What’s the crime rate in general in Belize?
Apolo Caliz
With all the articles about Belize, people know that Belize has the third highest murder rate in the world. One thing that they do fail to say though is that those murders happen mostly in Belize City and not in elsewhere in the country of Belize.
Here in Placencia, Belize, the last murder we had was in 2007 and the one before that was about another 10 years prior. It is pretty safe here in Placencia.
Here in Placencia, Belize, the last murder we had was in 2007 and the one before that was about another 10 years prior. It is pretty safe here in Placencia.
With all the articles about Belize, people know that Belize has the third highest murder rate in the world. One thing that they do fail to say though is that those murders happen mostly in Belize City and not in elsewhere in the country of Belize.
Here in Placencia, Belize, the last murder we had was in 2007 and the one before that was about another 10 years prior. It is pretty safe here in Placencia.
Here in Placencia, Belize, the last murder we had was in 2007 and the one before that was about another 10 years prior. It is pretty safe here in Placencia.
Posted December 1, 2014
Rachel Jensen - Grand Baymen
As with all countries, crime rates in Belize vary depending on the area. Belize City is not known to be the safest, but luckily Belize City is not considered a to be a final destination by most.
As with all countries, crime rates in Belize vary depending on the area. Belize City is not known to be the safest, but luckily Belize City is not considered a to be a final destination by most.
Posted December 1, 2014
Gwido Mar - Grupo Mar Realty Ltd.
I live in the Cayo district in San Ignacio, Belize, and have lived here all my life. Thankfully, I’ve never had issues with crime. When you look at our area compared to Belize City, and if you read the news, there’s a lot of crime going on in Belize City, but a lot of it has to do with petty crime, gang-related or drug- related crime. Basically, it’s just one gang getting even with the other one. Thankfully, there are really no gangs in our areas, so there are...I live in the Cayo district in San Ignacio, Belize, and have lived here all my life. Thankfully, I’ve never had issues with crime. When you look at our area compared to Belize City, and if you read the news, there’s a lot of crime going on in Belize City, but a lot of it has to do with petty crime, gang-related or drug- related crime. Basically, it’s just one gang getting even with the other one. Thankfully, there are really no gangs in our areas, so there are no gang fights and gang rivalries.There is crime in my area, but it’s usually petty crime like burglaries. Crime is something you really can’t avoid. It can happen anywhere, but there are security measures that you can take to be on the safer side. You just have to be smart about what you do and how you do it. For example, you don’t walk the streets late at night, like 11:00 or midnight. I don’t do it and I’m a local. You just don’t flash cash in front of people or wear lots of jewelry or brand name clothes because you can become a target. This is because foreigners stand out so much, they have to be careful.
For example, I had a neighbor who would park his car outside his yard. I told him to park his car inside his fence, but he said that he never had any trouble and he had been parking his car outside his yard for a long time. One morning, when I was taking out the garbage, I noticed that his car was missing a window. The reason this happened was because he had gotten home at midnight and he had forgotten to click the alarm, and he was being watched.
As for the shore and in the Cayes Islands, I have friends who live in Hopkins, which is on the shore. They are a couple from Canada and they love living there. They blend nicely with the locals and have made friends with the fishermen. They cook together with the ladies. If you look at the news, there’s hardly any crime going on, for example, in Placencia or in Hopkins. On the islands, you might hear about some crime, but it’s about somebody who went home late at night or somebody at a nightclub who was under the influence of alcohol or drugs and they were a target. Like I said, staying safe is just being smart.
Posted February 23, 2015
Jaseth Bassaragh - The Alpha & Omega Group
The crime rate in Belize is very high for the population for a couple of reasons. A lot of people went out to the US early in life and they decided not to do much with their lives, getting on the wrong side of the law and getting deported. They find themselves back in Belize and they create problems.The second problem is that there is poverty and a significant amount of unemployment in Belize, and as a consequence, there is a strain on the government to provide the much-needed...
The crime rate in Belize is very high for the population for a couple of reasons. A lot of people went out to the US early in life and they decided not to do much with their lives, getting on the wrong side of the law and getting deported. They find themselves back in Belize and they create problems.The second problem is that there is poverty and a significant amount of unemployment in Belize, and as a consequence, there is a strain on the government to provide the much-needed resources in the sectors for these people. So you may find yourself being exposed as a foreigner and you just have to be aware that the language and culture is a little bit different and you may stand out a little bit as a target if you are not careful. That is no different than in many city areas like New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, or wherever. You have to be consciously aware of your surroundings, the people around you, and what you are doing. You wouldn’t walk around with an entire jewelry box on you because you would be a target.
There are different parts of Belize and the crimes on these different parts are widely different. Belize City is considered the area that is of concern because there is the pressure with infrastructure with a lot of people not working and just hustling and they come from rural areas sometimes. Then, they find themselves in the city. If you are not highly skilled it would be difficult for you to be able to earn an income in Belize City because Belize City is about commerce, government and business activity. It is not about farming or fishing. Those activities would be in the rural areas. There is a lot of potential for people to earn money in Belize City but the thinking amongst many, as we know, is to earn it quick and not work for it. So you have a segment of the society that congregates in Belize City and creates problems. I would say that is a fair statement to say that Belize City is not very safe.
Other places in Belize are fine. It is pretty much okay in other areas where expats choose to go because you are not going to stand out in those areas, but you will stand out in Belize City.
The main places where expats would live are San Pedro, Placencia, Corozal, Hopkins, San Ignacio, etc. You don’t have to worry about crime in these areas at all.
Other places in Belize are fine. It is pretty much okay in other areas where expats choose to go because you are not going to stand out in those areas, but you will stand out in Belize City.
The main places where expats would live are San Pedro, Placencia, Corozal, Hopkins, San Ignacio, etc. You don’t have to worry about crime in these areas at all.
(The Miss Berta Library in Hopkins, Belize, pictured.)
Posted April 27, 2015
Bentley Wildman - Consejo Shores
The crime rate in Belize City is like in any other large city in any other country. A third of the population of Belize lives in Belize City, so this is where you have a lot more crime than in the towns. There are a lot of towns and villages in Belize that have almost zero crime. But Belize City has a fair amount of crime. There's been bad news about Belize City over the years but honestly it doesn't bother us up here in Consejo Shores in Corozol, in the northern...The crime rate in Belize City is like in any other large city in any other country. A third of the population of Belize lives in Belize City, so this is where you have a lot more crime than in the towns. There are a lot of towns and villages in Belize that have almost zero crime. But Belize City has a fair amount of crime. There's been bad news about Belize City over the years but honestly it doesn't bother us up here in Consejo Shores in Corozol, in the northern part of Belize, and we haven't had any problems at all. It's been fine here.Our community is not gated. At one time the first two houses that were built had barbed wires around them and people were more worried because at that time there were fewer homes here. But now that we have almost a hundred homes on the property only a very few houses have burglar bars or that kind of thing on them. None of my houses had it. I've built four houses and lived in them while I was selling them and none of them have burglar bars on them.
We have a community watch program here, which is big all over the country. Ours happen to be a little bit better than most, according to the police. Over all the years I've been here, yes, we've had break-ins in houses but there hasn’t been anybody there. The crime here has mostly been the type when people look to see if there hasn't been anybody in the house for a week or two and if not, they break in. But even that has stopped now, and we don't even have that anymore.
More and more people are finding local people or foreigners to live in the houses when they're not here, because house sitters enjoy living in the tropics, even when it's summer and it rains a bit, because it's so nice to be here. It’s not hard to get people to house sit for you here.
(Pictured: Two expats in front of an old bus that they are hoping to replace for the charity HelpAge Corozal, in Belize)
Posted July 19, 2015
Irma Quiroz-Yuque - Belize Vacation Homes
I’ve seen the published crime statistics for Belize. When people are reading and researching about retiring to Belize it kind of scares them because it says there’s a high homicide rate, but the reason for this is that the population is very low. It’s very safe here. We don’t even have burglar bars on our windows, and many other people do not, either. We live amongst the villagers and everybody is very friendly.
I can...
I’ve seen the published crime statistics for Belize. When people are reading and researching about retiring to Belize it kind of scares them because it says there’s a high homicide rate, but the reason for this is that the population is very low. It’s very safe here. We don’t even have burglar bars on our windows, and many other people do not, either. We live amongst the villagers and everybody is very friendly.
I can say this, though: because there isn’t very much industry here for Belizeans, a lot of times they can get themselves into trouble and they may be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and they can kind of get out of control a little bit if maybe they’re drinking a little bit too much. It also does happen that Belizeans will kill other Belizeans. However, this does not involve expats. The crime affecting expats is very low.
(Dream vacation homes in at seaside Corozal, Belize, pictured.)
Posted October 16, 2015