The head of the Fuerza Publica, Costa Rica’s top police official, flew into Nosara Monday with an entourage of officials to hear first hand from residents about escalating crime at this upscale beach resort.
Comisario Eric Lacayo, the chief of the Fuerza Publica, listened to almost 100 Tico and ex-pat residents and businessmen for almost an hour, and then promised help, including a follow-up meeting for Tuesday, Oct. 6, with the top prosecutor, or Fiscal, of Nicoya, as well as the regional head of the OIJ, the Judicial Investigating Organization sometimes referred to as Costa Rica’s FBI.
Area residents have been meeting over the past year in efforts to organize and address escalating, bolder and more professional home and car break-ins and beach thefts. As one resident testified, “My home is been broken into four times, costing me about $1000 each time, and my car has been broken into twice and stolen.”
One local group has been writing letters to government officials in an attempt to deploy members of the new Tourist Police to the beaches of Nosara, and it was from that effort that the high level visit was sparked. The Tourist Police report to Comisario Lacayo and have the same authority as the Fuerza Publica.
Residents complained of ineffective and corrupt local police, as well as prosecutors in Nicoya who release criminal suspects the same day they are brought before them. Further, the Nosara police station has been ordered closed by the Department of Health for its poor working and living conditions.
Residents have been petitioning and raising funds to support and attract a delegation of the relatively new Tourist Police to Playa Guiones, including a headquarters building near the beach, and to renovate the existing Police office in the center of Nosara.
Comisario Lacayo congratulated the gathering, which he said is the largest delegation that has met with him over local security concerns. With the Chief of Police of Nicoya present as well as the regional chief for Guanacaste, he said he would take the names of police officers who engaged in improper activities. Many in the audience submitted names of suspected police officers, written anonymously on pieces of paper and collected in a hat. He also urged people to call 911 to make complaints, which can be done anonymously, he said. He also pointed out that anonymous drug tips can be made by calling 176.
Money cannot be spent on improvements to the Nosara police station by the Ministerio de Seguridad Publica until the land is properly deeded to the Ministerio. The lot is currently deeded to the Board of Education and efforts to get the deed transferred have been slow, according to Agnes Pinheiro, who has led recent meetings to address security.
She said a member of Lacayo’s delegation assured her they would check on the status of the station to ensure it would not be closed because of the needed repairs.
Comisario Lacayo said there were only 18 crime reports from Nosara filed in Nicoya from January to last May. Most of those at the meeting raised their hands when asked if they had been the victim of a crime. Residents were disappointed to learn that reports filed at the local station in Nosara were not included in the official statistics. Tourists here for a week of vacation are not likely to take a day to file a report in Nicoya, and residents are also unlikely to make the hour-long drive, several people pointed out.
In response to another question, Lacayo said that the victims must file the reports themselves, rather than through a rental agent. He promised to try to find a way for reports to be filed locally and accepted as part of the statistics.
He promised a follow-up report to be presented at the Oct. 6 meeting, scheduled for 8 am at the FUCAN building behind the Kitson Library, including a response to efforts to secure the Tourist Police. He also promised to send advisors to help neighborhoods organize better communications to fight crime.
Pinheiro reported that pledges of about $12,000 have already been received toward an annual budget of $15,000 thought necessary to support six tourist police. She said an organizational meeting was planned to create an association to oversee the fundraising and security efforts. Following the meeting, Lacayo inspected the proposed office space, located across the road from the meeting at Casa Tucan.
Also accompanying Comisario Lacayo were Commandante Jose Cruz, sub-director of the Fuerza Publica in Guanacaste, and Agente Yinni Guerrero, Commission de Distritalizacion, a community liaison.
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