Chile Forum

by **maxine** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 10:03 am

irashia wrote:When I was here last year, I was even picked pocketed in the Subway. I lost all my money, credit and debit cards, my Malaysian Id, Driving license etc! Thankfully not my Passport. It's actually scary now to think about the safety of walking down the street with my little man... Some of the parks here don't even look safe to take a stroll in... or maybe I have not seen others?

Just something I wanted to share... sigh... frustrated about the whole husband job offer thinggy.

Hi Irashia

Sorry to hear about your not so good start to your new life in Chile and I hope that things start to improve for you and your family.

I think that, with regards to safety and petty theft in chile, you just need to take a few precautions. If I travel by metro I always make sure I have a bag that comes over my shoulder that I can hold in front of me. I separate my money and keys and phone, have money in my bag and my pocket so that if one lot is stolen I still have some left for emergencies and I never take documents with me that have my home address on if I can avoid it. It's difficult during the summer months but even a light jacket or gilet with inside pockets are good for keeping money or phones in.
Most parks are ok during the day but you can pop on the metro to get to different areas and there are usually lots of moms or nanas with children there, for you to get to know.
I hope your experiences haven't put you off Chile or Chileans. You've had some bad luck so far, but things will improve, I'm sure.

by **zer0nz** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 10:29 am

JHyre wrote:Lots of theft in Chile, true. But it is many, many, many light ahead of Mexico, especially Mexico City, now or then. No comparison.

BTW, what has Pinera started/done? I know that working on the crime problem was one of his major platforms.

John Hyre

http://www.santiagotimes.cl/news/other/ ... e-in-chile

by **admin** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 10:40 am

Are you people seriously comparing the crime in Mexico (or most anywhere in Latin America for that matter) to Santiago?

Really?

i would say none of you have spent sufficient time in either.

I use to have near daily close calls with robberies in Mexico (not counting the corrupt police of course), even in rural areas. They were not just "we are going to quietly pick your pocket and let you go on about your biz" either.

Let's see, I recall needing to have discussions about who was going to chip in money to fix the car in Guatemala every time we set out on a trip with a woman in the car. why? We would need to run a rode block rather than simply give up everything we owned if it was just men in the car.

Yea, are there robberies in Santiago? There are robberies everywhere there are humans on the planet. If you want crime free, move to China. They put petty thieves to death. Still in china, there are robberies. just a lot less.

last year I was riding the metro in Santiago. A guy snatched a woman's purse on the metro. She screamed and a couple of other passengers started yelling at the guy. 3 plain clothes police officers popped out of the crowed (2 were riding in the car behind the one where the purse was snatched), and a backroom door popped open at the metro. There was 5 officers on scene in less than 30 seconds and they got the guy before he had gotten 100 feet from the point he originally snatched the purse.

It is not about there is no crime in Chile, it is about knowing what to do.

by **otravers** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 11:30 am

Re: William Bratton, he goes a long way with people like Lavin and Larroulet:
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html ... s_idea.htm

Hinzpeter has studied the likes of Sarkozy and Cameron and we've seen Piñerism pre-empting some of the left's traditional themes, as well as putting a lot of cariño in the anti-crime speech. That's politics, but the policy agenda has been in their back pocket for more than a decade. Hinzpeter was a lawyer in NYC near the end of the Giuliani years.

by **Tupley** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 5:45 pm

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote: (unsuccessful and next time if I catch hand in whatever it will result in broken fingers like "P" once described in Viña). .

What are the laws in chile with regards to protecting yourself/retaliation if someone is attempting to pick pocket you or some other crime? Some countries are all for protecting yourself whereas others you can be sued for just pushing someone over....

I've lived in some not so nice areas in the UK before ending up in Cambridge, and know that you can be a victim of crime anywhere, but how you deal with it and how you learn from it is the key. Your attitude and awareness of people around you is key. Half the time you don't even have to be aware, you generally just need to seem as though you are in order to keep people away from you.

Just my two cents...

by **Gloria** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 6:01 pm

irashia wrote:Hi All,

I'm actually new to this forum. My husband, a Chilean and I, a Malaysian had just moved here in Santiago on the 30th of September. We were actually bumming around in Malaysia waiting for my now 2 months old baby boy to enter this world. Anyways, my husband was offered a job with an attractive package attached to it. Thinking this would be a great time to move back to Chile and raise a family, we took the chance and did as much as we could to move here. Once we got here, my hubby met up with his future boss only to find out that the guy now said he made an error on the "Job Package"!Just something I wanted to share... sigh... frustrated about the whole husband job offer thinggy.

Going back to the original statement my question is....Did your husband accepted a job here based on "someone's word" or he made a contract? If he took someone's word he must be a very naive man and if he made a contract including a "job package" he may have a good ground for a law suit.Maybe he should look into it.

by **Gloria** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 6:16 pm

jessicak1234 wrote:I know exactly what you mean. Chileans are word famous for robbing people. My husband is Chilean by the way too, he is the one who told me that. I too have been nearly robbed in the metro. Luckily I felt slight movement and grabbed the man's hand which was completely inside my bag with my wallet in his hand. he dropped with wallet and jumped out the metro door. I still feel very nervous about going on the metro alone and that was more than 3 years ago. The first time my mother came to visit me from the states a woman was forcing her hand inside my mother's jean front pockets trying to grab her money. it literally took me and my mother physically ripping this woman's hand out of my mothers jeans to get free and we exited the metro. Chile can be a very scary place. Even in the nicer areas and nicer parks I still do not trust anyone. different world over here.

Actually in Chile you don't need to be in a bad area, metro, centro, park etc to get assaulted.Walk into any bank in broad day light and you'll be mugged without you even know it.They will put their hands and take your money away and you won't feel a thing.Get a checking account, they will give you all the trimmings with it whether you want or ask for them or not and they will bend you over and at the end they won't even kiss you.So you need to fear not only the thieves but also the "wanna be ALIBABAS" with a tie and suit.

by **otravers** » Sun Oct 03, 2010 6:40 pm

Tupley wrote:What are the laws in chile with regards to protecting yourself/retaliation if someone is attempting to pick pocket you or some other crime? Some countries are all for protecting yourself whereas others you can be sued for just pushing someone over...

I'm not qualified to give you a legal answer, but from what I've picked, Chile is not like the UK (or France) where the mugger/thief ends up being the "victim" while the real victim ends up in court if they dare to defend themselves.

by **JHyre** » Mon Oct 04, 2010 10:53 am

Zer0nz and Olivier,

Thanks for the links. Be curious to see how it works out. Hopefully they get control of the thing.

John Hyre, Hating Those Electrical Fence Tops

Chile Forum

Re: Cheated

Re: Cheated

Re: Cheated

Re: Cheated

Re: Cheated

Re: Cheated

Re: Cheated

Re: Cheated

Re: Cheated

Who is online

Need Help In Chile?

Phone From Outside Chile: 1-917-470-9653 ( USA to Chile)
In Chile Land Line: (56) 65 421 024
Cell Phone 747 97974 (From a Cell Phone in Chile dial with no other numbers)

Chile Forum

Who is online

Need Help In Chile?

Phone From Outside Chile: 1-917-470-9653 ( USA to Chile) In Chile Land Line: (56) 65 421 024 Cell Phone 747 97974 (From a Cell Phone in Chile dial with no other numbers)

Phone From Outside Chile: 1-917-470-9653 ( USA to Chile)
In Chile Land Line: (56) 65 421 024
Cell Phone 747 97974 (From a Cell Phone in Chile dial with no other numbers)