Recent Crime Articles....

[JaxPaul24]

Hello everyone, just came across these recent articles and wasn't sure if they had already been posted. 
US Air Force Vet Killed during home robbery:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/21679-american-killed-in-north-colombia-robbery.html


Cali surpasses Medellin as most violent city in Colombia and is ranked 11th in the WORLD according to this particular study.  Medellin was 14th, Cucuta 23rd, Pereira 35th, Barranquilla 42nd.  In comparison to the US, New Orleans was 21st, Detroit 30th and St. Louis 43rd:   
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/21503-cali-more-violent-than-medellin-global-violence-index.html
       

I was in Barranquilla last Feb/March and Cali/Santa Marta/Rodadero this last October.  I have never had any problems on either of my trips but that being said I guess I am in no real worry to start spending an extended amount of time over there.  Short 2 to 3 week trips there will be my norm until my baby boy is older and I decide where exactly I would like to spend my time.  These types of reports/incidents do have me concerned about possibly living or opening up a small business over there like I would like to eventually do. The American business owner killed a few months back in the Santa Marta/Rodadero area in broad daylight got my attention too since I had just been there. Crazy!        Anyways, I'm going back to Colombia in April and just trying to decide where exactly.  Looking at Cali or Barranquilla.  Cali #11 most violent city in the WORLD?  Yikes...what the heck am I thinking?  Hahaha....  I am also looking into Bogota because I enjoy the cooler weather and I am attracted to the business/professional type women that I hear are plentiful there.  I hear great things about Medellin but I'm not as comfortable going there on my own because I know it can be a very dangerous city.  I have good people established now in Barranquilla, Cali and Rodadero that I trust to take good care of me so that's where my comfort zone is as of right now.  AND yes.....I'm still looking for my Miss Right!  Alrighty...just thought I share those articles.

[mudd]

wow, cali and medellin are pretty dam high. havent been to cali in  years but i know medellin can be a bad place sometimes. Mostly its local crime, robberies, muggings/ foreigners and partiers being drugged and then robbed. but you get the real big ones,  like the narco hit in the disco a while back where 5 or 7 by-standards were killed.


you might want to try Piereria or Armenia if you want to stick with colombia.  i myself want to take a trip to the Dominican republic, or Ecuador later this year.

[JimD]

At this link you can read all the crime news stories from Cali today...but you have to read Spanish.
http://www.elpais.com.co/elpais/judicial
 

[Gato4Astrid]

At this link you can read all the crime news stories from Cali today...but you have to read Spanish.
http://www.elpais.com.co/elpais/judicial

If you have Google Chrome, then the page can be translated into English

[V_Man]

In my limited experience there were a lot more police in Cali than in Bogota.
The police are basically everywhere in Cali. OK not everywhere but I'll see them. They certainly are visible in the city and also on the roads in and out of the city.

It took me a while to get my head around the public's attitude to the police.
On the one hand they will not hesitate to ask a policeman for directions. On the other hand if a robbery occurs they will not assume that some police are not complicit and therefore when a crime occurs they don't really trust the police. Another thing I found weird was the lack of respect for police and the law in general in terms of crowd control. Apparently once a crowd forms it is optional to follow the orders of police.

Most of the police I saw were young. They also have a dilema. What do you do with a petty criminal who lives in poverty? The court is not going to punish these people. Throwing them in remand is not going to help. Also the police don't want to be the bad guys all the time after all the history of corruption. Hence the police don't really want to deal with poor petty criminals.

I'd never treat a police officer anywhere like some of the locals treat them in Cali. These guys are young and armed but sometimes people just ignore them. I am informed by the locals that the police get the repect that they have earned. I.e. limited. I can't argue with that.

I dealt with police in Cali and other parts of Colombia many times and they were always helpful and friendly to me. Although I certainly would never want to be arrested by them.