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What won't you see in Panama. Well if you go to the malls at night you won't see out of order teenagers cutting up - no running around cursing, no boom boxes, no gang colors, no purple hair, no mohican haircuts. Go to the mall arcade and observe nicely behaved kids having fun. No stoned out kids here. Marked absence of body piercings and tattoos. You will not see kids coming at you in groups and making you give ground to them. You will not see streetwalkers, crack houses, street corner crack dealers, no gang hangouts of any sort, no OTB betting houses. There is a marked absence of homeless people living in the streets, never saw any in Panama City. You will see neighborhoods with incredibly poor people not that much unlike what you see all over the USA but they are poorer here in these neighborhoods. You will see street beggars, street vendors selling things while you stop for a red light (sometimes they have good fruit cheap) and you will see some fairly wild traffic violations. They drive wild here. No one stops for stop signs, they do stop for red lights. They will turn left from the right lane of a three lane each direction street. Right of way is defined by who has the most guts and aggression. Many people will wind up paying their traffic fines on the spot so to speak if they get pulled over. For an Expat figure $10, while a local may pay way less. The driver asks the police if he can just simply pay the fine now and sort of discreetly palms the bill over. If you decide to take a ticket be prepared to wait a while since the policeman may need help filling out the ticket since he rarely ever does this or you could be his first. Tickets do not count against your insurance (imagine a country where the insurance industry hasn't corrupted the legislature). I could see the insurance industry raising rates due to accidents but what the heck do tickets have to do with accidents. Did you know that insurance companies have programs to buy traffic radar and laser guns for local law enforcement. Just another reason why America is about to collapse in on itself as the large corporations continue to operate a corrupted Congress. You could use a radar detector here but I never saw any police using radar but they do have it. You might spend more on the detector than on tickets, LOL.

Panama has private firearm ownership. As a resident or citizen you can get one too. If you can purchase the gun you can carry it concealed on your person in your car etc.
By the way I am an ex law enforcement officer (something I did in my younger days). When I walk down the street or am driving if I concentrate on it I can still read the streets, it used to be automatic but after a while it just goes away unless you consciously turn it on again. I see the drug dealers, the street thieves, the junkies, dumpsters appear as ladders, etc things regular untrained people will not pay any mind to. This is common to any local law enforcement officer who ever worked the streets in the USA. When I try to read the streets here I come up blank there just isn't anything to read unless I am driving through one of the extremely poor neighborhoods where you shouldn't be and then I see the old street signs the lookout playing what they call chickie for the dealer or whoever, the hooker etc. on down the line. So yes there are bad neighborhoods and I think it would be fictional to imagine a country today that does not have them but I can think of no reason why any Expat would ever go there and in reality while these neighborhoods are bad I think the bad neighborhoods in USA are much worse. For instance I doubt Panama ever had a single drive by shooting where machine guns sprayed innocent bystanders, houses etc. yet these are common events in the USA.

Guns. Yes Panama has private firearm ownership. As a resident or citizen you can get one too. If you can purchase the gun you can carry it concealed on your person in your car etc. This is a typical scenario in several countries. In the USA a handgun to me was like Karl Malden and the American Express Card - never leave home without it, and while home rest assured one was always very close by. In Panama it is nice to not have to carry a gun - not needed. If you want a gun you can readily have one in Panama. Remember Panama is under Roman Law. If you shoot or kill a person even a home intruder or a person in a traffic accident you can be incarcerated by the police during which they investigate the death. I am told there is a usual 7 day limit on this. There is also the crime of passion exception to murder. If you came to find your spouse engaging in sex with another and you killed them both it would be a walk under crime of passion but you may have to go to jail for a few days while the investigation took place. Remember you are not in Kansas anymore. Having an unregistered gun will result in a trip to the jail. Panama is not a full auto jurisdiction (machine guns)- no private ownership of full autos. I believe things like semi-auto AR-15's are available. I understand that there are lots of full auto AK's floating around due to Colombians smuggling them in but that too can mean big trouble with the police - ill advised and unnecessary. Silencers, and things like any other weapon, are not available for private ownership.

Drugs - They are here but not obvious. If you are a recreational drug user I would strongly suggest you look for another country to live in, they do not take this lightly especially if you are an Expat. Depending on quantities and circumstances you may get booted out of country and fined, you may get a warning or you may do some time in jail. They would probably not put you away for 20 years or execute you like some countries but if you had enough and were dealing you would probably be miserable for a few years. Find a country more tolerant of drug users, this is not your place.

Hotels that Expats use are going to have security and be relatively safe but do make sure the hotel is recommended (see our Hotel section). Most of these hotels will have in room safes. Only the expensive larger hotels will have hotel safe deposits boxes. Once we saw a guy at one of the best hotels put a load of cash in the hotel safe and the staff deposited it in the bank with their deposit and the guy had to wait until the bank reopened after a holiday to get his money back. From the tone of the argument it was a lot of money and the hotel manager seemed to know the customer was not in any position to complain to anyone and he would of course get his money back and basically told the customer to shut up and wait. I do believe he got all his money back and learned a lesson.

You can also hire a driver with a car for somewhat less than $100 a day which is best done when going out of Panama City.
Arrange to be met at the airport by a driver. Safer and same price as a cab. He'll meet you with a sign with your name (use an alias if security conscious) and take you right to your hotel. See our services section for a reliable driver.

Taxis are safe as a rule. Cab fares go from $1.00 to $3.00 around Panama City. If you are coming for a few weeks bring a stack of one dollar bills and quarters. Taxis have no meters and never have change. Even if they do have change they will wait to see if you want your change. Try to act like you know what is going on, ask at the hotel desk what your fare should be to your intended destination. Hail a taxi away from the front of your hotel so you won’t give the impression of being a tourist. Give your destination in your best Spanish with best accent or have your front desk write it out in Spanish for you just in case the driver can’t understand your accent.

You can also hire a driver with a car for somewhat less than $100 a day which is best done when going out of Panama City. Rental cars are readily available. Check our recommendations for a smooth experience. If you have a problem you can always complain to us and we can exert pressure that is well respected to say the least.

Always travel with a powerful flashlight with fresh batteries - generic advice applicable anywhere not just for Panama. What if there is a power failure, fire, etc and you need to get out?

Cash. You don't need a lot there are numerous ATM machines around. Ones in malls often have a security guard lurking around them. Remember Panama money is US dollars. If your currency is otherwise you will need to convert and not all that many banks do that and there are no street street money changers here. Make sure you can use the ATM machines here and maybe carry some cash if the ATM's will not work for you. You can use Visa/MC all over the country.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.panamaexpertos.com
http://www.panamaexpertos.com/info.php?page=content/crime_and_safety&pagenumber=2
http://www.panamaexpertos.com/info.php?page=content/crime_and_safety

The author is a researcher, with years of experience in finances and real estate.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.panamaexpertos.com
http://www.panamaexpertos.com/info.php?page=content/crime_and_safety&pagenumber=2
http://www.panamaexpertos.com/info.php?page=content/crime_and_safety

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Crime and Safety in Panama Part 2