2 vehicles stolen STX

Adele,

I am so sorry to hear about this, If there is anything I can do to help let me know.

Dante

It is a shame that crime is such a part of everyday life here. While my wife and I have no regrets about moving here last year, I am confident that we are at a much greater risk of being a crime victim here than anywhere we lived back in the states. For us, it is an acceptable risk. But I am also equally confident that, regardless of how we feel now, if we are ever a victim of crime here that it will force us to reevaluate the pros and cons of living here.
Anyway, I would appreciate any additional details you could offer regarding the incident, such as how did they break in through a locked sliding glass door - did they simply lift it off it tracks? Did the police respond in a timely manner? Did they offer any hope of recovering your vehicles or did they imply that it was a lost cause? Do you think that the people involved had ever been to your home before? Have other homes in your area had any problems? Are you in an isolated area? Does your driveway have a gate? Also, you might consider posting photos of your vehciles on Shutterfly or a similar service and putting a link here. A lot of people have viewed your post already and I suspect that many, if not most, would not have hesitated to have clicked on a link to look at pictures of your vehicles - at least I would have.

Hi JE,
To answer some of your questions, they used what we believe to be a screw driver up under the sliding door then lifted it off the track.
The police arrived 1 hour later, they gave us no hope of recovering the vehicles.
We do think we were cased out, we do get alot of traffic down the private rd.
We do not use any service companies, because we heard that can be a problem.
Gentle Winds condos had vehicles stolen from there, we located one of the stolen vehicles while we were looking for ours and called the owner.
We are located in a secluded area and we do not have a gate to our driveway, at this point we are trying to figure out what is the best way to secure ourselves.
What is this site I can put the PICS on? I've never done that before.
Thanks

This is very frightening.

The thought of a home invasion by at least five dangerous thugs would bring most people to the brink of panic. I am.

If the St Croix police really cared, you would have had an island wide search instead of a one hour non response.

If we are not safe locked in our homes, where are we safe on St Croix?

Honest, decent citizens must demand that our government and our police become responsible and protect the citizens.

I have been told, and it is unverified, that some St Croix police have brothers and cousins who are among the thugs and thieves who terrorize this island. They protect their own. Not the citizens who are violated. If this is true; The governor , himself, should lead an investigation.

JE makes it sound like a big crime wave. While it is too bad this type of thing goes on, and doesn't seem to be a priority, I would like to know where JE lived in the states that would be safer.
Here in the Phx.,AZ. area that type of thing is common place, in fact there is currently one maybe two serial rapist / killers on the loose.
In a place like here,this wouldn't even make the news. Yes it is a shame that it has happened to you, and implying that it is not so big of deal is like telling someone whose home has just burnes to the ground that it was nothing compared to the Chicago Fire. I am noy implying that at all.
I am glad that crimes like this does draw attension, as it shows that there is really not all that much crime compared to some areas.

When Stxer is worried, it can make me think again. This poster has always been for either the better or the worst. NO hidden agenda has ever been felt by me...

Thanks for what I perceive as your honesty on a very important post.

I do not think that the crime rate is probably much different here than it has been for years. What I do know is that I have met many more people here in the past several years that have been a crime victim than I ever knew back in the states. Before moving here I spent 50 years in Va and NC in pretty much middle-class neighborhoods, 35 of those years were spent in Portsmouth, Va., which has one of the highest crime rates in the area. I knew several people that lived in surrounding cities who would not even drive through Portsmouth due to irrational fears of the area. However, in all those years I can only recall knowing one person who had their home broken into. While I read about crimes daily, I did not know the people involved. This morning, as I look out my window, I can see the house directly below me that was burglarized last spring. Off to my right is another home that the new owners bought at a bargain price and have just completed a beautiful rennovation job on. They were able to get a great price because the house had sat neglected for years after the previous owner's wife was killed during a break-in there in the mid 1990s. The first time I saw another neighbors deck who lives up the hill I was shocked to see the ribbon wire they had installed around it after they woke up to find an intruder in the house back in the 1990s. I never met anyone who was a victim of an armed robbery until moving here. They were robbed last year. I do not recall ever hearing about any beach bar I frequented in the states,and there have been many, being robbed. This past February one was robbed about 2 hours after we left. I have only known a handful of people that had their cars vandalized, stolen, or burglarized in the states. Here I have met many more, including several who no longer lock their cars because they got tired of replacing window glass. In the states our goal when going to beach was to find as secluded a spot as we could. On the NC Outer Banks you could often find places where no-one else was in sight and I never heard of anyone being robbed. Here the recommendation is to stay away from secluded places unless you are in a large group.
So although crime happens everywhere, for whatever reason it was rare when it affected people that I knew back in the states. Here on STX, crime has affected a much higher percentage of people that I have met, people who for the most part have lifestyles similar to mine.
My wife and I love living here, primarily because it is so different than what we have known in the past. Unfortunately, one of those differences is that we have met many more crime victims here than we ever knew back in the states. People who I can easily picture myself in their place. This is why I think that we have a greater risk of being a victim of crime than we did back in the states.

Adele,

The on-line photo site that we use is Shutterfly. Our whole family uses Shutterfly extensively for sharing on-line vacation and holiday photo albums. There is no fee to upload and share photos. You only pay if you order prints, which are fairly inexpensive. Here is a link to the site:

http://www.shutterfly.com/

I have seen other people post photos on this site using Snapfish. Here is a link to that site:

http://www.snapfish.com/

Adele--
I am really sorry to hear about your experience! It is one of my worst fears.
I hate to use your tragedy to highlight a point, but yeah that your dog alerted you two to the intruders.
I am certain that your pooch probably scared them off.
I hope my two dogs serve the same purpose if, god forbid, the same thing happens to us.
Thank goodness you two are otherwise unharmend and I hope you can feel safe in your home.
Onik'a

when people compare crime rates in the VI to the States - I have noticed that they use big city examples. I wonder how St X's crime rate compares to towns of around 50,000 inhabitants. The level of services, amenities etc on St X is about the same as a rural small town in the States, so how does the crime rate stack up against a 'like' community.
I almost feel that the beautiful and rural island of st Croix is being looked at as almost a violent lower income neighborhood in a big city when people are trying to downplay the crime rate. Do rural small towns in the US really have murder rates as high as the Islands?
As another poster said - how come he knows so many victims personally? Is it because St X is really like a traditional small town where everybody knows everybody - if so - why so much violence and theft?

Hello to all of you from frijid Wisconsin. It is my dream to eventually end up there in St Croix. Reading the info on this forums is very informational. First I must admit that reading the post regarding the stolen vehicles would not likely be recovered astounds me. Are there that many chop shops that 2 vehicles can disappear overnight on an island 26 x 7 miles? Were else could they go? I do admit I know nothing about life on the island or any other and don't know how things work. But still find it hard to believe that the police can not offer any kind of assurance. WOW!!
I live in a fairly large community called the Fox Valley where there are numerous towns all next to each other. I think we average maybe 1 to 2 killings a year, mostly involving drugs. (Its too cold otherwise:))
I do hope that you are safe and healthy and that somehow they catch those that did it.
Cheers
Mike

Thank you to everyone who has looked or replied to my post.
As of today we still have not recovered either of the vehicles.
We have definitely lost hope at this time but still looking, I will try to put a link on here of the pics of both vehicles.
I do notice that people do compare the crime rate with big cities also, and I really do not know the actual comparisons to a small town. I have talked to several people on island this past week and it's scary to say everyone I talked to either had there house, business, or there car broken into or stolen, if it wasn't them they had a family member that had been victimized. It's crazy.
We had a neighborhood watch meeting last night and the police officer that was there said the reason for all the crime is they just don't have enough man power. She said it is up to us to take care of each other and ourselves. We do have a police station in the Loraine area but they do not get despatch out of there, only from Christiansted and Fredericksted, which I did not know.
We have found out that what they do when they steal cars is they take them back on these little back rds. & dirt lanes and they strip them down and sell the parts or use them for other vehicles that were stolen. We have driven back into a lot of these areas and seen lots of strip or burnt up vehicles.
I still love this island, and this has been a big wake-up call for me. I wish I knew more about the crime on the island so I could of been maybe a little more prepared, but now I am, and that's why I think this is an important post to get out to everyone. We need to be aware and look out for each other.
Adele

hi Adele
So sorry to hear about the thieves taking your vehicles. It IS very scary!!! Just curious what area you live in. I know crime can happen anywhere but I wonder if the thieves target particular areas and then move on to others?

Thanks for your post, it is a big wake up call to everyone who lives here. It does seem that crime HAS been increasing as of late and its good to be aware of what's going on. Also, I guess everyone should HIDE their keys when they go to bed, just in case. And for those who like having multiple dogs, keep a dog or two outside to keep the burglars away at night.

Please post the photos of your vehicles, you never know someone might find them.

All the best,
Joan

go to http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/2005prelim/table4.htm for the latest 2005 crime stats for cities over 100,000 - a lot of these ar BIG cities so do the math - this will give you a real picture of how the VI stacks up against the rest of the US.

In our paper this morning was the last 6 days total for crimes in our zip code. A few square miles, probably 1/3 to 1/2 the size of STX.
This unfourturetly is not unusual.
11 childs mostelations
3 burgularies
7 stolen vehicles
11 drugs
1 kidnapping
2 sexual assalts
3 agrevated assalts
This in a small bedroom city outside of PHX,AZ. But still in the valley area.
Most of these did not make the news as an item themselves, just in the weeks report.

Adele,

While we were checking out a few of the local drinking establishments tonight, we heard that you had gotten your truck back. Assuming this rumor is correct, did you find it or did the police?

Hi everyone,
Yes, we did get the pick-up truck back. The detective called us and told us that our truck had being used in another robbery attempt in Williams Delight, the cops came and gave chase, they jumped out of the truck and ran into the bush, the 2 woman police officers were told not to chase them in the bush, so they got away. The pick up truck is messed up, they ripped out the iginition and they had hot wired it, which makes me think that our truck was stolen twice, the first time they had the keys. The frame is bent, dents and scratches everywhere and they took the tags and stickers off. They did finger print the truck. They still have no leads on my 2000 Jimmy. We are keeping our fingers crossed.