St. Thomas life safe/dangerous

It's a far cry from "very dangerous". If you're coming here for a "few month" PMV you'll learn far more from that than from reading a relatively sparsely-contributed-to forum. In my thus far 30+ year STT residency I've been the victim of violent crime twice - both during the 16 years I owned and operated a business which was targeted. I neither know nor have known anyone who thinks that it's a dangerous place to live. Enjoy your PMV!

i dont think any island is as dangerous as peoples perceptions of it is. yes, crime does happen and sometimes it is bad, sometimes petty.it happens.

probably not as corrupt as beliz either

relax and have fun

Everybody is posting the truth as they see it, and crime reports are posted online, though not every crime is reported.

Guns are too easy to get here illegally, so the crimes actually start before they reach the island when someone ships guns here illegally. More resources have been added recently to step up enforcement, but too early to determine effect.

You definitely lessen your chance to be involved in crime if you aren't into cocaine, gambling, and hanging out in the Latin clubs at 3 a.m. I started with those things when I moved my wife and baby here last year. I'm not trying to be a jerk but if you keep yourself out of certain situations you dramatically lower chances.

The biggest difference is the violence will hit much closer to home.

When was the last time somewhere you went had a shooting? Outside of your grocery store, your kmart, a road you drive down?

Down here, it's my view that you're not subjected to more violence per se, but hearing of violence occurring in places you frequent is commonplace.

"The Geneva Declaration - an international diplomatic initiative that looks at armed violence worldwide and its relation with development - defines any place with 30 violent deaths or more per 100,000 people as having "extremely high violent death rates." The statistics include homicides, casualties of war and victims of terrorism.

These are the countries with the highest violent death rates as listed in the Geneva Declaration's Global Burden of Armed Violence 2011 report, with the U.S. Virgin Islands inserted into the list according to its average homicide rate during the same time period."

http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/top-15-homicide-rates-in-the-world-1.1253003

I've personally never felt unsafe on St. Thomas in the 2.5 years I've lived here. Have had my car broken into twice. Once recently. Both probably kids looking for cash and iPhones. Annoying for sure but I've never felt like I was personally not safe.

I don't go out downtown past 11 buying drugs being drunk flashing money... So I'm good. 🙂

There are beaches on the Northside and west end that are remote that I choose not to go alone to. Just a personal choice. Would something happen, probably not but I just tend to be wary about that.

While this is by no means a scientific estimate, I discovered this post on a cruising website.

Based upon my experience as a professional risk manager and having been to virtually every island in the Caribbean (used to own property on St John), it seems a logical approach to answering your question.

The point made here is that if you ask a group like the one on this forum an open ended question -- safe or dangerous -- you're going to get their personal viewpoint, which is valuable but not conclusive. Had someone experienced a crime personally, I doubt they're going to say it's safe, even if their crime was the only crime that month.

You get the idea. We all want an objective answer and I think this guy's come up with an approach which answers this question in a relatively objective way, benchmarking all Caribbean islands.

As you will see, he ranks the USVI about average on his scale of safety.

For what it's worth, see his post:

http://sailingwithkids.net/how-safe-is-the-caribbean/

For more of an in-depth overview of the Caribbean, read this:

http://freecruisingguides.com/guides/CSI%20Update4_2014.01.pdf

There goes rotorhead with his statistics again...like someone said, stay away from drugs, gangs, and fast-money enterprises and you'll be safe.

I lived in the USVI most of my life. I recently relocated to Orlando temporarily. I can't wait to get back to the good old USVI and our "crime".

There is a constant level of criminal activity here that far surpasses the occasional USVI murder or theft. We all can see that the murders are among a very narrow group. Nobody is going to murder you because you "cut them off in traffic" or, God forbid, actually drove at 30 MPH like the speed limit sign says while the tailgater behind you wants to do 60 MPH. Constant breaking of the law, on all levels.

The statistics don't include people who get murdered by vehicles, like the three construction workers struck and killed by a speeding car recently, or the seven year old boy killed yesterday when the ATV he was a passenger on rolled over on him due to its driver being drunk, or the guy mowing the median on a highway last week who got hit and killed by a speeder who lost control...it goes on and on. Guy kills wife and kids, mother kills all of her babies...my God.

Here, there are always invisible fingers in your pocket, from rampant hijacking of gas pumps to pervasive stealing of credit cards and personal information. Anybody who quotes statistics and tries to tell you how "dangerous" the USVI is needs to go online at, for example, www.clickorlando.com. Look at the mugshots, and see the level of insanity that exists in these places that rotorhead claims are less dangerous.

There goes rotorhead with his statistics again...like someone said, stay away from drugs, gangs, and fast-money enterprises and you'll be safe.

Yes, please don't listen to me. I have lived here for 17 years. About 2 years ago I was sitting in my den watching TV at 1:00am. My wife was in bed asleep. Three thugs with guns broke into our house and held us at gunpoint for 2 hours. Luckily my wife called 911 before the thugs pulled her out of the bedroom.

The police killed two of the thugs on our driveway and wounded the third. One police officer was wounded.

This had nothing to do with drugs or gangs or fast-money enterprises(whatever they are). I wasn't out late at night in a place that I should avoid. I was sitting at home watching TV. The thugs were looking for cash and jewelry and GOLD. They were disappointed, we don't keep cash around. We use ATMs and Credit Cards. We don't wear jewelry or keep gold laying around.

I have known 4 people who have been murdered on STX. All unsolved. All within the past 5-6 years. In their homes, in restaurants and elsewhere.

Come here. Feel safe. My experience is on STX not STT, but those evil statistics say that the two islands have a roughly equal crime rate. I think that STT is slightly ahead of STX so far this year. STT has had 12 murders STX has had 5.
http://stthomassource.com/content/news/police/2015/05/05/homicides-2015

I can only relate my own experience, discount it if you like.

well put rotor

I didn't know getting run over was a homicide. Unless of course it's not an "accident" and can be proven.

Telling people they'll be OK as long as they stay away from bad areas and drugs is a load of Bull. Telling people they'll be OK just don't get drunk, go out late and flaunt jewelry etc. is Bull x 2.

well put Mr Sausage

random violence happens. My point is you measurable lessen your chances avoiding those situations. That is irrefutable

Agree with sausage. There was a massive shootout (5 people shot) in the most popular tourist destination just last night.

The U.S. Virgin Islands in the news.

"More specifically, according to the think tank’s Homicide Monitor, despite it’s tourist-favorite beautiful beaches, Honduras is the deadliest country in the world, with a murder rate of 85.5 per 100,000 people. Compare that to the global average of just 6.2, and you’ll understand how dangerous it is.

Next up on the danger scale: Venezuela and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In fact, of the 20 deadliest countries, Latin America and the Caribbean account for 14 of them — making those two regions the deadliest areas in the world."
https://www.yahoo.com/travel/yikes-the-deadliest-and-safest-places-in-the-118882051452.html

Come and see for yourself only you can really decide. Don't let the forums dissuade you from making a PMV. I'm new to the islands about 4 months now and I was nervous after reading all the crime threads. So far I have always felt safe here. (STX) The area where the shooting was last night is a great area that I frequent regularly and always feel safe but I do not go there at 2:30 am. Just like everywhere else bad things can happen and if it happens to you then your opinion is different. Like other posters have said things are small here so you have a good chance of feeling it a bit more personally even if you weren't involved. You'll know someone who was or it's someplace you go.

There was a massive shootout (5 people shot) in the most popular tourist destination just last night.

You mean the 2:30AM shooting on the otherwise deserted boardwalk where 40 shots were fired between five gangbangers and one of them was killed? Or should one just not believe written/police reports and amplify it to make it sound as though it was broad daylight with hundreds of people around and dozens of rival posses shooting it out "massively"?

Surprised more of those involved weren't killed after having 40 shots fired in the gunfight! More like a shootout out at the OK corral!
Those guys were loaded for bear and bad shots by any standards. The majority of gun violence is gang related retaliations.
Doesn't excuse the violence but there it is.
Glad innocent bystanders weren't hurt.

Surprised more of those involved weren't killed after having 40 shots fired in the gunfight! More like a shootout out at the OK corral!
Those guys were loaded for bear and bad shots by any standards. The majority of gun violence is gang related retaliations.
Doesn't excuse the violence but there it is.
Glad innocent bystanders weren't hurt.

2:30 in the morning is not exactly the safest time to be wandering the streets obviously. The days where one didn't go out until 11 PM and get home in the wee hours are long gone.

Don't know why it reposted same thing.

Whoops

There was a massive shootout (5 people shot) in the most popular tourist destination just last night.

You mean the 2:30AM shooting ... where 40 shots were fired between five gangbangers and one of them was killed?

There's been no reports identifying participants (or IDing them as "gangbangers," no less). Way to stereotype. It could have been a botched robbery for all we know (victim may have been wearing a nice watch).

The prevailing belief on this forum appears to be that crime isn't really that bad so long as the victims are locals. As a native islander, I obviously don't hold such beliefs. The fact is that everyone should be wary about moving somewhere where even the most die-hard apologists concede that you shouldn't go out at night. Again, if you are very old, that's not a problem. But for a young person, that limitation is just awful.

A friend recently told me about this site, and suggested that the opinions were often misleading and that native representation was sorely needed. I am glad to help!