CSSN Annual Report 2017 Reported Yacht Crime – Caribbean

CSSN would like to again thank everyone who made reports, they help inform our community about potential risks. We would also like to thank those who offered constructive help and suggestions to improve our service, and the dedicated and talented volunteers whose efforts make it possible to Know Before You Go !

Annual Report
CSSN Annual Report

Good things continued to happen at CSSN this year. We launched our new website utilizing the latest in device friendly navigation technology and moved from .com to safetyandsecuritynet.org, consistent with our noncommercial/educational mission.  We also added direct links to our most utilized features from our popular Facebook page.

SSCA
CSSN is Proud to partner with SSCA and KPK (SSB 8104 12:15 Daily)

Our longtime partner the SSCA, added a land based station to the daily HF “KPK” net, extending the coverage of their land based resources.

Proud information sharing partners with Noonsite

Our partnership with Noonsite has strengthened further, we are now sharing more information easily between our two sites, enabling us both to bring our audiences even more timely and complete information.

In late November we also announced our first interactive infographics, Regional Piracy Infographics for the Honduran coast and Trinidad/Grenada, which recognize not only the significant increase in events off Honduras but also the very different nature of risk events there, and those in the Trinidad/Grenada area. New precautions lists specific to the varied types of piracy events are now provided for each area as well.

Following on the success of the piracy infographics we have recently launched the Caribbean-wide Zoom-Tap, Know & Go infographics, which allow users to navigate and review incident details using the familiar Google maps interface.

With the devastating backdrop of hurricanes Irma and Marie, total reported incidents in 2017 were essentially unchanged from 2016 (90/88). There were some significant shifts and changes in the incidents themselves.

The absolute number and proportion of violent crimes decreased relative to 2016, but has remained fairly constant.

There was a shift in the location and nature of violent incidents in 2017, driven primarily by piracy off Honduras, where 6 of the 14 total recorded violent incidents occurred. Colombia and Guatemala each added an assault in the western area. St. Lucia and the Dominican Republic each recorded 2 assaults. Trinidad and Venezuela both recorded one piracy attempt in 2017.

In 2016, 3 countries accounted for slightly more than 50% of all reports, in 2017 4 countries, SVG, Grenada, Panama and Honduras combined account for more than half of all reports. Panama and Honduras are both new to this group.

During 2017 SVG topped the list of all countries with 16 incident reports, and increase from 12 in 2016. Grenada and Panama each recorded 11 incidents and Honduras 9 overall. Martinique had 8 reports, St. Lucia 7 with all others recording 6 or less, with more than half the countries with reports recording 1 or 2.

While no detail charts are presented here, use the new Zoom-Tap, Know & Go infographics to review the detailed incident reports from these locations easily.

SVG – (16) Continues in the top list with an overall increase in incidents from 2016 to 2017 (12 to 16), and the highest total number of incidents in 2017, with none violent this year. Multiple areas of this multi-island country are again represented with no visible efforts on the part of officials or business interests there to stem this upward trend, even though a task force to do so had been announced after the publication of our 2016 report. Tiny Canouan’s Charlestown Bay/Tamarind Beach Hotel anchorage continues as the single location with the highest number of reported incidents (6) in the region.

Thefts = 8  Attempted Theft = 5  Burglary = 2 Vandalism = 1

Grenada – (11) Down from 24 to 11 in 2017, none violent, after a particularly active 2016. Reports from the south coast anchorages decreased – likely influenced by greater awareness and increased patrols by both cruisers and the Grenada Coast Guard.

Theft = 8 Attempted Theft = 1 Burglary = 1 Other = 1

Panama – (11) None violent, makes its first appearance in the top 4 list. However, incidents reported in the typically “tranquil” San Blas indicate that normal precautions (locking/lifting dinghies) should not be overlooked here. Incidents in Bocas del Toro, differ in that they indicate a much more sophisticated and well tooled/prepared set of thieves are operating there.

Theft = 8  Attempted Theft = 3

Honduras – (9) also new to the list completes the top 4, and offshore piracy incidents (5) discussed previously account for about half of all incidents with predominately non violent crimes in the Bay Islands making up the rest.

Piracy = 5 Theft = 3 Robbery = 1

First hand reports continued to dominate in 2017, bringing the most complete and best quality information to our community. We all depend on each other to self-report, and there is more to do. Please, help everyone by getting the word out. We have worked hard to make reporting accessible and easy.

If you are a victim, complete the simple online incident report, or contact KPK during the daily HF broadcast (SSB 8104 kHz at 12:15 UTC). If you hear about an incident, encourage the victims to make a direct first person report to CSSN. Or, make a report yourself (we will work closely with you to get all the facts available). CSSN’s site and data are tools for the cruising community, and we all share responsibility to use them wisely for our mutual safety and security.

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Safe Cruising,
Kim White and the CSSN team