Yes Virginia, there is crime in Costa Rica. It seems that these days you cannot get more than a page or two deep in La Nación without reading a horrifying story of another murder in San Jose, Limón, or Puntarenas. From where does all this crime originate? Usually it is due to a robbery, drug related, revenge related, or a case of domestic violence. Lately much of it often involves very young people. It seems that a large amount of violent crime in Costa Rica is perpetrated by teenagers. Teenagers with guns who are not in the least bit reluctant to pull the trigger and forever alter the course of the lives of their victims. I myself have been relatively fortunate not to have been the victim of a violent crime (knock on wood), but I have had my share of property losses (two laptops, my passport, various household items, etc.). Recently I read in the paper that a few policemen in a downtown area of San Jose were actually being paid by a gang of criminals to “look the other way” and allow them to carry out their actions without the threat of police intervention. That is beyond disgusting. There really is not much in the way of police protection in Costa Rica. The police are there and these days seem to be everywhere enforcing the new “ley de transito” (new traffic law), especially as it relates to drunk driving, which is now an offense punishable by incarceration even after a couple beers. That is all well and good, since we don’t want the already dangerous Costa Rican roads to be occupied with drunks AND pot-holes. But it seems that the police are more eager to receive bribes under the threat of the enforcement of these new egregious driving laws than they are to protect the peace abiding citizens of the country. Maybe it is a function of the fact that the police in Costa Rica are barely paid even a “subsistence” wage. Therefore, they have to turn to the corrupt practice of bribe taking in order to survive. I don’t know if that is the case, or not. If it is, then they need to be paid better, but also incentivized to actually fulfill their role in protecting citizens and investigating crimes in order to recover stolen property and, moreover, punished severely for corruption of the kind described above. That said, I am not one of these ex-pats quick to paint a picture of Costa Rica as a “lawless state” where criminals roam the streets freely in search of victims, especially gringo ones. No that is not the case and anyone out there saying as much is taking an overly pessimistic view. Maybe it is because they themselves have been victims of crime and I will readily admit once you have taken on that role you tend to see things a bit differently. But the most troubling thing to me is the recent increase in violent crime involving the use of weapons by young people. A case in point is the abduction of the two waitresses who were leaving their place of work in Escazu. They were taken to ATM machines and forced to withdraw all their cash and then taken to different remote locations and shot in the head. Once of them miraculously survived. The crime was completely senseless and without justification nor provocation. Bloodthirsty criminals like that are who the police should be hot on the trail of. I guess I would like to see the government taking action to incentivize the nation’s police to protect us from these sadistically violent psychopaths who shoot first and ask questions later, rather that spending so much time putting up road blocks to hassle drivers not wearing their seat belts. The good news is that outside of the more populated areas like San Jose, Limón, Puntarenas and a few others, there really isn’t much crime in Costa Rica, at least not of the violent sort described above. Something needs to be done and done quickly, or the crime in the big city is going to give the entire country a black eye.
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