Panama Crime Update June 2007

Recently (last 60-90 days) Panama has been experiencing a jump in crime. Panama is still much safer than the USA, the EU and probably Canada. Panama used to be relatively crime free and lately there has been a surge of crime, mostly in Panama City. The crimes to date have been simple robberies for the most part without any bodily injuries or deaths. We expect the police will adjust to this and have things back to normal before very long (month or two not more).

The chances of an armed robber surviving an encounter with the police are slight at best. He will probably be given one extremely brief warning to disarm and then the shooting will begin and the crooks always lose. Below is some of the crimes we have been experiencing with suggestions for improving the security and preventing the problem. By using common sense and some preventative measures you can easily drastically reduce your odds of becoming a victim. This is a recent phenomenon and the Panama Police are excellent at adjusting to things like this and bringing crime under control, they just need a little time to do it and they are working overtime at it right now. Many of the criminals are coming in from surrounding countries if you are wondering and the recently tightened visa controls and checkpoints will root them out.

Business Robberies – The perpetrators generally enter the business premises while the staff is in at the end of the day. They present firearms and rob the store and the employees of their personal property. They will take ID, credit cards, cell phones, watches, etc. They will at times collect car keys and take cars as well. The suggestion is to look into the store before you go in for signs that the store is operating normally. Do not enter the store if you do not see anyone standing around. If the store is desolate calmly walk away. The solution for the shopkeeper is to have a secure store and retain an armed security guard outside the door to let people in, or if this is too costly install a buzzer system and buzz in customers after you eyeball them through the door. Installing web cams in the store with a sign clearly explaining that the footage is being transmitted over the Internet to a server in another country will certainly present serious obstacles to the thieves. By the time the perpetrators realize what the web cam is doing it is too late they have been captured by the camera and can be identified. It is not very hard for a Webmaster to set this up for you where the footage is only stored for a few days. You can also explain that the footage is being viewed at another location in real time, which will make them think the police will shortly be on the way and they may abandon the crime scene. The odds of getting a stick-up team fluent in Internet web cams are remote.

Taxi Complicit Robberies – A team of bad guys works with a taxi driver who delivers fares to them at a convenient waiting place where they can present guns to the passengers and strip them of all their belongings. Works better on people who are not familiar enough with the streets to know the taxi has taken a detour. The cab driver will belly ache that he was robbed too and he is not in on it. The next twist on this is if the victim lives here they are then told to take the thieves to their house at gunpoint. Then the home and safe contents can be robbed and they may even decide to partake in sexual assault and have a little party in the comfort of your own home. The fix here is never use a cab that solicits you, you get your own taxi. Better yet retain a driver referred to you by a local.

Cash Declared at Airport Robberies – The theme is a foreigner enters the country and declares a large amount of cash to the authorities at the airport. People not declaring large sums of cash at the airport never have this happen to them that we know of. When he is driving into Panama City from the airport he gets bumped by another car and he pulls over and then the robbery begins. Apparently someone at the airport is identifying these people to the robbers. If something appears to not be an accident, in other words an intentional hit then it is a vehicular assault not an accident and you do not have to stop. You should continue driving with your flashers on, flashing high beams and blowing the horn. Keep your speed down to 20 or 25 so you do not lose control from a bump. Once they see you will not stop and are trying to attract attention they will probably depart but they may try to get alongside you and present weapons to you to get you to pull over. What to do then is your choice; I would not be so quick to stop. It is one thing to wave a gun that may be a toy and something else to try shooting. Shooting moving car to moving car takes special training and skill; it is only easy in Hollywood. The robbers my blow their ear drums out if they try shooting a .357 magnum inside of a small car with only one window down and that will make them feel awful enough to abandon the crime right away and do not forget this type of thief is stupid enough to try shooting at you with all the windows closed with the a/c on and that will not be very good for him with any large caliber gun (glass shards and noise). You could always try to swerve at them too at this point. If this happens and you are not going to stop you may want to increase your speed, a lot. Next try jamming the brakes if you are in front of them and then taking off again before they can hit you. This sort of aggression will not make them feel like they got the right victim. If you stop and submit to them there is no telling what will happen especially if you have a large amount of money. The correction to this problem is extremely simple; do not bring cash in to the country other than nominal amounts that do not need to be declared (under $10,000). This is the easiest and a most effective fix. If you are dead bent on bringing cash in then you should have an account at the bank located at the airport. We would need to set this up some time in advance. You would notify them that you are bringing in cash in such and such amount on a certain date and explain what the source of the funds was and the purpose for the cash. Your flight would need to arrive when the bank is open. Within the airline terminal secured area you would go to the bank and make the cash deposit. End of problem. This is what is done with the people working in the Colon duty free zone that need to use cash at times. Our law firm always suggests the clients avoid the use of cash.

Home Invasion Condo Robberies – The way this works is the security guards are often complicit with the robbers or the robbers fool the security guards into letting them in. They may pose as a medical team responding to an emergency and need to get in right away. The robbers enter the building where the tenants have their guard down due to the security staff downstairs. They will go to a high floor and start trying doors to see if one is left open. Many people do stay in their apartments with the door unlocked, not a good idea. They will also ring the doorbell and the tenant or the maid will just open the door. Then they are presented with a weapon and the robbery begins. This seems to be more popular in the newer condos where there are a high percentage of foreigners. In the older condos the security guards have been around and are tested already. The tenants in the older condos are locals and know the tricks and will quickly point the finger at the security staff and the staff knows this. The newer buildings do have security cameras, which is a deterrent not often, found in the older buildings. The better buildings have two guards at all times. One outside the building or in the outer lobby and one inside. The idea is that the two guards are separated so as to not allow the robbers to get control over both of them at the same time. If one senses a robbery he can use his cell phone to summon help and then the crime is over. Crooks in Panama understand that surviving a hostage situation is minimal at best and they tend to resort to flight when something goes wrong. Of course the fix is to keep the door to the condo locked with a secure deadbolt at all times. One should also have a peephole to see who the heck is ringing your bell. If you have no idea what is going on do not open the door. If you do not recognize the person(s) do not open the door. Don’t be hesitant to call the security guard downstairs and say you are worried about the incident right away. They can do some things to help the police catch them like shut off the elevator.

Securing the Condo – First issue is the doors to the halls, fire stairs etc. Each door needs to be secured. You should have at least solid core wood doors, which are far from easy to break down. The bolt should have at least a one-inch throw. Adding in a claw lock is a plus for the nighttime. Better yet is a security door, which looks like a regular door but is not. It will have bolts on all four sides of the door that goes into the special frame that comes with the door. This prevents one from inserting a small hydraulic jack with a 2 X 4 into the frame and cranking the door away from the frame enough so the lock bolt swings clear of the frame. Having a claw lock stops this to some extent as well. The dead bolt stops the door from being pushed or kicked in and the claw lock stops the door from being spread open. There should be one or two steel plates inside the special security door with a cosmetic wood covering. A good one weighs 600 pounds with the frame. The ones with two steel plates inside should be able to stop any handgun round. The ones I have seen have steel plates of 1/8 inch and two of these separated by some wood is going to give any handgun round a lot of resistance including armor piercing ammo. They have ridiculously secure locks that would be picked only by a world expert and maybe not even by such a person. When you see the police smash a battering ram into doors and then come down after the second or third swing, well this is never going to happen with one of these doors with the secure frame which is also 1/8 inch steel securely attached into a cement wall. I think the battering ram might break first. Remember if your condo has two doors then both need to be fortified, you are only as secure as your weakest entry point. You can also consider using one of these security doors to make a safe room in your condo. The room should have all concrete walls and no window that is accessible. Putting good bars on a window also works. The room can serve as a safe for valuables. You could also have a safe in the room as well. If there was trouble you and or your family could retreat to the safe room, use a cell phone kept charged in the safe room to call for help and wait it out. This tactic is perhaps more suited to a single-family dwelling. Make sure you know whom your maid is. Do not let her ever leave the condo with a key, never ever. Bad boyfriends can corrupt good maids. If you have a safe keep it in a locked closet hopefully one the maid never gets inside of. It is easy to deadbolt a closet door with a key lock. Never let any workmen see the safe. Do not let jewelry lay around when workmen come to the house. They often bird dog for the robbers.

Securing the Single Family House – This is a lot trickier than a condo. The house is a much softer target than the condo and must be hardened up a bunch for security. First make sure there is a lot of good iron fence work all around the property. The yard and the windows and even iron gates in front of the doors. Make sure all external doors are at least solid core wood doors with a one-inch throw secure deadbolt and a claw type lock. Have an alarm system installed using wireless switches on all the doors and windows. Have the alarm not be dependent on the phone line. It should work with a radio or cell phone so if the phone lines are cut you still have an alarm that is going to bring help fast. Generally you will have a maid or someone home so the use of inside motion detectors is not crucial since they will be off almost always. If you have pets an alternative to motion detectors is to use glass break sensors and take some closet doors inside the house that are rarely used and put regular alarm door switches on them. If a crook came in through the roof he would probably open those closet doors and then trigger the alarm. If you have a sense of humor label one of these closets with an exit sign (Salida) to make sure the jerk opens it, take it to the next level and have a one way lock on the door with a strong spring closure so the idiot locks himself in the closet market exit. Have the alarm set to buzz or chime every time a door or window is opened when the alarm is off during the day. This gives you a sense of what is going on in the house when you are home and the alarm is off. Have a wireless panic switch for the alarm system that lets you summon help anytime with alarm on or off and keep it with you or nearby. If you want the police to catch the crooks have the alarm not ring any bells or sirens when it goes off. If you want to scare them away use a siren (suggested method). Setting up a safe room inside of a house can be a real good idea using a security door with steel plates and make sure there is no window access to the room. The walls should be solid cement. At least you should put solid core wood doors on the bedrooms where your family members sleep with strong deadbolts. If a bad guy gets in the house you do not want him getting in to where you and your family is. Ownership of dogs is suggested for home security. Experts will tell you it takes an 80 pound dog to reliably knock a grown man down. Two large dogs are a serious deterrent. Two or three crooks may try to get over on one dog but two is a whole other scenario. Remember a good dog goes at this as a fight to the finish and there is no throwing in the towel for them. You will absolutely need to retain a trainer to help you train your dog not to take food unless you or the maid gives it to him. Otherwise they will just poison the dog. A capsule of poison can be inserted in meat without alerting the dogs sense of smell if it is done right. Other ways to defeat a dog are to capture the dog using a dogcatcher loop on a stick through the fence and tie the dog to the fence or choke him to death if they are strong enough. So keep the dog away from the external fence or train him to stay four or five feet away. Another method is to take a pitchfork and stab the dog with it. I doubt you will be likely to see crooks running around with a pitchfork and trying to manipulate it through the fence. Dogs are best kept inside when you are inside so they can protect best. I prefer dogs of at least 100 pounds. Shooting a dog this large is tough. A dog charging can run extremely fast and even a cool trained man is going to have trouble making the shot at a charging dog especially at night, let alone two dogs. Anything except a secure head or spine shot is likely going to result in the dog surviving long enough to cause some real damage or death to the intruder. I like dogs like: Dogo Argentinos, Neapolitan Mastiffs, Dobermans, Rottweiler, German Shepherds, Akitas, and Chows etc. You will be vulnerable when you return to your house and have to get the car through the gate to park it. Consider an automatic gate that turn on several bright lights when deployed so you would see anyone hiding in the shadows. Look around before parking the car. Stay in the car until the gate closes behind you making sure no one tries to sneak in. Be vigilant when leaving by car also. Make sure no one sneaks in the open gate when you are pulling out. Take the time to watch until the gate closes all the way.

Campaigning for a Robbery – It is easy to do this. Here is how it is done. Make sure you and your spouse wear a lot of flashy gold and diamond jewelry. Drive expensive cars and flaunt your wealth. This will surely result in robbery overtime. Forget the jewelry, have a middle of the road normal car and do not flaunt anything and you will probably not be a victim.

Firearms in Panama – If you have a Pensionado or permanent residency you can get a gun license in Panama. This license also entitles you to carry the guns concealed. Panama does not allow the new importation of high power hunting rifles and assault rifles. Older ones already registered are fully transferable. Not all high-end brands of guns are available. Glocks, Walther, Tangfolio are usually available. Armscorp guns are abundant. Exotic ammunition is in short supply, just the basics is generally available. You can import up to three personally owned guns per year. They will not let you import assault rifles or high power rifles. 12 gauge shotguns are fine. Sawed off shotguns are lawful. No silencers allowed. No full auto. High capacity handgun magazines allowed. For Guns we recommend the following licensed gun dealer:

American Range and Gun Shop
Balboa and 39th
Panama City
On 39th a few feet from the Marbella Restaurant on Balboa Avenue.
Open Monday to Saturday 9-5:30
(507) 225-7464

Ask for Reuben, he speaks perfect English and is the owner. He can assist you with getting the firearms license, importing firearms etc.

They have an indoor range suitable for handguns and shotguns. If you buy the gun from them you can use the range for free. They also have reliable gunsmith services. They sell ammo and gun accessories. Reuben can answer all your gun questions but if you are going to ask him questions support him with your purchases.

Less than Lethal Weapons in Panama – Panama allows knives to be carried concealed on your person. A knife is actually a deadly weapon but we grouped in here anyway. The knife can be a sheath knife, a folder, an automatic knife, an out the front knife, a butterfly knife – any knife any size blade. A knife can be a formidable weapon in the hands of a trained person. It is silent, easily concealed, never runs out of ammo and makes a wound channel that is generally multiple times larger than that made by a .45 pistol. This can be an excellent last-ditch weapon for desperate moments. A small knife can easily help a woman get out of a strong-arm attempted rape if she has the determination and fortitude to use it. Remember if you ever use the weapon once after carrying it for 30 years, you needed it.

Pepper spray is also available in Panama. This is an excellent self-defense tool. It works out to 12 feet and will generally incapacitate most thugs, not all. Someone used to pepper spray can have a resistance. A drug-enraged nut may also not be aware of the effects as much as sober person. Good for women to carry too. Do not carry it on your key ring. If a struggle with a thug ensues and he gets your pepper spray plus your car keys then you are in bad shape. If he gets the pepper spray and you have your car keys then the hope is you can get into your car and escape. Same for house keys. Use it only for self-defense. Someone wise cracking you verbally does not justify its use.

Pepper spray combined with a knife can be an effective combination but now you are really well into deadly force used against a person that may no longer be imposing a deadly threat to yourself. Watch yourself here, not suggested due to legal consequences.

Stun guns are legal here. They take a while to work. One should hold the probes onto the short ribs area of the person for four seconds or longer to get the desired effect of the person dropping down disoriented and confused. Sometimes the person will void their bladder after being stunned sufficiently. When you think about using a stub gun and holding it onto a dangerous person for four or five seconds it sort of makes the stun gun not a real practical weapon. They are great for prisons and law enforcement work where the officer is not really and truly threatened with bodily harm but needs a way to get the person to quit fighting so they do not get hurt or hurt anyone. Stun guns combined with pepper spray can be effective self-defense tools and they do not cause any permanent damage.

Collapsible batons like those carried by police are also available to civilians. They are mildly effective self-defense weapons even in trained hands.