TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Shooting in Sandy Ground

This sh*t has to stop.
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No kidding, you couldn't pay me enough to go by that area at night!

What I don't understand, is that the Gendarmerie know that is the "wild wild west" of the island. Why are they not patrolling there more often??? These guys are brazen, even during the daylight hours!!! It's just part of the island not to travel through at any hour!!! Thank God for the Causeway bridge!!!

Having lived and worked in London all my life I always take the positive out of things like this.

a. You're never going to stop bangers killing each other. Each victim is one less banger.
b. As in Sandy Ground the killing fields are usually confined to one turf so it's easy to avoid and the rest of the island where tourists visit is safer as a result.
c. Any hint of tourism being affected and the cops would be all over it like a rash. And the dealers know this which is why they avoid tourists like gypsies avoid barking dogs.

It's a cynical view, I know, but the reality is most tourists would prefer police to tackle rip-offs and scams rather than bros blasting away at each other in a 'hood.

Except that two tourists have been shot recently...

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to play down such attacks just putting them into perspective.
The Caribbean is just like anywhere else in the world where affluence sits cheek-by-jowl with the poor.
But avoid the 'hoods, definitely don't resist if you're robbed ( which I understand at least one of the shooting victims did ) and take the same sensible precautions you would at home and you'd have to be very unlucky to be affected.
Things could be a lot worse if St Maarten's location didn't make it out of range of large-scale illegal migration which is having a massive effect on crime rates over here in Europe.

Along with a knife attack and a physical altercation resulting in injuries. All visitors.

In what sort of timescale is this crime ?
The British Foreign Office advises that crime levels are low on SM and the US State Department has the lowest level of " take the usual precautions " advice. Whilst these isolated incident are regrettable they are still extremely isolated when compared with the huge number of visitors.
I've travelled to a lot of the Caribbean over the years and SM seems far more affluent and safe than most.
Take a look at mainland France if you want an idea of what serious crime figures are about.

We don’t see much of Sandy Ground except a few afternoon transits. We will have fewer of those as not much to visit without Dreams and such in Nettle. Aside from visiting Parrotville, we will probably stay on the causeway-Marigot-Grand Case-Orient path.

Nobby Aristotle
Check out back about 3 pages in this forum & read "I'm afraid our island is changing". After that there was a violent robbery in Philipsburg, robbery at parrote ville day time, both feb 18 & 26. Some over by oyster pond in january. Grand case several. A list was posted recently about several on dutch side. armed robbery in marigot february at dinner at marina. It was nerve racking being there the month of January!

I'm NOT looking to jump all over you about your comment. My point is that these shootings and stabbings are a real black eye for tourism for the island!!! Perspective newbe's read these comments on all social media avoid coming. Not good for the economy!!! IMHO, a massive take over by the Gendarmerie has to take place, just like Rudy did with Times Square in NYC!!! The island she's too beautiful to have this hanging over her!!!

Where are the jails for both the French and Dutch sides of the island? Do they transport prisoners to other islands? What anre the sentences typically for anrmed robbery annd murder? Are the sentences enough to deter armed robberies? Murders?

The jail for the Dutch side is at Point Blanche, on the island. French side sends their prisoners to Guadelupe. I have no idea what average sentences are. Trials on the French side seem very fast. Dutch side, glacial.

Agree…Comparing crime here to France is irrelevant, and yes this island definitely has a black eye as compared to other tourism-heavy islands of the Carib…We’re not reading of tourists being robbed and shot to this extent in those forums…

crmoores--"We’re not reading of tourists being robbed and shot to this extent in those forums…" I acknowledge that SXM has an image problem, but nothing like the problems that Mexico has..

Yes it’s hard not to acknowledge that. Following current events in many of the other Carib island,SXM does stand out.

And I think it makes perfect sense - for veteran Caribbean visitors and new tourists alike - to compare SXM to STT, STJ, Antigua, or any alternative Carib island when researching a vacation or a home there. IMHO, Mexico is another situation, as is France which was mentioned, neither of which are comparable destinations…

[EDIT] I can add that we visit Mexico often, and we will be stopping on SXM on a cruise. We’ve enjoyed two land vacations on SXM, but we do understand the concerns of some of the veterans here, and we will also likely choose other islands for future stays.

I would agree that Mexico is not a comparable destination to SXM. Nor is anywhere else in the Caribbean, to my mind. Nothing compares to SXM for me, despite all her faults.