SECURING YOUR HOME

The more barriers you create, the safer you will be. Choose the
things you want to do to protect yourself and your home:
  • Provide light around your home at night when you are away and
    when you are home.
  • Leave some inside house lights on at night and music or TV while you are gone during the day or evening. (A police officer said that Mexicans would NEVER go out and leave on the TV. So, if an intruder hears a TV, he will automatically assume someone is home and go elsewhere).
  • Install photo-electric cells so that lights automatically turn on
    at darkness (only can use incandescent bulbs). These simple sockets that lights screw into and then screwed into light fixture can be purchased for about $5. US at Lakeside electrical stores.
  • Create noise—you and your neighbors.
  • Have a large dog.
  • Put dead-bolts on entry doors.
  • Install grates on skylights; razor wire on the top of fences or
    walls.
  • Secure sliding doors and windows with a metal pipe cut to fit
    into track when door is closed.
  • Keep 4 or 7 watt little night lights on throughout house (They
    never burn out, if you neverturn them off).
  • Install an alarm system that is responded to by a private
    security.
  • Install metal work on windows that you wish to keep open while
    away or at night.
  • Inexpensive pressure alarms can be put on windows and doors
    (battery activated; sold at local “dollar” type stores in Chapala).
  • Get together with your neighbors to put a “Neighborhood Watch” type program in place.
  • When away on vacation, put some inside lights on timers. If you
    do not have a “house sitter”, then have someone check your
    home.
  • So house keys do not get duplicated or get into the wrong hands, do not give keys to house employees no matter how much you trust them. It might be their  friends who cannot be trusted.
  • Keep doors locked, especially if you are alone at home.
  • Don’t leave key in lock of doors that have glass pains that can
    be broken to reach keys.
  • If keys are lost, have door locks re-tumbled immediately.
  • Place new low wattage, but high light bulbs in street lights
    outside your home.
  • Keep plants near doors and windows low.
  • Keep ladders in locked area.
  • If you do not know the person, do NOT open the door. Talk to them some other way.
  • Ask service person who comes to your door to show identification. Do not unlock the door, especially if you do not know the person or are not expecting a service person. Only open the glass part on the door, if possible. Otherwise, speak through a window.
  • Keep “Emergency Folder” handy in home and car.
  • Keep on file: pictures of your car(s), each side of each room in
    your house, and your jewelry to help prove ownership and to assist an investigation of stolen property.

PERSONAL SECURITY

Here are a few more pointers to keep you personally safe.
  • Have a charged cell phone at all times.
  • Keep a low profile in terms of cash, valuables, or jewelry.
  • Keep a small amount of cash in your wallet. Put extra cash somewhere else in your  purse, or pockets.
  • Do not walk alone at night.
  • Keep  car doors locked when driving.
  • Before getting out of  car at night, observe area. Move car, if not comfortable.
  • Keep "Pepper Spray* and Air Horn** within easy reach at home and in your car.
Note: keeping a gun is not a good idea for many reasons.

Pepper Spray can be bought for $6.00US at Super Lake in front of
the store.

Air  Horn (type used at sporting events) can be bought in “dollar stores” in  Chapala

TRACKING CRIME IN LAKE CHAPALA

Click here to see what has happened and current advisories.

ROBBERIES AT COSTCO, SAM'S, WALMART AND GUADALAJARA AIRPORT

The same scam is pulled at all three places. As you are about to
get in your car, a very nice polite person—Anglo or Mexican—approaches you to inform you that you getting a flat tire. Without you being aware, there is another person standing behind who makes a
hissing sound (or your tire was punctured with a pick).

As your attention is toward your tire, the person in the back
robs your pocketbook or wallet that was put in the car or your luggage from the open trunk. 

BEWARE!

A twist on this---your tire is puncture just before you get in
your car. A car follows you and a guy starts pointing at your tire and telling you to pull over. When you do, you are robbed. So, only pull over, if you think that you have to, in a place where you will be
safe.
When out in public, ignore remarks from strangers such as "What's that on your shoulder?" or someone yelling "Thief!" in a crowded area -- both may be setups used by pickpockets or scam artists to distract your attention or trick you into revealing where you carry your money.

a primer on mexican lawsuits

This document was written by Spencer McMullen and submitted to the Chapala.com webboard. It is lengthy and somewhat rambling but contains very useful information on the Mexican legal system.