Any crime yet???

Hi

Reading on the other forums there seemed to be a pattern of burglaries in the first few months of people moving in on a site. Ive heard a few people have moved in already on the San cayetano site and wondered if anyone had heard of any problems  with break-ins yet?

Gill im going to copy you (worry worry worry)

Tina x

Hi Tina,

Worry, worry, worry. I am sure the site is safe. What you have to remember is the builders are there during the day, plus the staff  are in the Sales Office and at night time there is supposed to be a Security Guard. I guess the problems may start when the site is completed so make sure you have a good security system and change your locks. From what I have seen of San Cayetano, it looks like a small friendly "Village" and hopefully there is very little crime there. Not like you get in the larger towns.

I wonder if the people who have moved in know about this site because I am sure if they did then they would be able to answer lots of our questions and put our minds at ease.

"Hello, if anyone is out there who has moved in, please check this site and I promise Tina and I will provide the wine and olives"

Gill x

Hi All     Sheila here     we were  on site this morning looking around  and i hate to say it   but some of the  postal pidgeon holes have been vandalised by the local  kids from the lovely friendly village    hope this  doesnt burst any bubbles

............................................OH, I had visions of the spanish kids chasing butterflies and picking buttercups not beating our pidgeon holes with baseball bats. Is there a spanish supernanny anywhere???

Gill, those olives might have to wait, ive got some pidgeon holes to spy on!

Hi Sheila & Alan

Does that mean that the security guard is no longer on site??

Hopefully when more people move in the local kids may not hang around the site so much.

From what we can gather there is only a couple of quads occupied permanentlyat present & these are in the inner walkways.

Have just been on the Senorio de Roda message board as we have rented there in the past & was alarmed to see that they are having problems with break ins in the day. When we purchased we were assured by our agents that crime was virtually non existent tin this area of Spain. It is obviously something we are going to need to discuss as a community once we actually get out there.

Sue & David

Hi everyone,

We are just back from spending a week out there, we managed to get on to the site last Sunday morning and spent a couple of hours looking around, then again last Saturday afternoon. On both occasions the builders had finished but we never saw anything of a security guard and were able to wander around freely.

We did hope to get on one evening after the builders had finished but some were still working till it was too dark to venture on. Good news I suppose, as it shows they are dedicated and keen to get on and get the job finished.

The local kids were having a high old time on the amenities in the play area.

Janet & David

HI Everyone

found this on another site, might be of interest (worry worry worry)

     http://www.rejagard.co.uk/index.html

hi tina

reja looks good i would like to put one to test i know when an alarm rings here in the uk no one batters an eye lid.

 just booked a flight for this weekend cant wait

bye for now

iain

Photo of vandalised post boxes in shared photo's.....notice damaged light also !

Thanks for the photo!!

I was expecting spanish swear words sprayed all over it. Well its a shame its happened but could have been worse. In the paper today a group of young kids the youngest 4yrs old mugged an elderly lady... now that is shocking!!

x

Hi Shiela, Alan & Costacalidaexpert

Just wanted to ask people currently living there....... ive had a few private mails recently regarding the crime in spain and people from this country telling me that muggings and burglaries out there are terrible. Have you had any such experiences yet? or can you tell me what the crime is like in Murcia from your point of view?

Tina

Hi all,

Tina did ask for my thoughts on the crime issue, so here goes.

Sadly crime is a fact of life for us all wherever we live.  In my time here I have not found it to be any worse than in the UK, and I think statistics would bear this out.  One thing I have noticed is that the criminal element of Spanish society does tend to gravitate towards areas with larger concentrations of foreign residents.  This is for a combination of reasons; foreigners are less aware of the modus operandi of Spanish burglars, for example, they can get in through seemingly impossibly small openings (so for your own safety please remember not to leave ANY windows open and unattended, even for a moment); they are more brazen and will walk through an open front door whilst you are upstaIrs or at the back of your house; most importantly of all, foreigners are known to be less ready to report crime to the police because of linguistic difficulties.

As elsewhere, we can all help ourselves, which means never leave anything on show in vehicles, even if you are only leaving your car for a moment.  I was very sorry to hear about volfen's incident and I pass on my best to them both.

Never leave a handbag out of your sight on the floor whilst you are having a meal, there have been criminals who have hooked unsuspecting ladies' bags away from by their feet using fishing line.

There are also young males on scooters who are known to do 'drive-by' bag snatches, so if you are carrying a bag, remember to keep it on your arm or shoulder further away from the road.

It is tempting to dress up in all your finery if you are going out for a special occasion, but don't make too much of a show of your jewellery.  It sparkles much more in sunny Spain and can make you interesting to the wrong kind of people.

The sophistication of criminals in Spain is also something which can suprise the unwary resident.  I shudder sometimes when I see people busily exchanging address in the open on here, then going on to tell everybody who cares to read it just exactly when their property will be empty during the year.  Please remember when you post on here that you are making the information available to the whole www. and anyone with internet access can read this information.  This includes those with malicious intent and who may be assisted in the planning of a crime by what you yourself tell them.

With regard to reja locks, there are simple spring mechanisms which you can buy from any good ferreteria for next to nothing which will allow you to lock your rejas from the inside.  Believe me they are very effective. 

From what I can gather, most of the type of crime that we encounter is being carried out by foreign gangs of for example Moroccans or Eastern Europeans. 

I would say in conclusion, simply be aware, as you would in the UK.  If you see an odd looking character who looks out of place in the locale, then the chances are that he is indeed up to no good.  It is never worth confronting them however, as many are known to carry large knives.  Call the policia local, or, once things are up and running, one of the residents' committee, so that as many people as possible may be aware of a potential threat in our midsts.  Also, we can all try and keep an eye out for neighbours less able than ourselves.

From the postings I have seen on here, the people of our community seem to want to pull together to help each other.  This is excellent.  By continuing to do so, we can ensure that our development remains unattractive to the lowlife thieving scum.  Spain is really no worse than any other country for crime, but it is easy in the heat to become soporific and lazy, and to drop your guard for a moment.  As long as you remain as vigilant as you would in the UK, you have no more to fear than you do back home.

Felices fiestas to you all

CCe

Thank you CCE i appreciate all that info and your opinion on things. Ive heard quite a few horror stories. I would have quite liked it if our site was gated as well like phase 2 that would make it much harder for any one dodgy to commit any burglaries. Hopefully like you say we will all pull together and limit any such incidents.

another boy stabbed last night... its becoming a daily thing now in the UK... whats happening to society.

Thanks again

Tina

Good advice from CCE....Please take heed everyone.  In our case, the folder was not on view in the car, but hidden out of sight - lesson to be learned, if its important, never let it leave your person !      Crime is probably no worse than in UK, its just carried out in a different manner, and remember, the east Europeans have no concept of decency, and will quite happily leave you for dead without a backward glance...as one unfortunate woman learned near here recently...she stopped at a fake accident, was coshed, robbed, and her car pushed into the canal with her inside it !!!!  she did survive, but the robber obviously had less than no conscience !.....dont believe everything you see, and never stop unless it is obviously the Police !  

Oh my god..... im not sure if this is a good idea (emigrating) i feel quite frightened. Are there stabbings and things like here in the UK? panic stations have set in. People being pushed into canals, flippin henry!!!

I wont let this stop us going but i must admit i am a bit worried.

Dont worry Tina

crime is everywhere i live in manchester and worse things happen here i still feel safe.

you just have to be on the ball and dont leave yourself wide open you can still go to spain and enjoy life. dont think that when your having a bbq and you need to nip in to get the burgers you will have to lock the doors and windows

if we do start having bursts of crime then as a community we can do things like neighbour hood watch cctv baseball bats etc

what im trying to stress is try not to worry yourself things will be cool.

Bye for now

Iain

Hi Iain

I know what you mean BUT ive just read in the The Times that the UK is knife crime capital and the only countries worse are SPAIN and PORTUGAL.

The Sunday Times April 8th

Feelin wobbly wobbly wobbly. I will be ok i just need to get out there again, my imagination is running riot!!

Hi All,

first time visiting the site and OH my god there seem to be a bit of scarmongers re attacks of knife crimes in Spain, i have yet to hear where to buy a property that does not have any crime at all. If all we have to worry about is the local kids breaking a few letter boxes then i think we have made a good choice we did after all do a lot of research in various areas before we made our decision, and feel it is the right place for us.  We live in a large city and none of our family have ever been stabbed attacked etc. Tina can i ask you when was the last person you knew has been attacked ? You have to ask yourself these questions and not look on the negatives you cant go through life wondering the WHAT IF'S !!  It is not South Africa or the USA you have bought ,but we have visited both of the places and the crime rate is high but we survived.

Hi mgd

I know your right. I woke up this morning read that in the paper and just started worrying. Also i think because my friends who emigrated to S Africa are now moving back to the UK because crime is too bad out there (altho i realise S Africa is different). I just needed some reassurance i guess. I think a few of us have had the odd wobble at times and im feeling wobbly today he he. Theres nothing like having young children to set the worry sensors off.

Welcome to the site. San Cayetano is lovely and really felt like home for us so no regrets buying there at all. I think a huge part of our decision was based on quality of life for the kids and reading this crime stuff on the general forum and papers i had/ am having a moment of doubting our decision. I will be fine tomorrow. Oh and maybe watching that murder documentary in Australia last night didnt help either!!!!!!

Sorry for the wobble guys..... i will be back to my old self tomorrow. Lets face it, its the easter holidays, the kids are hyper on easter eggs, so im feeling just a wee bit stressed.

Tina x

Alex875/Iain,

Are you the floor safe guy? I read the post on general message board. ajust to say think it is a brilliant idea, especially for the people who are living permanently.

Good luck if you decide to go ahead.