everything you have heard and read,  discard all of the research you have done,

and actually come down for a visit. There is no better research than personally experiencing someplace. 

After more than a few years here, I cannot think of any other place I would rather be living (otherwise, I would be living there !)

There is no other place that I have been that is like it is here, and that's a good thing. 

End of sermon.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
  • Location:Santa Cruz, Ca.

If that's where you've been living, I would estimate crime against property is lower here than there. And crime against person significantly lower. Given your level of concern, I imagine you would take measures to adjust those numbers even more to your favor, thereby increasing your comfort level.

This is a very small town. I've lived here 8 1/2 years. The only crime - knock on wood - that's come my way is some jumper cables were taken out of the back of my unlocked SUV. My stupid, my invitation.

Good luck with your decision.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, there are some problems with the article. Principally it is citing crime in the city of Santa Cruz which has been a destination for homeless since the 60's. Kind of a bedroom community for the Haight and Berkeley. Meth/heroin is really the driving force of it. Santa Cruz County which includes Watsonville is a much larger area. Big money moving in daily compliments of the tech industry rich kids. Property values skyrocketing again. The Santa Cruz Sentinel is also referred as the Santa Cruz Senile due to its lethargic and often mystifying journalistic acumen. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Lost Dog said:
  • Meth(Speed) use is usually associated with these type of crimes. How prevalent is Meth addiction in the area?

It is here.  Sold in Ajijic.  Not prevelant but here.  Not a good thing at all for anyone especially the users.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Every question, thought, trepidation that you may have, everyone living here also had when making the

decision to move here, so you are not in uncharted waters. We all somehow have managed to solve, adapt, 

and/or deal with the same concerns that you have, and thousands more that you haven't thought of yet.

On your first visit, you will meet more people in a week than you have met in the last 5 years. They have all been

through what you are going through now, and all are willing to share with you their experiences and opinions.

This area is not for everybody. It's not like "up north". You will know within 3 days of arriving whether you belong here.

Volaris flies non-stop San Jose (1:20 pm) to Guadalajara (7:06 pm). Come for a holiday week for a truly Mexican experience.

Independence Day September 16th. Day of the Dead November 2-3. Perfect time of year, perfect weather. Do it now.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, puro guero said:

Every question, thought, trepidation that you may have, everyone living here also had when making the

decision to move here, so you are not in uncharted waters. We all somehow have managed to solve, adapt, 

and/or deal with the same concerns that you have, and thousands more that you haven't thought of yet.

On your first visit, you will meet more people in a week than you have met in the last 5 years. They have all been

through what you are going through now, and all are willing to share with you their experiences and opinions.

This area is not for everybody. It's not like "up north". You will know within 3 days of arriving whether you belong here.

Volaris flies non-stop San Jose (1:20 pm) to Guadalajara (7:06 pm). Come for a holiday week for a truly Mexican experience.

Independence Day September 16th. Day of the Dead November 2-3. Perfect time of year, perfect weather. Do it now.

 

Thanks for that. I realize the worn path that is being followed and grateful for all the replies. I intend on making the trip and stay for a week or so in the near future. Can't get away for awhile but look forward to meeting up with some locals when things clear up here. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have lots of experience with Mexico, going back to the late 60's when our church went on a mission trip for 4 weeks in Morelia, driving from Houston. Many vacations since then in the Yucatan, PV, Cabo and La Paz. Lots of research in 1999-2002 led us to want to visit Lake Chapala. One detour prior to that in San Miguel and quickly dismissed that. No regrets since we bought a house in 2005 in Ajijic. Two car trips down the west coast and 3 round trips to Texas and never a problem. Suggest a Garmin GPS with lifetime map updates for NORTH AMERICA, that include US, Canada and Mexico. 

On day to day life, use your common sense, just like you would use in Chicago or New Orleans. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you do visit, mix it up a little and check out the many different flavors of the many different towns along the lake. They are all very unique and there is more to choose from than Ajijic. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bennie2

some of the construction workers use meth. just saying. reminder: we had that aweful publisized "incident" in 2013, & several home invasions in 2014. it has been quiet since then except for breakins. when you give the keys, you may have trouble. when there are constant workers around same thing. santa cruz is a sleeze pit, why compare? the give a way here is "use common sence just LIKE YOU WOULD in chicago or new orleans"? that already is a turn off to someone new. do you mean the nicer areas of N.O. or the katrina area? just asking. there are many areas in th US where it is close to being crime free. guess no one here knows about them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would be interested to find out if the majority of the break-ins occur in the houses in the villages or tend to occur with greater frequency in the fraccionamientos.  The truth is that anybody who has ever worked in security knows security is basically nothing but a facade, it is supposed to make those living on the inside feel more secure.  If someone has a need to enter a secure location, they can always find a way, is all I'm saying.  Over the years that I've been reading this forum, I have seen that many people here seem to think that those gated communities tend to attract burglers and extra and unwanted attention.  I personally feel safer living on a normal street in a normal neighborhood in downtown Chapala or Ajijic then I would by living in a glitzy neighborhood where potentially half the houses are owned by rich Guadalajarans that stay vacant most of the time except for the occasional weekend party.  In a typical Mexican working class neighborhood all the neighbors look after each other and you will see a great fusion of designs and income levels.  One house may appear extremely humble while the house next door is a palace.  

Generally speaking, if you plan accordingly by adding heavy bars on all windows and all doors and build tall walls around the property it will greatly minimize and/or discourage break-ins.  Of course, horrendous things have and do occur in Mexico, the general consensus is that we feel safe here along the Lake, there are over 15,000 of us foreigners living here at Lakeside, some sites will claim the expat population occasionly rises up to 30,000 in the high season, that figure is questionable, but who really knows?  The expat population here is large and very diverse with people from nearly all around the world living here in this beautful micro climate of ours.  This area has the largest concentration of Americans anywhere in the world.  I think that little fact speaks volumes about the viability and liveability of this area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Too many variables in the Fracs to make the comparison to village imo Dicho.   All depends on the security steps taken by the fracs especially in terms of access to the public.   I would speculated the condominio style fracs, cotos, would provide the best scenario if one can adapt to the challenges of uniformity presented.  Personally never had a problem, touch wood, in 12 years living in all of the above - fracs, cotos, village although no personal experience with country living like Chapala Haciendas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tell you what, if you think living here is unsafe you should live on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. like I did.  They didn't just try to steal your stuff, they wanted to kill you too.  We find the same personal and property protection strategies that worked there work very well here as well.

The difference is I don't think twice about going out on the street after dark in Ajijic.  I wouldn't do that in a million years on Capitol Hill.  I am told that despite the fact the turn of the century row house we owned there now goes for seven figures (orders of magnitude more than I sold it for), it isn't a whole lot safer.  

Here there will be neighbors on the street to exchange greetings with.  There the streets are still deserted at night except for the muggers.

Now in Abuquerque we didn't worry about going out on the street at night.  Trouble was that in "car land" you couldn't get to anything without getting a car out and driving there.  We were slaves to our cars.

I've lived a lot of places in my life and this one is the best of all, hands down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, El Saltos said:

The expat population Lakeside is about 5,000 at this time of year and grows to maybe 9,000 during the winter.  This was made clear in the last census done by INEGI.

Well, that quote of 5,000 to 9,000 expats sounds good, I can't argue with that.  But would that be 5 to 9 thousand Americans or foreigners in general residing here at what is refered to as Lakeside, Jalisco?  I'll honestly say I really have no idea, I just know that the topic comes up on these forums from time to time asking how many foreigners reside in the Chapala area and if you read about Chapala in expat papers and articles the figue of 15 to 30 thousand expats seems to be given a lot.  Its probably being proven to be mythology.   But who says you can trust expat articles promoting the area anyways?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, HookEmHorns said:

Or else it speaks volumes about how close it is to the USA and Canada, for health care issues and returning frequently to family and friends. :D

I'm not sure a 13 hour car ride could be considered really close to the US border, but it is sure closer than say Cuenca, Ecuador or Chiang Mai, Thailand.  I think what really brings people to this area and keeps them here is the beauty and greenness of the area accompanied with a climate surpassing that of even Hawaii.  The availability and affordability of decent healthcare right in this area.  The fact that nearly anything you could want to buy is available right here at Lakeside or in Guadalajara.  And if you still can't find it here, Amazon Mexico or Mercado Libre probably will have it (for those that disagree with this statement, try living anywhere else around the world and you will realize how spoiled we are in the Chapala area.)  And to really boast about our area, it is viewed by most of us fulltimers as feeling very safe compared to many areas of the world including that of many areas of the US, a place where many of us feel safe walking around any time of the day or night (try doing that in most US cities alone.). Sure, bad things happen here from time to time, and homes have been broken into.  But that does not mean that everybody here has been unlucky, there are lots of us expats here that have never had our house broken into, not even once (including us, knock on wood.) So, all in all, for us this area is a winner that is providing a great quality of life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bennie2

MC i am not disputing the reality in capital hill, but you may have a short memory. plenty of people here in say the last 7 years have had more than their stuff taken (if you know what i mean). the number seems high to me for a small area. some of this happend in nice neighborhoods near the lake or in a fracs. maybe now home security is a priority. i do walk around after dark. not everywhere, but enough to go where i need too. there is more security on my house than i actually use or need.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I suggested, the best strategy here is to recognize that any place where relative wealth and poverty exist side by side there is going to be more property crime.  My comparison with living in inner city D.C. is meant to illustrate that this isn't Podunk Iowa with good weather.  Living successfully here IMO requires a heightened awareness and implementation of extra measures to prevent having your stuff stolen.  That was the point I was trying to make with that example.

It appears to me that some people come down here and are lulled by the beauty and friendly folks into thinking this is some bucolic paradise where there is no crime when in actuality it is fairly easy to get your stuff stolen unless you exercise a fairly high level of personal and property security.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎22‎/‎06‎/‎2016 at 5:44 PM, Lost Dog said:

Can or do good quality alarm/security systems and secure windows and doors help with this? As well as, fresh quality locks and not giving keys to gardeners and maids? I have been virtually walking the streets using Google street extensively and see that many of the gated upper scale homes border the open spaces up the hill from town. Looks like that makes them vulnerable. Also noticed there is a remarkable low level of gang graffiti compared to most parts of Mexico or anywhere else.

I have been a victim of 4 breakins and yes when the central alarm goes off the thieves run fast. The one time the power was off for weeks and the battery in the alarm system drained they got most of the valuable stuff in my unrented unfurnished house including 2 new 1 tonne air conditioners.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am embarrassed to admit that when I left the house recently, I thought I checked in the mirror to make sure the garage doors closed and took off to run my errands and was gone for hours.  Upon driving up our streets, it appeared that the garage doors were wide open! AACCKK!  What??  

To my surprise not a thing was missing and I have loads of furniture, tools, etc in there.  I guess my great neighbors must have kept an eye on things.  But I am much more careful now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep Willie the hood will watch your stuff.  The cops will stop and knock on the door many time in this situation.  I use walls, cameras and recorder, concertina wire in easy access places.  Steel secure privacy screen is also nice and allows windows to be open while still being secure. We have had 17 robberies in last year in our hood.  Mostly blast and run with a ladder onto roof and open door.  Many of these are inside jobs or at least very observant  crooks.   Being at the end of the road seems to be not good robbery wise in our hood. I am on two medium traffic village roads and the traffic seems to help keep the bad guys away. Don't just depend on cameras and put em up high or they get destroyed by the bad guys.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, 5 years ago when we were looking for a house in downtown Chapala, what was important to us was a house that could be expanded upon and altered to our liking, have a nice garden with space for lots of fruit trees and be in a quiet centric location.  And number one, be at a low price that we could afford.  We looked and looked for months.  We finally settled on a house directly across two mecanic shops that came with a low price tag.  Well, we ended up with most of everything we wanted except for the quiet location part, even though we barely notice now, we are always seranaded by the sounds of hammers and Spanish rap if you sit near the front of the property.  But, our back property facing our beautiful garden is fairly peaceful.  

My point is after making friends with the mecanics, we feel very safe here, we always have a whole team of people stairing and watching our house.  I guess what makes your property safe is the extra measures one takes to secure your property with tall walls and lots of heavy bars, the relationship one has with his neighbors, and of course the location location, having vacant lots or empty houses bordering your property could invite unwanted visitors at night.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/22/2016 at 4:24 PM, Lost Dog said:
  • Meth(Speed) use is usually associated with these type of crimes. How prevalent is Meth addiction in the area?

 

On 6/22/2016 at 4:26 PM, jrm30655 said:

Probably not all that common.  Made here, sold into the US where the money is

Drugs are available pretty much everywhere to those who want them. There are plenty using meth in Mexico.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bennie2

loscats, 17 robberies in one neighborhood?  same w/upscale fracs. one had 44 breakins in 2 months. the following year it went down to 18. gated isnt always better either. the last people i would ever depend upon for help out are expats. it was the mexican neighbors who knew what was up. most pats are drunk senile demented deaf or give the burgular a coke.:rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.




×
×
  • Create New...