Now we really do have to be on guard

[Nova]

and I still can't ever remember what colour it is! 

Any car that can make it up the hill to Janet's with 4 adults on board is alright in my book. 

It needed first gear but it got us there 

[Janet]

I thought it was time that I updated this because there are so many reports of petty street crimes, from incidents at cashpoint machines to pickpocketing at bus stations, to cars being targeted as they drive away from the airport ... the list goes on. And unfortunately the message is starting to get around and people are becoming nervous. I have even had one person ask if it was really still safe to come to Tenerife, and whether we shouldn't start officially warning people to stay away.

Tenerife is like many other places in Europe in the respect that crime has increased as the economic situation has worsened, and we are not immune, either, from eastern European gangs whose main purpose is to thieve, as I've posted previously. I have also posted, however, how the police regularly round up these vermin, and frankly, if I were to be arrested and depend on my rights for fluffy treatment in any country, Spain would not be top of my list!

Of course it is still safe to come here and no, we shouldn't be warning people to stay away. We should, however, be warning people to be careful. The problem is that for so long people have come here as to an idyllic holiday paradise and left their brains at home. That used to be possible. Now it isn't. Don't, for example, stop your car unless ordered to by the police. If you do stop it, don't both get out and leave the doors open for the convenience of any nearby thieves. Don't flash bundles of Euros around at cashpoints admiring the pretty pictures on those strange Euro notes. Don't wear flash jewellery and wander around, perhaps a bit the worse for wear, in the early hours. Just carry the amount of spending money you're going to need at any given time, and leave the credit cards in the safe.

It's not rocket science, is it? This isn't outrageous advice, it's just common sense. Plenty of people have come here over the years and left without experiencing crime of any sort. Plenty still do. The whole economy and political structure of Europe is changing, however, and I'm afraid that we now need to wear our sensible heads at all times, rather than leaving them at home or in the airport.

JA

[El Profesor]

....... I have even had one person ask if it was really still safe to come to Tenerife, and whether we shouldn't start officially warning people to stay away.

Funny that, I was wondering the same about England.

[poker]

Funny that, I was wondering the same about England.

Same for Belgium if I hear all the events happening from my friends in my old hometown of Ostend .

A lot of east europeans moved and it has gotten mutch more dangerus also .

Stabbings , break ins , drugs , carwindows smached . . . . .
All crimes up if you compaire to the years before .

We even say luckely we moved to Tenerife as we find it safer here now . ( and we live in Silencio )

But of course as Janet says be carefull and vigilent always , its not going to better in future . . . .  stay safe .

[Michael]

Perception is a major factor.

In the seventies and eighties Americans were scared stiff of coming to N.Ireland but there were more people shot dead in Washington DC in a month than in N.Ireland in a whole year. 

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Perception is a major factor.

In the seventies and eighties Americans were scared stiff of coming to N.Ireland but there were more people shot dead in Washington DC in a month than in N.Ireland in a whole year. 

Darned right.  The first time I went people wondered if I was scared but I told them that I worked in Detroit and had been in Johannesburg the week before.

[El Profesor]

Perception is a major factor.

In the seventies and eighties Americans were scared stiff of coming to N.Ireland but there were more people shot dead in Washington DC in a month than in N.Ireland in a whole year. 

This is very true. It's the perspective.

I remember when they built the first motorway in Britain, what's it called? ..... ah yes, the M1.
I remember my aged grandfather begging us not to use it when we were off up north on holiday .... really begging, stuck in my mind for 45 years.
Of course motorways being a new concept he was seeing nothing but pile ups on the telly. He was convinced we were going to die.

I'd love to see me statistics of street crimes per head of population comparing Tenerife with .... say Preston.
I've always been glad to have brought up my kids here because it's so safe, they've been outside all their lives, and I don't think it's changed that much, certainly no more than anywhere else

You have to keep an eye out everywhere now, but I move about a lot and I've never see anything dodgy and I carry 2 credit cards all the time. (Well I did get all my stuff nicked off the beach, glasses and all, whilst doing some midnight swimming with a bunch of girls in Las Americas, but that was 1988 ........ 25 years ago, nothing since then).