Now I will clarify right off the bat that I am no reporter, and much of what is below is from the TV coverage and newspaper, but It also includes personal conversations with a number of the locals, and their first hand experience with San Pedro's finest. And it isn't pretty.
The first news story that came to my attention was the transfer of the Police Chief from San Pedro. According to the papers many residents had been complaining to their councillors about the by the book approach to law enforcement. They preferred a more laid back approach, more suited to the way things are done on the island. The complaints worked and she will be moved out by the new year. Guess this could happen anywhere, but they may end up regretting this, as the following incidents illustrate.
On Dec 15 there was a big fundraiser in Times Square, not an uncommon occurrence there. The square is the main public gathering place right by the beach, about the mid point of the Town. The park is full of street vendors and food carts, a play area for kids and open spots for mingling. At some point during the evening a fight broke out and three officers came into to break it up. As is always the case, curious on lookers stop to see what is going on, and a bit of a crowd gathers. This went on for a few minutes, when one of the officers pulled out his gun and aimed it at the crowds, hand on trigger ( albeit safety on) and told everyone to back off. You can imagine how surprised everyone was: vendors, locals, taxi drivers, tourists; then even more so when they hauled out pepper spray and fired it directly at the crowds. Not a nice finish to the fundraiser.
Two nights later, another incident, this one even worse. The Tackle Box is a small pub on a dock right in Town, one that I visited during my stays there. This incident was viewed by a number of people right there at the pub, including several expats, one of which captured the drama on his cellphone. At some point in the evening there were some words exchanged between two men, one of whom thought another was getting a little too close to his woman on the dance floor. Never amounted to much, but as the man and woman left the bar, they're were greeted by officers who proceeded to hammer on the man with batons, then on the woman when she tried to stop it. One jammed the barrel of his gun into the mans mouth, while the other put the boots to the woman as she lay on the ground. Both were bloodied quite badly, and ultimately charged with assaulting a police officer. This is now two incidents where expats were direct observers, and as they bring a lot of money into the economy, they tend to be heard. We shall see.
After hearing these stories, they lead a little credence to a story related to me by one young man who will be on crutches for some time. He was with his buddies at a party when the police came in looking for contraband, which my guess is that someone had. He had gone outside and laid down on the ground with his hands on his head, where an officer shot him in the leg when he didn't get the answers he wanted to his questions. After the other occurrences, I am now inclined to believe it.
All in all, cause for sober second thought in relocating there.
No comments:
Post a Comment