They are shooting guns in the street and killing everyone wearing hawaiian shirts, cameras, and dark socks with flip flops.... 🙂 Sorry for the sarcasm, it's just that people ignore the crime in their own backyard but when they visit an island they expect it to be this happy, free drinks, walk anywhere at anytime kinda utopia, where everyone gives you hugs and waves.

Crime is really not much different than any other urban area, and most of our crime is local on local, not all but most. There are very few tourist incidents, I would assume there is much more crime on tourists in LA, New York, or Miami. Don't walk on Back Street or Marketplace at night, avoid doing a drug deal in Frenchtown at 3am, and don't look for an after hours party at 5am in the projects. Those are 3 real stories by the way of stupid tourists that got themselves into trouble.

STU .....you must be NEW to this board or at least prob joined just after the string of crime in 2004/05.......or crime against tourists AT HOTELS in st thomas...my family was one of them
and BEFORE OUR TRIP ....I WAS THE ONE on this VERY board telling everyone before the trip EXACTLY what YOU are saying here....to be aware etc...
....i live in new york city all my life so don't even think about it i am quite street smart but still the little 'wave' of crime in st thomas not only DIDN'T HIT STUPID TOURISTS it got very nice SMART people RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEIR rooms in QUALITY HOTELS EARLY in the evenings and some in the day!
you just never know......
i was just concerned as to whether things have calmed down since then

those who have been on the board for years know what i am talking about ...we were all writing and commenting a lot back then you can do a crime search here and see many sad stories of armed robberies and shootings

https://www.vinow.com/wwwtalk/read.php?4,33407,36445#msg-36445 here is one of them...

hoping you all are safe and oh by the way AFTER the incident i went back to st thomas THREE TIMES on vacation ...
we just love it!

bottom line...be careful just like anywhere else and have a great time!

Other than reality forcing me by gunpoint to leave, never had a problem.

MaryAnne was always more cheerful.

Although, my home in Virginia was robbed a few years ago. So, stay away from Virginia!!!

Ginger,
I'm sorry about your bad experience while on family vacation two years ago. If you've been back to the island twice since then, I'm surprised you have to ask how the crime situation is! I think it worries people not familiar with the islands needlessly when they hear questions like this. Sorry, just how I feel.

Since you haven't been on the forum for several months, you probably couldn't have found a much more incendiary way to return. And providing a link to a nearly two year old thread about crime is an interesting contribution.

hi....yes haven't been down there in over a year....that is why...

TOTALLY understand that you don't want people to be alarmed...as i said i was the same way BEFORE this happened...
and IF things are quiet now then there is no reason to be alarmed AND the old post is just HISTORY!

There is a recent thread on Crime, do a search! Touchy subject for sure! 🙂

Sign up for the virgin islands daily newsletter! It's a wonderful way to keep up on vi events (good and bad).

http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/

Just enter your info where it says "My Daily News"

I read it almost daily... crime is no less than it always is. The head of the VI police department needs to be fired. I'm a cop and can honestly say I was embarassed for the VI police when I visited. I understand people say they are underfunded, but they have the nicest equipment for an underfunded department I have ever seen.

I know this is twisted, but for a while I really enjoyed reading about all of the police calls on St John. There is a log you can view and it gives info on what each call/case was about. Most of it is just minor stuff: stolen dinghys, stolen tires, assault (people hit in the eye, people spit on, etc), break-ins, car accidents, etc. I've noticed that most of the police log involves resident on resident crime (or so it would appear)...especially the assault. I'm sure it's just pre-existing relationships. It doesn't mention tourists too often....and there's usually only 1-5 calls per day, many of which aren't even crime-related. That's really not too bad, I think.

Crystal, you are right about the St. John police blotter. Most reports are car accidents or crime between people who know one another. On a somewhat positive note, since the police shootout left one burglary suspect dead in January, third degree burglaries are down drastically...not sure if the killing of the suspect disbanded those who were doing all the burglaries, or scared the other groups into laying low for a while.

For what it's worth, here is an article in today's paper that you might find interesting.

http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17606023

Schultz

Looks like the guy's got a good resume. Now he just figure out a way for the police do their job.

As good a newspaper as the VI Daily News is (and I read it everyday while there and as often as possible online), it seldom reports crime on STJ, although the wild west shootout involving the NWH(New White Highlander) has been reported on several times.
I don't know if Tradewinds is a better source for information. While they report all the police blotter entries, they do have an agenda of making the STJ police force look bad, by always printing a scorecard that basically shows that almost no crime in STJ is ever solved. Nonetheless while there continue to be villa burglaries, the level does seem to be less since the NWH incident. One villa rep pointed out that these burglaries happen in spurts in specific areas, and fortunately it has been very quiet of late (this was 2 weeks ago).
As I have stated before, make sure that you lock away everything in your villa as tightly as possible whenever you leave.

>>>they do have an agenda of making the STJ police force look bad, by always printing a scorecard that basically shows that almost no crime in STJ is ever solved

An agenda? It seems to me that they're just giving the facts.

Hi, everyone!

I, like Ginger, haven't been a daily reader on this forum.

I seem to just kind of latch on when I am closer to arriving on the islands - which, lucky for me, will be in around a month.

Therefore, I am ignorant, as well, as to any recent situations regarding any rash of crimes and/or robberies that may be taking place on St. Thomas - or not.

I just want to come to Ginger's defense, a little, here. There is no doubt in my mind that Ginger had absolutely no intentions or hidden agenda to scare any potential or would be St. Thomas vacationers. She loves the island - like so many of us do. And even with having virtual first hand experience of a serious robbery - she has still loved & continues to frequent the same facility.

It bothered me that a couple of the reply posters seemed to attack the question & also Ginger personally - which seemed excessive & actually kind of mean.

I had the misfortune to be at the hotel where & when the robbery occurred in which Ginger eludes. And based on that - I don't find her question to be derogatory in any way - just an honest question to people who may be able to respond. At that time, there had been a string of robberies at more than one resort. So, it was - in reality - not an isolated occurance.

At the very least - this thread will remind all that bad things can happen to good people. It doesn't necessarily have to happen in a "seedy alleyway" or darkened street. It will happen just at a particular time & place - and one should always try to travel in pairs or groups & be dilligent. But, events may occur none-the-less.

Again - don't usually jump in on posts. But, again, just wanted to assure all that Ginger is in no way shouting "Fire" in a crowded movie theatre - she was just asking a legitimate honest question.

Take care all!!

THANKS so much Sue!
that was soooo sweet of you.....we are all a FAMILY here at least i always thought so! and YES if anything i would ENCOURAGE people to go to st thomas st john and ALL the islands ...and enjoy paradise!
and MOST OF ALL.....meeting great people like you has been the icing on the cake! THANK YOU 'ISLANDER' for keeping this forum a great home for us to come to! ......
knowing other people on the island surely made us more comfortable when it happened! AND SUE YOU ARE THE BEST NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR!

AND SCHULTZ MY FRIEND thanks for the link i will check it!

now when are we all having a reunion??? it's time!

read the st croix source and the daily news on line every day - that will give you an accurate picture.
www.vidailynews.com and just google the the st croix source.

Ginger I'm not NEW to THIS board and what is with all of your CAPS. First of all I am a local and if you re-read my post I said MOST but NOT ALL of it is local on local. I'm osrry you had a bad experience but that is rather the exception than the norm.

I'm sorry Sue, if you thought my post was a personal attack on Ginger--- maybe I was in a *mood* or something and wrote before I thought. I don't know Ginger like you do and just thought someone who had been assaulted in 2005, but had been back 3 times since then (lucky Ginger!) would be pretty aware of how things are on the island. Or if she is familiar with this board -- and how the mention of crime sets people off because of misunderstandings-- that she would have just done a search and not posted it for all to read. Like I said, I'm not a personal friend of Gingers and didn't know what was going on. I post on another V.I. message board where someone comes on ever so often to stir things up by mentioning crime in an insinuating way and it upsets everyone there because the people who aren't familiar with the islands freak out and no matter how we try to set the facts straight there are some potential visitors who decide to vacation elsewhere instead of risking the supposed 'high crime' of the VI's! So sad. So maybe I jumped the gun here and I do apologize to you ----and of course to Ginger!