Last time I was robbed (for the 4th time in Portugal), the thief broke into the car leaving a nice hole in the door and then stole various things including my vehicle documents......the thought of trying to start the process of new documents appalled me.

However about a week later I went into the post office in CVO and the postmistress said she had something for me....yes the thief had sent my vehicle documents back to me

I think its the Arab blood in the locals dont you know... because a German couple who lived in Morrocco said if you were ever robbed there , the next morning the thiefs would throw your documents and passports etc back over the garden wall. They would keep the watchs etc..but hey come on ...lets be fair!

Meantime out ace GNR force are busy investigating the case of the missing mudflap.........watch this space for a case breakthrough...er after lunch of course

on security matters mestre maco in albufeira have some digital safes (looks like a job lot) all in uk packaging boxes for 29 euros.

we have put ours behind a painting (no thief would ever think of that!)

Martin, I was suprised to hear the amount of times you have been robbed in Portugal. The apartment we had for a week in October was broken into, but I had thought this to be an isolated incident but it seems I was wrong.

I wasnt to annoyed at it, but the GNR did dissapoint. When eventually reponding to our break in, they tried to accuse us of leaving the door open, despite the chunk of wood missing from the door. Overall they seemed totally un interested in our claim, as if we were wasting their time.I would have thought if many tourists are getting robbed, and tourism being the main sector paying their wages, they would be a little more helpful. Also, have many other members had problems with thieves? I would be intrested to see how big the problem is in the Algarve.

Matt

Scotch & Soda at the Grand Cafe , daylight robbery !

When we first visited Carvoeiro the letting agent warned us about the dangers of leaving doors and windows open etc and we were all a bit worried as we had chosen CVO as a place to buy. I am touching wood at the moment (back to the romance stories!), but I for one have not had any problems with the local "crime wave". Am I lucky ?

Mind you are maid is enough to scare most things away.

OUR

Last September we were done at Rocha Brava, along with three other villas on the same evening. We had left the kitchen window open, but we felt safe as we were cooking and moving between the kitchen and BBQ. The strong arm of the law were very speedy at arriving but showed little interest in doing anything other than taking a statement. The thieves were very diligent, only taking cash from wallets/handbags in 4 bedrooms, and not disturbing anything, so we only discovered the next day when out shopping

yes there is a lot of crime...and no the police are usually not the slightest bit interested in doing anything.

for those who dont think there is crime make take note that just about every home has burglar bars. for those who think its just petty crime they are right but even our first "petty crime" cost us 1000 pounds ..we only got some of it back from the insurance.

best deterrence is get a dog...we have 4 and (famous last words!) havent been robbed at the house (just the car as detailed above)

martin

Yup, petty crime eg. phones, necklace, cd's etc is the main thing. Also shared the same greivance with the insurance, still waiting on getting money off the tight arses!

Matt

We were burgled in CVO a couple of years ago whilst out having an evening meal. They took my clothes, my husbands and my 5 year old son's clothes aswell. However they did manage to leave us one outfit and a pair of shoes each. They took my sons toy cars but left him two. Isn't it funny when you've been burgled and you end up saying "ahhhh they've thought about us though"

To be honest the GNR did their job, nothing more, nothing less.

But the judiciary in most countries takes that into account as well, like the vast difference in sentences between burglary (dwelling) and burglary (commercial premises). Additionally, even thieves (that was ironic) have a sense of self worth and will do or say to themselves what ever it takes to make it feel ok to them - known as neutralisation theory. Something many of us also use day to day to allow us to do stuff we know we shouldn't like saying to ourselves - "everybody enjoys a drink after work".

Maddi

Well they DO don't they Maddi? Is it your round?

Yeah, what yer havin?

Matt K wrote:I wasnt to annoyed at it, but the GNR did dissapoint. When eventually reponding to our break in, they tried to accuse us of leaving the door open, despite the chunk of wood missing from the door. Overall they seemed totally un interested in our claim, as if we were wasting their time.I would have thought if many tourists are getting robbed, and tourism being the main sector paying their wages, they would be a little more helpful. Matt

Looks like our local law enforcement is not getting a lot of support in the burglary issues. To be honest, it looks to me like they would rather issue parking fines than chase shadows in the "rich suburban areas" of "carvoeiro city".

Matt, u mentioned that the tourism pays their salary - it only does so indirectly - the state pays their salary - they dont earn more for working in a tourist area - plus, I am not sure a monthly income of your average GNR officer can really be described as a salary. Tourism is, at most, a reason for there being so many GNR deployed in Carvoeiro. The town itself with its few thousand inhabitants could probably make do with half of the officers posted here (not to mention the additional staff that is moved here in summer).

So here we have law enforcement officers who earn as much per month as some of us spend monthly on water for our gardens, chasing after criminals who's offence is so small they are most likely to be out on the street 48 hours after detention or are too young to be held in the first place, to get back items which are almost impossible to trace (cash, mobiles, cameras - the latter probably crossing the spanish border or on their way to Lisbon before you even know they are gone).

I personally do not blame them if they don't go Magnum P.I. the second they walk through my smashed front door.
They do their job filling in the report so the people can claim the losses with their insurance, mais nada.

GNR Salary e 600 pm basic Not a great deal is it???
We live in centre of CVO and fortunately have not had any bad experiences apart from the drunken fools falling up the hill!!! (ME)