[News Boquete] Community Crime Prevention

Community crime prevention is a team effort, but you can do your part to deter burglaries by investing in a home security system, making your home less vulnerable and encouraging your neighbors to do the same. A five-year study conducted by researchers at the Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice found that neighborhoods in which security systems were densely installed have fewer incidents of burglaries than neighborhoods with fewer security systems. The study noted that security systems make a home look less attractive to burglars without displacing burglaries to nearby homes. A alarm siren will scare away a criminal in 98% of home intrusions.

To catch a thief and keep him locked away in is not a simple task in any country.  Evidence is needed, and a security camera with a 700 tvl lens ( we recommend the Sony Effio adjustable lens) or greater (tvl)  is needed to achieve a conviction.  Many people come to us and say well Price____ sells cameras for $.  I say yes but the lens is only 480 or 600 tvl and will never get a clear image to be used in a court of law.

Placement of all camera and outdoor siren wires needs to hidden in the walls, at the roof line with in the walls and not on the outside of your building running up it, as they can be easily cut.  We are CCTV Certified and are prices are much lower than others.

A good neighborhood watch is free and can assist in deterring crime at no cost for your neighborhood.  Please get to know your neighbors and share phone numbers.  We will translate if anyone is interested in inviting the police to get to know your neighborhood watch group.  The police patrol our neighborhood late at night and they have our support.

Next is age, if the criminal is under 18 guess what he/she is not convicted in a court of law, as he/she is not an adult. Working with schools and the local police can help set kids on the proper track.  The police in Bocas have been able to lower the crime rate with a youth program.  We encourage working with the community, including fund raisers to help with ambulances, youth groups and police crime kits.  This week once again there was not an ambulance available for transportation of a patient to David. Please have a back up plan!

Last of all, is getting to know the local Police, Bomberos and learn enough Spanish to communicate to them to report a problem at your home is essential.  Many of them do speak some English.  Alto al Crimen is also available to call the police, ect and speaks English.

Free home evaluation and safety information is on our web site. www.safehomepanama.net

Here are some important numbers:

Important Numbers

Boquete Police: 720-2145,  720-1222
Cell phone in Boquete Police car 720-1222
Police car: 6885-5829
Boquete BOMBEROS (Fire Dept and ambulance):  720-1224  

Alto al Crimen 6477-6662  English speaking

Safe Home Security
Mike Niscoromni 6759-4310

Suzanne Miller  6716-5473 English and Spanish will help with an emergency and or police introduction.
Daneisa Vargus 6888-0854  English & Spanish
alarm@safehomepanama.net or ecoquestpanama@gmail.com

___________________________________________________________________
The above message was distributed by News Boquete, a free subscription-based community service.
News Boquete's ONLY public email address is news.boquete@gmail.com.
For more info and use policy, visit https://dl.dropbox.com/u/105014438/News_Boquete/News_Boquete_Policy.pdf.

If replying to this message, reply ONLY to the ORIGINATOR (typically your email application's 'Reply To' function works).

To stop receiving these emails, send a message to news.boquete@gmail.com with the word unsubscribe in the subject line or body of the message.

© 2013, News Boquete. All rights reserved. Public redistribution strictly prohibited without prior written permission.

To support Bid4Boquete charity, visit www.bid4boquete.com.