Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
|
|
Hi Jackie:
Some places are probably hard to protect. A big city with lots of streets running in lots of directions with lots of big buildings would be tough.
But, let's face it, a clever teenager with a few thousand bucks could go to Radio Shack and buy enough equipment to put up a half dozen security cameras in Pointe Milou. They could be monitored realtime or have tape that was examined if an incident occured. Once crooks knew that comings and goings were on camera, it would dissuade all but the most clever or the most stupid among the thievery world. The most clever would, bein sur, look for easier pickings. The most stupid would be caught pretty quickly.
PM has one road coming in and is otherwise surrounded by water meeting steep rocky cliffs. It is exactly the type of geographic stronghold that has been favored by fortbuilders for millenia. To act as though it can't be guarded ignores thousands of years of human history.
|
Petri
Reged: 01/19/04
Posts: 1350
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
|
|
Quote:
Anyone from Any EU country (and not all are wealthy) can travel to SBH on their passport. That is where the money is. Of course I cannot imagine stealing an old ipod, but maybe a laptop.
So why people are advised to not carry iPod white headsets in e.g. big cities? ;-)
Anyway, anyone from ANY country, wealthy or not, can travel to SBH quite easily. Nothing to do with EU, US, or anything else. I doubt anyone seriously criminal has any problems obtaining a passport of some kind. You can always find dirt cheap flights and hopping from island to island is not that expensive with the boats. In the movies all the criminals have private jets, big yachts and everything ;-)
Anyway, in most places you can find enough money locally somewhere to rob and you don't have to go all the trouble to get to St. Barth. The robbers could even be local, or from any of the few dozen nearby islands. If you travel all the way from US or Europe to St. Barth for robbery, you're after some serious money.
|
Petri
Reged: 01/19/04
Posts: 1350
Loc: Helsinki, Finland
|
|
Quote:
Unfortunately firearms are readily available in St. Maarten and Anguilla even through they are for the most part illegal. Would not be too difficult to smuggle them into SBH on a boat. The problem is not with firearms owned by the law abiding - it is with the illegal firearms in the hands of the criminal elements and that can occur in SBH as readily as any number of places.
There's a connection between the number of legal and illegal firearms, you don't "buy illegal firearms" but basicly the legal ones are converted into illegal by unwilling or unexpectd change of ownership, so to speak.. True, most criminals have no problem of obtaining arms anywhere, it's just a question of how easy it becomes.
|
Andynap
Reged: 10/24/02
Posts: 12360
Loc: Philadelphia
|
|
QUOTE:"Well, The Buccaneer is a property about the size of Pointe Milou and from a purely geographical standpoint it would be a lot easier to infiltrate than Pointe Milou. Yet it is locked down by The Armstrongs and anyone planning to cause harm to their fellow man would be advised to look for other locations. "
My recollection of the Buccaneer is that they have a gate at the front entrance and their own private security force. Pt. M is too isolated for regular patrols. A walkie- talkie? Who would be on the other end?
--------------------
Andy -
St. Barts- where no day is ever the same and one day is not enough
|
Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
|
|
Andynap: PM has only one road coming in. A simple security camera running a tape would be enough to dissuade many once it was known that cars coming and going were being monitored.
"And as you can see here ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this car entered the neighborhood at 4:05 and left at 4:26, exactly the time that M and Mme Victim reported being awakened by burglars".
For the Uberprivacy types among us, every morning in which no burglary had been reported, the tape would be erased.
|
Andynap
Reged: 10/24/02
Posts: 12360
Loc: Philadelphia
|
|
I think a security camera would be the first thing stolen. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury- there is no evidence to look at. You are dismissed."
--------------------
Andy -
St. Barts- where no day is ever the same and one day is not enough
|
Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
|
|
The key in this type of thing is to do something simple at first. Nothing elaborate or horribly expensive. Just do enough to let would-be burglars know that the area is monitored and not free pickings. A simple security camera on the road would scare off some. Heck, we have people in this site 24/7. Even a webcam with US monitoring it would send a message. LOL.
Having written all this, and not wanting to discount some rather traumatic experiences related in this thread, we need to remind Newbies that St Barth is one of the safest places on earth. Yes we must exercise reasonable caution and the locals are indeed aware that there are some issues that need tending. Even so, I feel reasonably certain that St Barth will remain one of the safest and best places to go for many years to come.
|
Andynap
Reged: 10/24/02
Posts: 12360
Loc: Philadelphia
|
|
Well maybe it is the safest and maybe not. Many villas have the open design that is difficult to secure and invites a robber if he wishes to trespass. There have been more robberies this year reported than ever. I won't stop going but I take my normal safe precautions no matter where I am- St. Barts or no St. Barts.
--------------------
Andy -
St. Barts- where no day is ever the same and one day is not enough
|
Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
|
|
Quote:
I think a security camera would be the first thing stolen. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury- there is no evidence to look at. You are dismissed."
The camera would be running tape to an offsite location and the tape of our would-be thieves would be nicely preserved elsewhere.
I didn't mention this part in public so as not to alert our would-be thieves, but you would have several (probably three) cameras using the military concept of triangulated crossfire. Our would-be thieves stealing Camera One would be nicely taped by Cameras Two and Three with that data being fed reel-time (a pun!) for offsite safe storage.
Actually, statistics show that a DUMMY camera that doesn't even have film or even work will scare away some. It is kind of like a sign on your fence that say "Beware Of Big Dog".
"But Pierre, there may not be's the bigs dogs. Should not we at least tries it?"
"Not me, mon ami"
|
Island Visitor
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 10396
Loc: Retraité
|
|
Quote:
I won't stop going but I take my normal safe precautions no matter where I am- St. Barts or no St. Barts.
Bingo. D'accord.
|
bto
Reged: 04/10/03
Posts: 1452
|
|
We won't stop going either, but one of the questions I'm going to ask the villa company is, "Can the villa doors be locked?"
No place is exempt from this kind of thing, even in SB, however, having stayed in one of those villas above the Chris, I can't stop thinking about it. I can not even imagine how frightening that must have been to awake to some stranger sliding open that door to the bedroom.
In February we stayed in a rather "budget" villa that was nestled between 2 other villas. The deck sat up over the driveway but the sliding doors did not LOCK! There was no safe either and that drove me crazy! We had no problems whatsoever but those are important issues for some of us and believe me, I'll be asking those questions before I put down money for the next place.
Those villa owners need to stay on the gendarmes to come to some sort of solution to this matter. Probably easier said than done.
bev
|
JEK
Moderator
Reged: 01/20/04
Posts: 10983
Loc: Northern Virginia
|
|
Quote:
We won't stop going either, but one of the questions I'm going to ask the villa company is, "Can the villa doors be locked?"
I try to consolidate all my technology into a lockable BR or office in the villa. Even that isn't a sure thing, but it would make it more difficult for the perps. Also we always use the safe for as much as it will hold.
--------------------
Carnaval 2009: Mardi 24 Février 2009!!!!
JEK
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Re: Pt. Milou Robberies -1st Hand!
[Re: 
Edit
Reply
Quote
