About Crime in Dominical Costa Rica I

I was invited to speak at the monthly CAP meeting in Dominical. My experience as a survivor of a violent crime in Costa Rica has created a slight demand on my time for public speaking about the experience. So much of what I’ve been through has caused me to re-think my place here on planet earth and especially the beauty and power of my “community”.

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I used to have a link for Latigo K9 Protection Dogs website. I have not heard of them in some time and their website appears to be down or gone. I leave this note here until I hear something conclusive about them. They were immensely helpful to me in my incident and would like to promote them if they are still around. 
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(Links open a new browser window.)

Clarifications:

• CAP stands for Crime, Awareness and Prevention
• Saying that I was a survivor of a violent crime can convey the wrong impression about Dominical and The Zone. My event has been well publicized, but I need to clarify that violent crime isn’t really our main concern around these parts. I’m one of the very few that has incurred bodily harm due to crime in the area.
• I should mention that I chased my criminals when I caught them in the act of breaking and entering, which puts me squarely in the “bad example” category of how to behave with criminals. They tried to flee the robbery scene and I chased them.  When I cornered them, they attacked.

Moving On:
I have the experience nearly every time that I visit the States of mentioning where I live, and having the listener make a facial expression of obvious envy.  Costa Rica is appealing on so many fronts.  One thing that we need to keep in mind though is that Costa Rica is still pretty much a third world country.  The abundance of the past several years, based on tourism, industry and re-locators is still fairly new, and I don’t think that the knowledge of how to be a second (is there such a thing?) or first world country comes easily.  The government and police force still very much reflect third world mentality when it comes to the managing (or lack thereof) of crime.

What this all means is that we need organizations like CAP.  I am very much convinced that for all of us that enjoy visiting, living in, and those who are planning to retire to Costa Rica, CAP is a vital component to our success.

About CAP:
I say all that to get to where I say this.  CAP needs funding.  I know that there is funding available, it’s just a matter of directing where it goes.   For some reason, in my plight as a victim of crime, I received an impressive amount of help to pay my hospital bills.  My bill was around $110,000, and we received $90,000 in contributions.  This amount of contributed money went to help me, one guy.

Do you know what CAP could do with that amount of funding?  The Zone would become known as the “safe” place to be on planet Earth.  And this would be to the benefit of thousands, not just one.

There are many of us that live here.  There are also many of us that vacation here, and perhaps an even bigger number of those that we refer to as migrators who are here part of the year.  The biggest group in the Dominical area might be those that own undeveloped property. This is to say raw land with no building yet on it.  In times like the present, when prices are low, people buy land planning for their eventual move to Costa Rica.

If all, or at least a good percentage of all the individuals in these groups were to contribute the meager annual fee of $100, we’d be set.  We’d have security check points, private security, numbers to call…  this would be the place that the bad guys avoid.

Here is how you can contribute now:

1. LOCALLY: San Clemente’s business office in Dominical
2. ONLINE BANK TRANSFERS:
   to CAP Escrow Account from Costa Rican Banks (managed by the Law Offices of Randall Sanchez):
   Payable to NMC National Management Corporation, S. A. (ID number: 3-101-475990)
   SINPE Transfers from other Costa Rican Banks to BCR acct# 152 012 450 005 908 03
   Transfers from within BCR acct# 245-5908-0 (checking)
3. WIRE TRANSFERS: (If not in C.R. please send checks to US address to avoid wire transfer fees)
   Banco de Costa Rica, SWIFT (BCRICRSJ), 2nd Ave 4th St., San Jose, 010101, Costa Rica Account #: 245-005908-0
   Account name: NMC National Management Corporation),
   Account address: 50 meters north from I.C.E., San Isidro de Pérez Zeledón, 011901, Costa Rica
4. MAIL CHECKS TO US ADDRESS: (payable to NMC National Management Corporation):
   CAP SB 07
   12355 SW, 129 Court suite # 10
   Miami, FL  33186 – 6406

The CAP website: www.caponcrime.info

I will be posting CAP news here to my blog.  This is in no way a replacement for the CAP site.  They have actual photos of bad guys, instruction, news and great resources for living securely here in Costa Rica.  To get access to all of it you need to pay the annual fee of $100, or I think they said it was .27 cents a day.

Real estate is still unregulated in Costa Rica.  In the United States, where the industry is intensely regulated, a real estate agent must disclose if there is a sex offender, or other such individual in the neighborhood. This the agent must do in his presentation of property to a prospective buyer.  Concerns over SECURITY are becoming more prominent globally with each passing day.  The CAP organization is dedicated to preserving the security and in fact, improving the security of Dominical and all The Zone for all of us into the future.  These local real estate agencies and organizations are contributing $300 from every sale to CAP

• Guys In The Zone
• Coldwell Banker
• La Joya Perfecta (A local wellness development.  They have contributed from 3 deals to date.)

We’ll be adding to the list of contributors as I am made aware of them.