In a life-threatening emergency, you can’t afford to waste time. You need to have an agreement with neighbors that you can call for help included in your emergency plan — taped to your refrigerator or somewhere equally accessible. Don’t have a plan? Get the form here:Emergency contact worksheet

Even Rodny Direct members have been disappointed to learn that he cannot conjure up an ambulance in the middle of the night if one simply isn’t available. Rodny has helped thousands of expats navigate difficult problems. However, Rodny cannot guarantee the performance of emergency responders.

The Reality of Ambulance Service in Boquete

• There is only one public ambulance available at night. If it’s already on a call, you’re out of luck. To use it, you must first be evaluated by a doctor, which means getting yourself to the clinic. They need to confirm your situation is serious and that you’re stable enough for transport.

• It is illegal for taxis to transport seriously ill patients to the hospital unless a medical professional is present. Taxi drivers are liable if the patient dies en route. For the same reason, Rodny cannot call a taxi to take you to the hospital.

• You can call a private ambulance company, but late at night, they may need to locate a driver, an EMT, and a working vehicle—and then find your house.

The Best Way to Get to the Hospital in an Emergency

Don’t waste time! If you can’t get a private ambulance immediately, drive yourself or have a friend drive you to the hospital. Use your emergency flashers and drive as quickly as you safely can. If the police see you, they will escort you to the hospital.

So, MAKE A PLAN—and when a medical emergency happens, follow it. It’s up to you.

We are currently looking for volunteers to help with matching up people for regular check-in calls, especially for senior singles living alone. If you would like to be part of the buddy system, either as needing a buddy or volunteering to become a buddy, please reply to this email.

You can open it in MS Word and add information on your computer or print it and fill it out by hand.

Put the worksheet in a plastic cover of some kind and tape it on the refrigerator or the back of your front door, where anyone coming to help you will find it. Tell your buddy where it is located.

You can also provide a copy to a friend or buddy if you wish.

Emergency Information Worksheet

33.3KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

In my safety lectures I have spelled out how these robberies happen and what they are after. They all follow the same pattern and there is no reason for anyone to be a victim.

IN EVERY CASE, the robbers have advance knowledge of what they are after. Someone has tipped them off that your have:

• Money

• A safe

• Guns

• Drugs

But why don’t they just break in when nobody is home?

These are not random crimes of opportunity. They plan to come in as a group so they can put a gun to your head and force you to open your safe or reveal the location of the guns/drugs/money - that they know is there. They won’t shoot you if possible, but you will be tied up and pistol whipped and watch them ransack your house.

IN EVERY CASE, the homeowner has no idea the robbers are in the house until they wake up with a gun in their face. Having a gun will not protect you. In fact it is probably the reason they are there. It will be stolen and used by the criminals to commit more crimes. Even the most elementary intrusion alert can disrupt these crimes.

How to disrupt a home invasion:

• Motion sensor lights

• Driveway ding dongs and outdoor alarms

• Motion sensor alerts outside that wake you up inside the house

• Dogs - but often unreliable

• A boat horn pointed out the window if you have been alerted

So to sum it up, if you have any of the items listed in your house and ANYONE knows they are there, AND if your house is completely unprotected by intrusion alerts, then you are asking to be the next victim.

It is sad that this script has played out again in Boquete, but with a little awareness and precautions, there is no reason to fear becoming the victim of a violent home invasion.

Yesterday one of our members was followed. Parked near the library, two men were standing in front of her car. She thought nothing of it. As she started driving home, she noticed that two men in a car were following her through the twists and turns of town. She drove faster and they kept up with her. She was followed all the way to Alto Boquete through a neighborhood and only broke off after she entered a private development. A single woman in a car? What did they have in mind?

The festivals attract criminals, who take advantage of the crowds and confusion. During these times, we have to be extra vigilant and aware of our surroundings, even driving in our own car. Everyone should also take a close look at the security of their home and their neighbors too, because the bad guys sometimes drive around the neighborhoods looking for easy targets to rob.

What to do if you think you're being followed? A few things come to mind.

• If alone in your car, never stop and roll the window down for a suspicious stranger. Drive away.

• Let the bad guys know that you know that they are there. This takes away their element of surprise:

  • Make a turn and go around the block or turn around in a parking lot and drive back the way you came. If someone is following you that will become immediately evident.

  • Do something wierd. Slow down and drive very slowly hitting your brake frequently. We all know how irritating it is to drive behind somebody who is really slow. If they're not following you, they will either honk or pass you. If they are following you and do nothing, then you can decide what else to do to irritate and confuse them.

• Drive to a well-populated area, like the parking lot of supermarket, and park directly in front where the security guards can see you.

• DO NOT drive to your home! They may be following you to rob your house.

• Call a friend! Two heads are better than one, and together, you can devise a strategy. If they are directly behind you, drive slowly and make it obvious that you are on the phone. Or don’t call, just pretend to be calling. Pretend to talk, then look back at them, and continue pretending to talk.

Use your phone camera to intimidate

• There are lots of ways to use a camera to intimidate bad guys. At a stop, turn around and pretend to take a picture of them through the back window. If you have to stop for some reason, put your camera on video recording and hold it up in front of you, like showing them a badge, recording all the time. Or, make a video call to someone on WhatsApp while you are driving. They can then witness whatever happens. Tell the bad guys to talk to your friend, you don’t understand Spanish.

If you have any other tips for staying safe during this time of crowds, let me know in the comments and I’ll put them out.

Mark Heyer

I hope it is incorrect, but these forecasts are becoming very accurate. If so, we all need to make emergency preparations NOW for water outages, no way to get anywhere on the roads, flooding, no electricity, etc.

Once again, this is the forecast for MONDAY. From now till then more of the same and possibly more to come after that. Here is the link to right now. Click on "Earth" lower left and look for the << >> buttons to see both the history and future predictions.

https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/850hPa/overlay=relative_humidity/orthographic=-81.76,9.85,2880/loc=-82.209,8.658

Buckle up - the first picture is today, the second is the forecast for MONDAY.

Here is the link: https://earth.nullschool.net/...

Safe Schools Program of the National Police

More than 4,500 students from Chiriquí participate in the Safe Schools program.

In the province of Chiriquí, more than 4,500 students from the districts of Boquete, Dolega and Gualaca are taking part in the Safe Schools program, which offers them the essential preparation for their professional growth.

This program includes preventive talks that address topics such as behavior, crime prevention, discipline and the importance of values.

Lieutenant Luis Palacios, Citizen Security Liaison for the National Police in Area B of Chiriquí, explained that the main objective is to educate students to keep them away from gangs, improve their academic performance and promote responsible behavior.

“We want students to recognize that they are the future of the nation, so they should make the most of the opportunities offered by the Ministry of Education,” said Palacios.

In addition, he highlighted the intention to prevent young people from becoming victims of organized crime, which seeks to attract them to criminal activities.

Palacios also highlighted that the program has had positive results, thanks to the effective communication with directors and teachers of the participating schools. “We also train parents, reminding them that they are the first ring of security for their children,” he added.

Eric Cabrera, director of the Benigno Tomás Argote School in Boquete, highlighted the importance of the program, which includes the participation of Lieutenant Palacios.

According to Cabrera, the presence of uniformed figures in classrooms is crucial so that information from authorities is communicated more effectively and contributes to the change of behavior in students.

Cabrera emphasized the need to continue with this type of program, not only in local schools, but at a national level, due to its effectiveness. “It is essential that we continue implementing initiatives like this, to support our youth in their development and decision-making,” he concluded.

Your comments are welcome

Everything you do to make your own house safer makes the entire community safer.

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The security products listed below are for example only. Alto Crimen does not endorse any particular brand or model. Please do your own research and find what will work best for your situation and budget. This list is organized on a home protection strategy that is easy to understand and provides a path to follow.

• Deter

• Detect

• Disrupt

• Defend

Deter - The first line of defense

By far the most cost-effective way to protect your property is to make it undesirable to thieves. Just like people, houses have attitude - some say “stay away” while others look like easy targets. The more you telegraph “go somewhere else” the less likely you are to become a victim.

• Avoid having dark areas around our house, garage, or yard that could hide prowlers. Solar motion detector security lights are cheap and effective.

  • Solar motion sensor lights - cheap, no wiring or batteries. Lots to choose from on Amazon. Lights that come on unexpectedly are more disruptive than always-on lights.

    

    

• Signage announcing protection by video cameras, dogs, etc.

  

• Do not provide obvious points of entry. Fences should wrap around and not have obvious weak points

• Visible motion sensor lights, cameras - No wiring, just stick them on a wall or near a gate.

  

• Shrubbery - bougainvillea, thick hedge, prickly plants
  around fences and windows

• Window bars or security screens

• Barking dog

• No open doors visible from the street

• Lights on a timer/motion sensor

• Fake TV - the best bang for the buck in home security. Makes it look like someone is home when you are not. Or put it in an unused bedroom even when you are home. It will stop robbers from coming in thinking you are asleep.

  

• Barbed wire/razor wire

• Safes make you a target. You do not want to have a safe in your house

• Owing a gun makes you a target if anyone knows about it

Detect - You need to know when someone is coming onto your property

With an alert, you have time to react, turn on lights, alarms and disrupt their plans.

• You must know when someone is coming onto your property

• Motion sensors - the first line of defense. They should give you an audio alert even if you are asleep. Please take a look at my review of the Yolink motion sensor. Other Yolink sensors and alarms can be connected and coordinated with the hub, including Alexa. The range from the base station is 1/4 mile - far more than most remote sensors.

  

• Motion lights - That come on as soon as anyone enters your property

• Dogs - They need to be guard dogs, not pets that sleep with you

• Push notification cameras - Get a warning from your phone

Disrupt - Make them go away

If you are home and you realize something is not right, you need to make a lot of noise and light - right now! A panic button by your bed that sets off a very loud alarm is a good idea. Boat horns are cheap and very effective, as loud as a shotgun. An alarm that turns on lights all around and inside the house works. A very bright flashlight flashing around will disrupt and an intruder even if you can’t see them.

• Sirens, alarms

• Air horn - cheap and very effective. No false alarms, keep one by your bedside. Like a shotgun, point in the general direction and blast away. Everyone for a block around will wake up. Great used in combination wiht a very bright flashlight.

  

• Flashlight - LED flashlights have come a long way in a couple of years. Pointing a really bright flashlight at the eyes of an intruder will blind and confuse him to the point where he can’t know exactly what is going on. If a perimeter alarm goes off, flashing a light around the yard is a good disruption technique.

  

• Panic button - can be set up with a Yolink system. By your bedside - hit it and all hell breaks loose.

Defend - Give yourself and your house a strong defense

If the bad guys can get into your house undetected through an unlocked door or window, you will be at their mercy. They will assert their dominance with violence. So make sure that your house is not easy to get into, even if all the previous precautions fail. YOU NEED TIME - MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THEY ARE COMING BEFORE THEY GET IN.

• Spare keys are kept with a trusted neighbor, not under a doormat or planter, on a ledge. Renters, make sure YOU have the ONLY set of keys to your house.

• All doors are locked at night and every time you leave the house-even if it's just for a few minutes.

• If there are glass panels in or near your doors, they are reinforced in some way so that they cannot be shattered.

• All entryways have a working, keyed entry lock and sturdy deadbolt lock installed into the frame of the door.

• Sliding doors and windows should have a stick in the track. Simple, cheap and effective.

• Every window in the house should have a working lock or is securely pinned.

• Windows are always locked, even when they are opened a few inches for ventilation.

• The most secure windows have bars or security screens. Especially small windows on the sides of the house that might make easy entry points.

• Guns - if you shoot someone in Panama, it will be the last thing you do in this country, regardless of who is hurt and who is “right.” Don’t put yourself in that position. Take care of the rest and a gun will never be necessary. And if you do have guns, make sure they are properly registered!

Please feel free to ask questions and make comments. You can reach us at info@altocrimen.com.

You can request an onsite home security assessmeant. We request a donation of $40 to build up enough to support more community services.

I have tried these products and find them to be well designed and reliable. This review is strictly a public service - I do not get paid if you buy the products. In addition, the information is advisory - I make no claims of effectiveness or suitability.

Community security means that everyone has a role to play

And everyone has a different appetite for what they are willing or interested in doing.

• I want to protect my house in the most cost effective way possible

• I want to help keep my neighborhood safe

• I want to work with others to make our community safer

In order to learn who is interested in what and how we will organize to get results, we need to know what you might be interested in. Your responses to this survey are confidential.

Community Security Survey and Signup

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The town of Boquete and province of Chiriqui are wonderful places to live - However, as more people discover the benefits of our lifestyle, crimes of opportunity also increase. Alto al Crimen, founded in 2010, is dedicated to providing a hub for community information from multiple organizations on the four levels of crime protection:

• Protect the community

• Protect your neighborhood

• Protect your home

• Protect yourself

This layered approach, with specific methods and techniques, for each layer, has proven very successful at drastically, reducing the crime rate in Boquete, and surrounding communities.

A community resource

We invite all members of our community to take advantage of the information provided on this site. You can subscribe for free and receive occasional tips, techniques and important news right in your email box. We promise to never sell your information or send you advertising.

Please look over the information provided on this site. Send a link to your friends so that they can benefit as well. Subscribe to receive updates on new technologies or methods to protect your own home and opportunities to cooperate with others in this ongoing community effort to protect the Panamanian way of life.

Get Involved

Community security means that everyone has a role to play - even if it’s just putting a sign up on your gate that let’s the bad guys know that they should get real jobs. You can let us know what you are interested in by checking some boxes on this form.

Community Security Survey and Signup

On September 2, 2024, a group of concerned expats presented an outline for organizing our community to eliminate the fear of becoming a crime victim. This presentation is a revival and modernization of information and knowledge accumulated since 2010.

Following is an edited version of that talk presented here in a form that you can easily digest. Please subscribe for ongoing tips, techniques, and information. Please pass this along to your friends.

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Crime in Boquete can easily cost us more than all the money we donate to legitimate charities. We cannot allow that to happen, and we can take action to make sure that it does not happen.

In 2010, a small group of expats and Panamanians came to together to address the rising crime rate in Boquete. As a result of this effort, a new and unique model for community security evolved and crime in Boquete all but disappeared.

In 2010 Caesar Sherrard, a native of South Africa, spoke to our Tuesday meeting and described how he had come from Belize after his eco-resort have been terrorized by robbers, who assaulted his guests at gunpoint, and killed one of his most valued workers and friend. He told us that he came to Boquete, because it would be a safer place to live, but that rising crime was taking Boquete down the same path that had ruined Belize.

From the audience at the Tuesday meeting in 2010, one person with their hands in the air and said "If you do something about it I have a check right here for $1000." Thus, Alto al Crimen was born.

Over the next years, AAC was generously supported by the community and its varied and innovative activities in Boquete reduced crime to the point where it was no longer needed and it was disbanded in 2019.

In 2012, AAC needed a person to answer a crime reporting hotline that was designed to create uncertainty among the criminals. Rodny, a physically disadvantaged Panamanian, became the hotline operator. It immediately became apparent that his services were far beyond crime reporting when his first call was from an expat whose husband was suffering a heart attack on the way to David. Rodny built his helpline service and a loyal following of expats into a valued and legendary community service.

In 2019, with the dissolution of AAC, Rodny became his own company, improved his technology, expanded his community services to Volcan, and created an interoperable sister company in Coronado. Today his members enjoy protection in their homes or wherever they or their guests are traveling in Panama.

You can sign up for RodnyDirect services here.

Each of these layers of protection is important. Community protection is the least expensive per person. Neighborhood watch requires organization but is still relatively inexpensive per person. Protecting your home is a cost for every homeowner, but is the most reliable way to protect yourself from crime. Protecting yourself, with guns or escape is dangerous and unreliable. All reasonable means should be taken to make the first three layers effective.

When we talk about crime, it's important to understand the definitions.

• Burglary is when a person enters your home and steal something without you being there.

• Robbery is when something is taken forcefully from you, for example, in a street mugging.

• A home invasion is when a person or group of people burst into your home when you were there and violently assaulted you. This is the most terrifying type of crime there is, but it is also the easiest to defend against.

It's important to recognize that there are many different police organizations operating in Panama. When you call the desk sergeant at the Boquete police station to report a crime, they may not have either the people or the ability to make a response.

The bottom line is that it is up to us to defend our community and prevent crime before it happens. This can be done if we cooperate as a community to do the job.

Each of these groups of possible criminals requires a specific line of attack to deal with them. Understanding who the criminals are, what they want, and how they operate is an essential part of developing our community situational awareness.

I would add to this slide opportunity. An easy way into a house. A valuable item in plain sight. No apparent defenses. If the bad guys have knowledge that you have something valuable, the easiest way to maintain control is to come in when you are not home. They may know that they can get into your home while you are asleep without waking you up. If you do wake up, they have the element of surprise and may use weapons to maintain control. This is why you NEVER want to let anyone get into your home without you knowing about it and giving you time to establish control and deprive them of surprise.

Any of these groups of people can potentially be burglars themselves, or even more likely sell you out to a burglar for a few bucks. Housekeepers and gardeners have the opportunity to not only check out your stuff, but to examine your security system, or lack of. Any time there is a group of workers building a house or preparing a road who can see your residence, there is a high probability that one of them might report to his burglar friend when you have packed up for a trip to Costco.

None of these things is life-threatening. 90% of the risk can be avoided by simply not becoming a display window for criminals. TVs used to be prime targets, but big screens are so big and cheap that they are not stolen much anymore.

The most unsafe thing you can have in your house is a safe. If someone had to come and install the safe or if there are workers in your house, they will know that you have a safe. You were setting yourself up for a violin, home invasion, and wish you guys the guns by to make your head and scream at you to open the safe. There are plenty of places to hide valuables that no one will be able to find. All the bad guys know to look at your toilet tanks and refrigerator freezer to find your hidden drugs. Maids will look in every drawer you have so don't think that stashing something valuable in the back of a bottom drawer is going to be protected.

There are lots of books available on how to hide things in creative ways. It isn't hard just think a little bit out of the box.

If someone is watching your house, they will know when you leave during the day. The average burglary only lasts eight minutes. Holidays and festivals bring bad guys who think they can get away with things and hide in the crowd.

In planning your security, it's important to realize that it's dangerous for the bad guys too. Your job is to make it look dangerous and difficult.

The two most important principles for home security are The two most important principles for home security are guard your perimeter and don't ever be surprised in your own home.

Many people think that their dogs will alert them and protect them in the event of a break-in. Indeed, guard dogs kept in a pen outside the house are an excellent warning system. However, pet dogs sleeping inside the house rarely provide a warning, and never physically protect the occupants. They may, however, provide a deterrent if the burglar sees that you have a larger dog or one, that's likely to make noise.

Guns are a whole separate topic. They are the absolute last resort in home protection. If anyone knows you have one, just like having a safe, you're very likely to be broken into with the intent of stealing your gun. There are very few examples of people who successfully protected their property from an invasion with a gun. Using them requires training and practice. And when you need a gun you need it bad and you need it fast. It's very unlikely that waking up out of a sound sleep at four in the morning you were going to be able to mount a defense.

This is the 4D strategy for designing your home defense.

• By far the most cost-effective method of home defense is deterrence. You want to convince the bad guys to simply move on. Houses have attitudes just like people do and criminals. Select houses that look like the owners are weak or don't care about their security.

• You need to know when someone is coming onto your property. There are many ways to guide the bad guys to an alarmed entry point that you have chosen.

• When someone does enter your property, you want to create one heck of a ruckus to disrupt their plans. Lights, sirens, boat horns, and even barking dogs will disrupt whatever they were planning to do and drive them away.

• You never want to be in the position of having to defend your house or your life against a violent attacker. It's important to have an escape route planned that you can use if you wake up and hear somebody crashing into your house. If you have paid attention to the first three principles, you will never have to face personal defense in your own home.

There are many ways to establish deterrence around your house. The main requirement is that it look like you were serious and you give yourself The main requirement is that it look like you are serious and you give your house attitude.

This gate looks like it would be hard to get through. There are steep drop-offs on both sides of the bridge and hidden Barbwire discourages anyone from trying to climb up the banks. It has warnings and obvious lights and a camera.

Warning, signs are effective, but you can't just go down to the store and buy a fake sign. The bad guys shop in the same stores and they know what the fake signs look like.

Inside the gate, a highly reliable motion sensor sets off an alarm in the house whenever anyone passes through the gate. An additional motion sensor light also comes on, along with the other motion sensor lights around the area.

The camera and the light that comes on when the gate is approached tell the intruder that they have been detected even before they attempt to enter.

Once an intruder has been detected, a variety of disruption techniques can be used. Both horns in particular are highly reliable, Once an intruder has been detected, a variety of disruption techniques can be used. Both horns in particular are highly reliable, never create false alarms, and wake up everyone within a half-mile radius.

As mentioned before, you never want to be in a situation where you have to defend your life in your own house. It's not like in the movies and however, you thought you were going to defend yourself it won't happen that way.

• Renters need to change the locks immediately. When you move into a rental house, there is no way of knowing how many copies of the keys there are. Landlords may have given keys to immediately. When you move into a rental house, there is no way of knowing how many copies of the keys there are. Landlords may have given keys to Workers, housekeepers and who knows.

• A person who can help you at any time of day or night is especially important for newcomers. RodnyDirect is every expat’s “Panamanian uncle.”

• Have a security audit done on your rental. Many things might not be obvious to a newcomer to Panama. Renters are frequent crime victims.

If you are stopped and the officer can smell alcohol on your breath, you are guilty and will receive a $250 fine. Then you can drive home on your own. Since the legal limit is zero, there is no point in asking for a breathalyzer test.

RodnyDirect is a unique bi-lingual helpline service for us in Boquete. When you join RodnyDirect, you fill out a personal profile that only he has access to, listing directions to your house, emergency contacts, medical conditions, your pet sitter, and anything else you care to add. You are covered anywhere in Panama and your guests are also covered.

Rodny’s service is legendary in Chriqui and a must-have for every expat.

Neighborhood Watch is an established and effective way to protect your neighborhood. If everyone does a little, the crime rate can be drastically reduced.

You can access the community interest form here.

The purpose of the form is to get an idea of who is interested in what so that we can begin to assemble like-minded teams to address community crime prevention. Even if you don’t want to participate as a volunteer, we are interested in what you think is important.

If you found this overview helpful, please subscribe to receive updates, tips on security and information about current crimes and how to avoid becoming a victim. Knowledge is power.

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