We were awakened Sunday morning at 7:15 AM to some loud sounds in front of our front porch. We had a mini-emergency on our hands which required some kind of official intervention. I may or may not blog about it later. Right now I am still very, very angry over the situation and I would not be able to write objectively or even intelligently about it.
Last Wednesday a police squad car pulled into our driveway. A uniformed officer and two women stepped out. The police officer was a Comandante assigned to a special unit regarding tourism and the impact crime on the island is having on it. One of the women was the new Director of Tourism. All three spoke very good English and the Comandante spoke what I would call excellent English. So no communication problem whatsoever.
They stopped by to tell us that there is not a crime problem on the island. That the stories we may have been hearing about break-ins to houses and robberies were just not true. In every instance of a house break-in, he assured us, the residents had left either a door or window open. So the houses had not been broken into.
Needless to say, we set him straight on that fact! B got the copies of all the reports we had filed with the police and our roster of attempted break-ins that we did not report. He was just amazed to hear this. There were no records of any forced break-ins at all at the police station! And especially none involving our property. He was going to have to investigate why this was so. We encouraged him to do so.
He left us with his business card that contains all the emergency numbers for the island, which I will share with you. He also wrote his personal cell phone number on the back. We were pleased to have all of these numbers and it felt good to know that somebody seems to be paying attention finally. It also felt good that he bothered to give us his personal phone number, should we have any problems in the future. Just call him and he would take care of it!
So Sunday morning we called the dispatch number from the card to have a police squad sent around to our house. Thirty-five minutes later we called again. An hour and a half after the first call, we called a third time. Each time they assured us that a squad was on the way. I called the personal number of the Comandante. His cell phone is no longer accepting calls and he has no "mail box".
Through a series of interventions and lots of assistance from some of our friends, the mini-emergency got resolved. As I sit here and write this at 2:07 PM on Sunday afternoon, a full 6 hours after our first call to the police, we still have not seen a police officer, let alone even a squad car drive by. Draw your own conclusion as to how effective the police force is here and how much you can depend upon them in an emergency. I know what my conclusion is.
Here are the numbers he gave us. You may want to write them down for your next visit to this peaceful little paradisical island.
POLICE DEPT.......................................999-00-51
RED CROSS EMS..................................877-02-80
TOURISM DEPT..................................877-03-07
FIRE DEPT............................................877-00-98
HARBOR MASTER...............................877-00-95
OR FOR AN EMERGENCY, DIAL 066
(let me warn you, 066 dials directly to Cancun and they will have no idea of where you are calling from or where you live. They will direct you to call your local police. Voice of experience on that one!)
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11 comments:
I'm curious to know why they approached YOU to discuss the issue of crime on Isla. I mean, I know your blog is popular, but do they monitor it in order to feel the pulse of the Gringos?
Robert: yes, I believe they do monitor my blog, based on some things he said. I know for sure that they monitor bloggers who live in Cancun. That is part of the reason my blog is mostly all smiley faces.
Oh Wayne. Please do be careful.
Are you serious about them monitoring our blogs??? I doubt they read mine. Mine sucks!
mex way: ask cancun canuck. she knows. Was it you or lisa that threatened to blow up the gas company truck? Can't remember. I think they monitor all blogs. we are easy to find.
Geez, what a bummer. Always a concern which makes paradise somewhat less than paradise. I hope it works out. Right now, I still I wish I was there rather than here.
Hmmm. Another great topic to discuss when I get over your way.
They stopped by to tell us that there is not a crime problem on the island.
Sounds like "Well, I´m standing on a RR crossing with my car and a train is approaching. So I will just close my eyes - if I can not see the train, it is not there!"
This also explains, why there is no police coming when you call them: There *are* no crimes on la isla, so why should they lift their butts off their chairs? ;-)
Hilarious...:-|
The first words that came to mind after reading this entry were "witness protection program." Thanks for the numbers Wayne. Hopefully I will never need them while on Isla.
This really bothers me to think that yoor blog is read by the police or mayor's people and that they singled you out to visit.
I don't know if you've been keeping up on "monitoring" in the U.S., but it seems to be a favorite government past time - in and out of paradise!
I've been crazy busy as usual, but took some time to catch up on your blog today and post a new entry (finally) of my blues diary.
Thanks for the entry showing the rocks! Mike walked out on them while we were there and was quite surprised when I SCREAMED for him to get off of there NOW! (I've never screamed at him before - or since. Not my style, but he scared me half to death!) I sent him the entry as confirmation that my reaction was not as over-the-top as he thought. ;-)
I seriously doubt that any official on the island truly believes there are no break-ins. And I think you were being told that your position should match theirs. And I think thqt you are not receiving police protection because you had the temerity to contradict what they were telling you.
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