Panama Home and Personal Security

Introduction to Panama Security – Panama is a very safe country. New York City has more violent crime in one day than Panama City has in one year. That being said caution and preventive measures must be taken accordingly.

Campaigning for a Robbery in Panama – This is a term referring to normal people acting stupidly. Things like running around with a $20,000 gold Rolex in a country where the average wage is $300 a month qualifies. Leave the diamonds and gold for special occasions where you will be indoors like at a wedding or celebration that has security. You can present a temptation to a weak person who is not normally a thief.
Wandering around the street obviously having had a few too many drinks is another way to invite crime.

Panama Home Security – Panama each year has a few home invasion robberies. These are normally inside jobs where the thieves knew the victims. Perhaps they did work for them like air conditioning repair. They saw something inside the house that was of note to them. Perhaps it was a big safe or they even got a glimpse of the safe while open and saw the goodies. They might have seen an easy way to gain access unexpectedly to the residents. The victims are not hurt just scared in that it is a frightening thing. This type of crime in Panama almost always involves people like workmen who participate in the crime. It is rare, but below are some suggestions to prevent this. Private homes in Panama are more at risk that condos. Some of the new Punta Pacifica Condos have had some home invasion robberies recently. The thieves were probably complicit with the security at the building. These types often get caught by the police. In the older buildings the residents are more likely to be locals and the guys working in the building know not to start up with them and play games like this. The Panama Police are tough and really dislike this sort of criminal activity. In a new building with a lot of foreigners new to Panama they probably thought they would play their game. They will most likely wind up in jail – the Panama Police are like the Mounties in that they seem to always get their man.

Alarms in Panama – An excellent deterrent. The police in Panama will respond and quickly. If the thieves are armed they will be told to drop their weapons and then if there is any delay the thief will be shot dead. This of course is one reason why we have a marked shortage of thieves. When you pick up a gun and point it at someone you are running a good risk of death by cop in Panama. Home invasion robberies where the alarm goes off will not be completed, they will flee for obvious reasons. Try to get a radio to call the police or alarm dispatcher if the phone lines are cut or out. A cell phone dialer is also effective. Do not be afraid to alarm condo doors, do so both doors. Also at night close your balcony doors if it is easy to climb over from a neighbor’s apartment. If they get into the neighbors apartment you don’t want them getting into your apartment. You can drill holes through the frame and insert a pin. You could have the alarm company put a light beam switch on the balcony so if anyone walked on it an alarm would go off. They will not like this at all and probably flee BUT they may decide to flee the fastest way through your house. Remember the alarm sign is at least 50% of it. Make sure it can be seen easily.

Dogs – Latin Americans have a fear of big dogs. A nice 75 pound dog that barks a lot at strangers will really work well. Do make sure the dog only takes food you give it, not food thrown by strangers with poison in it. Make sure the dog can not get right up to a fence that allows the bad guys to use a stick and loop device to get around your dogs neck and pull them close to the fence where they can be tied up from outside the fence. You might want to keep the dog in the house at night with you. A small dog is good for an alarm too. Experts say a dog needs to weigh 80 pounds to reliably bring a grown man down. Big dogs eat more, take more room and poop more but if there are some bad guys in your house a 125 pound dog is really comforting. Even if the invader has a gun imagine trying to hit a charging dog in the dark that is about to chew your neck off, not an easy shot to make for a street punk. Remember you are not dealing with Navy Seals here; these are punks with rusty guns who maybe fired 20 rounds in their life. These thieves generally could not hit a person from more than five feet away. Even with a gun the odds favor an aggressive large dog. People in fights with big dogs often need over 100 stitches. Forget clubbing or kicking a large dog when it is in attack mode, only a trained expert could handle a charging large dog and even then he is going to probably get hurt a bunch. Dogs are fast, and don’t stop fighting until they can’t fight anymore, if they are a good dog

Web Cams – Get one and put it outside your condo door. Put one on your condo balcony and inside the house by the doors. Put them around your private home. Get a sign that says the images are loaded up onto a server somewhere. Make sure sign is in Spanish <smile>. Web cams are real cheap and do not even need to be hooked up to be effective deterrents.

Pepper Spray – Good stuff and easily available in Panama, no license or permit needed. Buy an extra canister to take in the yard and play with so you get an idea as to how it shoots. Watch out for a headwind. Wear big sunglasses just in case. Keep it in the car; carry with car keys keep in the house by the bed.

Doors – There is a company called Multilink that makes security doors. There doors are steel and have bolts on all four sides. They also come with a reinforced frame. This is a sure invasion stopper UNLESS they bad guys got your keys, be mindful of who has a key. You could add an extra Iron Gate door outside which helps some but these can be defeated easily by an experienced burglar.

Bedroom Door – Get your bedroom door made out of solid wood. Put two locks on it with strong hinges on the inside. This will stop invaders who may have gotten into the house while you wait for the police. You could also get a multilink on the bedroom but it will look odd. Take a closet in the bedroom and do the same so you have a double layer while waiting for police. Make sure there is a working cell phone in the bedroom.

Boat Horn – Go to a marine supply store and get the boat horn with the gas canister, buy a few. Get the biggest meanest ones you can find. Forget whistles. With someone breaking into your house nothing beats a good series of blasts on a foghorn to wake the neighborhood. See if the bad guys wait around after the foghorn blasts.

Motion Activated Lights – In a private house get a few of these so if someone walks through the yard the light goes on. Put them in the driveway and near the rear doors. There are unsettling to a thief. Make sure the lights have some sort of cover so the bulb is not easily broken or place lights in hard to reach place. You can place floor mats in front of all doors that have a pressure switch under them that sounds a buzzer or flashes a light in the house if someone (use 60 pounds of pressure to avoid the cats) walks on them. This gives you a warning when home that they are not aware of. You can call police and secure your family until they arrive.

Locks – Use good locks on doors. Use two – one to stop the door from being kicked in and the other to prevent it being pried open enough for the bolt to clear the frame. Make sure door and frame are very solid or have them beefed up.

Windows – If windows can be easily reached on a private house they should be covered with strong bars. Make sure you have alarm also wired for fire and have numerous smoke detectors that work well; you may need to get out due to fire.

Guns – If you need the gun to defend your house you did something wrong. It should not get this far. Panama does have reasonable gun laws and gun ownership is possible, see our section on Panama Gun Laws.

Safes – Panama does have excellent safes for sale. They are made in Costa Rica. They come in all different sizes and flavors. Mostly they are not fire proof. You can find these cheap fire boxes for important papers so just throw one of them in the safe if you need to fireproof papers. They are generally bolted into the concrete of the house walls and floor with expanding bolts so they are not easily taken out. Conceal the safe in a closet where it is not readily seen. Make this the closet where you can escape to with a solid core wood door and dead bolt. Do not let workmen see the safe when they are in the house. Keep a blanket over it in the closet if you have to. Never let anyone outside the family see the safe open. Make sure the safe is delivered discreetly. The digital dials are more secure than a spin dial. There are safe dialers that will get a combination dial that spins opens in about three days. The digital ones shut down for 15 minutes after three bad attempts. The Sergeant and Greenleaf ones can be defeated easier than some other brands, inquire. Most of the Panama safes will not stand up to a serious torch attack but if the thieves could afford the equipment they probably wouldn’t be robbing you in the first place and imagine getting the equipment into your house etc. The good ones will hold up for days against sledges, pry bars, ordinary drills, hammers, dropping, smashing etc. which is what a burglar in Panama will be using. Professional safe crackers are rare to start with and never bother with regular homes.

Really Paranoid – For about $400 a month you could hire your own armed guard to live in your house, have him drive your car, take the kids to school etc.

Closing – Panama is really very safe and probably nothing will happen to you. It is always a good idea to use a little common sense and think about things. North America and a lot of the EU is generally much more dangerous than Panama. Enjoy Panama it is a great place in many ways.