Household Security in Jamaica
As I pointed out in my post on “settling in“, the choice of housing is made primarily with the following questions in mind:
- What is the crime rate like in the neighborhood?
- Does the house have adequate security (e.g. burglar-bars?)
- Should you live in a gated or a non-gated community?
A family moving to Jamaica may want to immediately put in place some basic security measures, including:
- Hiring a security company with on-call services and a panic button
- Using a driver to get around in the first few weeks
- Attending a security briefing, if available
- Learning which neighborhoods to avoid, if driving
- If burglar grills are not present, having the landlord install them before moving in
While the number of murders and the overall crime rates have been on the increase in the Caribbean region, they tend to be mostly gang-related, and therefore not random. Simply be aware of crime rate trends. The care that one would take while living in any major city should be taken here.
he point of having a good security system is to bring as much piece of mind as is possible, and many expatriates choose to have:
- 24-hour security
- Window and door alarms
- A panic button to a security company with mobile assistance
- Cell phones with numbers pre-programmed to the police and security companies
- Burglar proofing/bars (a requirement)
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Comments
I am in agreement with the information you have offered with respect to household security.Nonetheless,one is of the perspective that you may have inadvertently omitted a crucial feature of household security within Jamaican society.And,in essence, these are the ubiquitious dogs,especially,the notorious and hardy Jamaican mongrels, standing as sentinels in front of most households/yards in Jamaica,irrespective of social class and location of residence.I will kindly submit that any reference to household security within a society such as Jamaica, which excludes the role and utilization of dogs will be greatly compromised.At my home in Jamaica,I have seven dogs and some of my friends have larger packs.
Thanks for this post, and you are absolutely correct, about the Dog factor.
2-7 dogs are not unusual to see in many yards.
I am however extremely allergic to animals, so not even one dog will grace my living space ever. Please however feel free to write more on the Dog topic and submitt to me for posting.
I do however plan to write more for people who try to bring Dogs into JA,
as that can apparently be problematic depending on where the dogs are coming from.
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