Lisa

The last paragraph is very disturbing. Check your backseats! <BR>___________ <BR> <BR>From NEWSDAY, Travel Section: <BR> <BR>In Dutch St. Maarten, the police department has drawn up plans "to stem the recent spate of crmes." Police Inspector Derrick Holiday said the plans include greater emphasis on community policing and the recruiting of auxiliary police officers. He said the department will give special attention to hotel and tourism areas especially sensitive to crime. More police cars will be bought to patrol those areas. Holiday said the number of patrols has already been increased. "We're patrolling in full swing," he said. <BR> <BR>Police and prosecutors attribute the crime wave to increased drug traffic, an outbreak of joblessness caused by a series of destructive hurricanes and an influx of foreign undesirables." <BR> <BR>Crime is a particularly sensitive issue on islands where tourism ranks as the major source of income. Local leaders are not eager to publicize a hazard that may drive away tourists. "We can't deny crime exists," said one St. Martin hotel executive. "But that doesn't mean we have to advertise it." <BR> <BR>At the Grand Case Beach Club on the French side of the French-Dutch St. Martin, security has been tightened in recent months. Steve Wright, the beach club manager, said the measures are intended not so much to prevent crime as to keep unwanted outsiders from the club's facilities. <BR> <BR>"Around here, crime has been confined mostly to purse snatchings," Wright said. <BR> <BR>Throughout St. Martin, beefed-up police contingents constantly patrol the streets. A newspaper called Teen Times, headquartered on St. Martin, has warned that the surge in crime threatens the tourist industry. "Committing a crime is becoming more attractive to young people, and efforts are needed to stem the tide," said the newspaper's editor, Michael Granger. "The future of the youth is in jeopardy, since tourism is our bread and butter." <BR> <BR>Among the criminal techniques prevalent on St. Martin, police say, is an MO in which criminals hide in the backseats of tourists' parked automobiles and rob them upon their return. <BR>

Jean

Yikes! Hiding in the back seat?!? That's like my worst nightmare. <BR> <BR>Good reason to rent a convertible! <BR> <BR>

Jill

Don't rent a convertible. It and everything in it will get stolen. And don't put anything in your trunk. Trunks get broken in to all the time in lovely St. Marrten, including mine last year.

tom

Agreed about the trunk issue. And, if you must put items in your trunk, do so at your hotel (where no one can see you put things in your trunk). Loading your trunk at the beach in plain sight is like ringing the dinner bell. <BR>

Pamela

<BR>Not worth the effort! We'll go back to Aruba where we always felt safe. <BR> <BR>

tim

I agree re. Aruba. Great island! <BR> <BR>

Jane

Lisa, <BR> <BR>You have a very serious problem, you should seek professional help. She has doctored thed articled that only St. Martin is disucssed. <BR> <BR>For the complete article, where other destinations are reported on, please help yourself to this link: <BR> <BR>http://www.traveltalk.com/cgi-bin/ta...ravel/4526.msg <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

Jerry

The article is a very long one and Lisa merely cut the section pertaining to St. Martin. It was not misquoted or changed, but cut down in length. <BR> <BR>Why are you so defensive, anyway? What hotel do you own? Crime hurts the tourism industry, huh? <BR> <BR>

Jane

I guess I would ask, what is her vendetta against St. Martin. She has posted this message all over the place, along with articles 3 years old. But when she she asked to speak to specifics, she moves on to another board. <BR> <BR>If people are really looking to take a Caribbean holiday, they should be presented ALL the facts, in order to make a fair decision.

jane

Thought I'd bring forward some of the stats from the article (save you reading all of it) <BR> <BR>You read the article. <BR> <BR>What was that about people in St Eustatius arming themselves against crime, St Kitts sex offenders, a stolen army machine gun on Curacao, 104 on death row in Trinadad and Tobago, 47 in Jamaica and 40 in the Bahamas, 1000 murders in Jamacia in 97, and the UN ambassador that disappeared in St Kitts and the suspect threatens to kill Americans if they try to take him out of the country??? <BR>

SCPhoenix

Gosh! After a few readings of messages on this board today I have been totally turned off of the Carribean Islands. If people are that bothered about their experience at a particular location that they will make all efforts to tell the world then something must be going on. <BR> <BR>Susan