Job Discussion Forums

[John Hall]

This is John Hall here. I have been an English teacher here in San Jose, Costa Rica now for over three years, and am married to a Tica.

I teach company classes, and so I hop the buses, take taxis, and walk quite a bit around the greater San Jose metropolitan area. Up until recently, I never had anyone assault me on the street.

But that all changed a few weeks ago. One Monday night about two blocks away from my house, which is very close to ULatina in San Pedro, two guys who looked like typical university students, stopped me, and before I knew what was happening, whacked me in the face twice with the butt end of a revolver. They pulled the trigger each time on the moment of impact, which created a stunning effect. The bullets flew off in the direction of ULatina, and I ended up getting five stitches in my upper lip. They also made off with my wallet, my wedding ring, my watch, and my work bag.

I now take taxis everywhere that I go after dark, and I recommend that all other teachers do the same. This is more expensive, but as far as I am concerned, if I do not do it, the risks are too great. I have known other teachers who have been assaulted here as well. Also, a lot of teachers have had their apartments broken into.

I really think that the crime problem in and around San Jose is getting out of hand. The police here seem to be concerned more about not getting killed themselves, rather than getting things under control. They also are often quite unprofessional at times. For example, they never interviewed me after I was assaulted, even though they were called and came to search for my assailants.

I also think that companies like Pro-English and Ingles Empresarial, who send their teachers out to do a lot of evening classes, have to do more to assure the safety of their own teachers. Often there is an employee at the company who may be able to take the teacher all or part of the way home after class. But if that is not possible, then perhaps a cab should be arranged to pick up the teacher after each and every class. They will not like having to pick up the cost of that, but I think that that is really necessary, considering that the cost of a long cab ride may in some cases be equivalent to an hour's worth of pay.

I really advise new teachers arriving in Costa Rica to be adamant about securing safe transportation before accepting classes here. Also, it is very dangerous to be outside bars, especially in the Calle Amargura area of San Pedro. You can have a good time in San Jose, and many teachers have a very positive experience here overall. But I think now you must do a lot to secure your own personal safety first. Once you have done that, you will have a good experience here.

Does anyone else have any ideas about how we can improve our own safety here?

[ls650]

That's distressing to hear - especially since I am planning to come to Costa Rica in August!

[naturegirl321]

Yikes! Makes me rethink about coming to Costa Rica.

[John Hall]

I think that San Jose is becoming like Panama City now. In Panama City, no sensible person walks on the streets at night, unless they happen to be so poor that they have to live on the streets. San Jose was never like that in the past, and many people are still accustomed to walking around at night. But I think that the people of this city have to change their habits now.

I do not mean to discourage people from coming to Costa Rica to teach English. I do mean to encourage people to do more to protect themselves while they are here. If you want to have a good time here in Costa Rica, do what is necessary first to ensure, as much as you can, that you are safe. English teachers in Panama City who abide by the personal safety rules there usually do not have any trouble; so just remember that things here in San Jose (and the rest of the Central Valley) are changing, and that here you have to abide by the new rules, not the old ones that many Ticos still follow.

I would also like to say a little more here about Pro-English. I work for Pro-English, and am concerned that perhaps my first posting may have left the impression that Pro-English does not care very much for its teachers. That is not true. After my assault, Pro-English drew up an extensive list of safety guidelines for their teachers, and now all teachers who start working for Pro-English receive that list. Both Mark Henker and Monica Salazar at Pro-English have been quite helpful to me and other teachers in times of crisis in the past. I believe that they feel more responsibility towards their teachers than some other companies here do.

[doreenp]

What a terrible thing to happen to you John, especially when you have decided to make somewhere your "home". Feeling safe in that environment is very important and unfortunately with thugs like these on the streets that security is taken away. What scares me about your story is the violence they felt necessary to perform this robbery, and the use of a loaded weapon. '

Being a single woman, I have always been extremely careful of how i travelled, especially when alone. Over the years it has gotten so that places i use to travel to and feel totally safe in are now gone, or at least changed. Unfortunately this is a 'world' problem, not just a Costa Rica problem. We have to really be aware of our environment, and constantly thinking about our situation.

However, these morons will not stop me from visiting your beautiful country or anywhere else. If we all stopped travelling because of warnings of a rise in street crimes, we would have to stay home and even that may not be "safe".

I agree with your suggestions for backing from the companies that would employ us in the teachng profession. I wish you a speedy recovery and hope to meet you this summer.

Dee.

[Weona]

Wow, I hate hearing about that... especially in cities that I once considered relatively safe.

I studied in Costa Rica about four years ago when I was 17 and while a little scary, I would generally have to walk home from friend's houses or discoteques outside after dark (sometimes at 12-2am) and I was never bothered. And this was in the heart of downtown. There was one time when I was walking through el parque Espa�a (I think that's what it is called) and there was a group of kids just standing around and they all looked at me but did nothing.

I felt very safe and it's a shame things have changed so much since I was last there...

[Carina_Cisneros]

I think much of what was said of San Jose is true, but just remember that these things are really only true of San Jose, not of most all of the rest of Costa Rica. I have a friend who worked contract security in San Jose, sometimes for various Embassies and other businesses in and around San Jose area (1995-2003). He said the daytime problems there really grew from non-confrontational things in select parts of the city, things you might expect in a large city in a developing country (pickpockets, house break-ins, etc.) to violent acts occuring at near random, in almost any part of the city. When I was there in San Jose in 2003 both hotels I used in my 3 weeks there were visited by security people from the U.S. Embassy, there to collect belongings of someone who was injured in the city (robbed/stabbed at dusk/night). As for guidance, in some ways a backpacker has more options than a teacher there, because a backpacker can leave the watch, ring, bag, etc. in the hotel, and wear whatever clothes he or she wants, but a teacher needs to carry things, and needs to dress the part - and this sometimes makes them a possible target (might look like a business person, and the assumption is that a lap-top, cell phone, etc. might be in the bag). Unfortunately, safety, in addition to the country itself, was one of Costa Rica's drawing cards. Since the country is based on tourism I would not expect the CR government to be releasing any warnings or passing out crime statistics!

[justforkiks21]

I am hoping to come to Costa Rica in February to teach english, possibly through languagecorps and this information makes me nervous being a single female. My training would be in Manuel Antonio if I came is it safer there? Would a suggestion from those in San Jose be to primarily stay off the streets at night or is it also dangerous during the day?

[asamouse]

in my experience, while there did seem to be a crime problem in san jose (i was walking home from dinner after dark with three friends, and we were approached by a police officer who told us that we should get inside and not be out on the streets, as it wasn't safe), other areas (including manuel antonio!) seemed very safe. granted, you should always be careful when traveling abroad, but i never had any concerns about my safety outside of san jose.

[justforkiks21]

Thanks for the information were you there recently? I have heard that a lot of the crime in San Jose is mostly theft and not often violent anyway. I am assuming that the pay is better in the city but one of the main attractions to Costa Rica is the natural setting.

[John Hall]

I am so surprised that there has been almost no discussion of crime here on this forum. So, I decided to revive this thread from 2004.

In my seven years here in Costa Rica, there have been two cases that I aware of English teachers getting killed in street crime. One just happened a few weeks ago. This is no reason to panic, but nevertheless, I think the newbies in CR need to realize that there are certain places that you should not go at certain times of the day. There are those who still claim that Costa Rica is relatively crime-free (see Guy Couchesne's comments on this thread: http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=47683), but I think that point of view needs to be countered with a more realistic one.

Certainly, CR does have a crime problem, and the following article offers one explanation as to why:

http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2007/october/31/nac01.htm

Costa Rican Justice System From Bad To Worse, Former Justice And Security Minister Says

According to lawyer and former minister of Justicia y de Seguridad, Juan Diego Castro, Costa Rican justice has gone from bad to worse, and the impunity rate has reached 92.7% and the government, politicians and the Poder Judicial is doing nothing to fix it.

Castro made his views public in a report he calls the "la pir�mide de la injusticia� (the pyramid of injustice) that is made up of 17 pages of a study of the judicial system by the law firm Jurisis.

The report details the number of cases opened by the Poder Judicial, the number of cases with sentences and without since 1992.

According to Castro, the report reveals the deterioration of the justice system and the increase of insecurity, blaming the politics promoted by the Fiscal General (chief prosecutor), Francisco Dall�Anese Ruiz, the justices of the Supreme Court and the Penal Code reforms of 1998.

The report says that the policies by Dall�Anese, whose is running for a second term as his current term ends on November 30, is erratic and the Ministerio P�blico has been incapable of completing its duty, with almost 93% of the cases without convictions.

Castro was even more critical saying that the report indicates that out of every 100 persons charged only 2 end up in jail, waving the statistics of the report in his hand before the news cameras.

The lawyer emphasized that 2006 had the largest rate of thefts and the least number of convictions in history. "For every 100.000 inhabitants, 930 robberies were reported. The worst is that only 1.98% pf the reported crimes ended in conviction. What is happening is shocking", said Castro.

Castro added that since 1998, with the introduction of the reforms to the C�digo Procesal Penal, the number of convictions has been on the decrease, going from a 20% conviction rate in 1998 to 1.9% last year.

"Beginning in 1998, criminals saw the changes in the law and started robbing twice as much, according to the OIJ figures. The Fiscal is to blame, he gave a license to criminals to act with impunity if the loss is less than �250.000 colones (us$485)", said Castro.

Castro also refuted the argument that the rise in crime is proportional to the increase in population, saying that the premise is a lie and mockery by the security officials.

The lawyer also covered the subject of deaths and injuries resulting from drunk driving, where a driver can be found be responsible for a death or injury from a traffic accident while under the influence of alcohol and go unpunished.

"How can it be possible that the Poder Judicial spend such a significant amount of money each year, while the OIJ, police and prosecutors claim there is no money for them", said Castro.

The solution to the problem of justice, Jurisis presented a proposal of reforms, which according to Castro was filed away by the Legislative Assembly.

[Guy Courchesne]

[John Hall]

According to www.amcostarica.com:

[Guy Courchesne]

Thank you, John.

I was looking for some stats and came across quite a bit on Latin American countries. One thing that was interesting...Costa Ricans in a survey indicated they were much more likely to 'take the law into their own hands'...more likely than other countries' citizens, including Americans.

[nineisone]

In my experiences San Jose has similar crime problems to other big CA cites I have been in and not just concentrated in certain areas as most of the guidebooks suggest.

I'm reading the 2004 posts of this thread for the 1st time. Sorry to know you had that awful experience John. Glad you are bringing awareness to the subject.

Would be interested to know if daytime muggings are becoming more common or if most of the crime is primarily occuring at night. I always viewed C.R. as drawing more of the suburban, gated community travelers from the U.S. that are ripe for the picking and attract this type of crime, than other LA nations. Unfortunate to see ESL instructors falling prey as well.