Message from Kalkan Jandarma

[Lantana]

I teach English at the Jandarma in Kalkan. The Jandarma staff are all very keen to improve their English because they want to be able to provide practical assistance and advice to visitors and non-Turkish speaking residents.

Our classes are based on practical situations which they may encounter, followed by a discussion of the topic of the conversation.

Today we discussed burglaries. In the summer months, there are, on average, between 5 and 7 house burglaries per month. 80% of these take place in the late afternoon - between 4.30 and 6.00.. In the winter the burglary rate falls to a maximum of 3 per month.

The number of houses or apartments in Kalkan classed as ''tourist accommodation'' - where the burglaries always take place, is just over 2000. These dwellings also include properties owned by foreigners but not rented out, as well as those which are rented out  and are  owned either by Turkish people or foreigners. This means that during the summer months, in a six month period, there is a maximum of 42 burglaries.  As a monthly percentage - which is how UK crime statistics are measured - this represents less than 0.5%

There have been No muggings reported in the past 12 months, nor any incidents of violent crime (where force has been used against a person). There has been no case of pick-pocketing or bag snatching.

Wallets belonging to 3 foreigners have been found in the street and handed in with all contents intact.

90% of the burglaries occur in villas or apartments where a window or door has not been shut or locked.

So the message from the Jandarma to forum readers is that Kalkan is a very safe place. The incidents of burglary are very low, despite anything to the contrary which has been posted on this forum.

In overall crimes (the total of all mentioned crimes), the US ranks the highest, followed by Germany, United Kingdom, France, and South Africa. Turkey ranks 32 out of 50 countries surveyed. (source http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri-crime-total-crimes), so Turkey is 29 times safer than the UK. in terms of overall crime.

Let''s have some perspective on the forum. Kalkan is not a hotbed of robbery, it is , as it always has been a very safe and secure place where the vast majority of visitors or residents will never experience a crime of any kind.

lantana


Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=2429.0

[felicity]

Thank you Lantana for that very measured and interesting post which reaffirms the view which many of us visitors  hold whether property owners or not  and which we feel in our guts but obviously cannot substantiate when faced with the some of the recent and repetitive postings to the contrary on this forum. 

[yelkenite]

Hi Lantana,  I''d echo Felicity''s sentiments there. Thank you for showing that the situation isn''t as bad as many of us had thought with recent reporting.  Provided some perspective/balance.  Thank you.  Bill

[Kalkan regular]

Thanks Lantana. That''s great factual information - it confirms my belief that Kalkan is a very safe place, although obviously it is upsetting if you have experienced a burglary.

Nice to know that the Jandarma are trying to learn English - I hope they are managing to make more progress than we are trying to learn Turkish.

[caradog]

Thanks Lantana for the information. Whilst I tend to agree with you that Kalkan is generally a safe place in terms of overall crime, the old adage is of course that you can prove anything with statistics.
The annual burglary rate in the UK as a whole is around 2% of all households (source Home OfficeCrime in England and Wales survey 2007/08). This equates to around .16% per month, or around the third of the rate in Kalkan.Factor into this hotbeds of burglary such as Nottingham, Leeds and London then the comparable rates for small towns would be far lower again. There would be an outcry in the UK if a small town had figures such as these with practically no action taken. So it may not be a hotbed for robbery, but it''s pretty high in the burglary stakes.
The problem being of course the Kalkan burglary rates affects mainly foreigners and no one really wants to know.

[kalcamp]

Intersting stats lantana:
Quote

Today we discussed burglaries. In the summer months, there are, on average, between 5 and 7 house burglaries per month.

90% of the burglaries occur in villas or apartments where a window or door has not been shut or locked.''

That means a maximum of 0.7 burglaries a month are forced entry.   
 Multiply  this by 6 months this makes 4.2 forced entry burglaries per summer!


So as long as I secure my doors and windows securely there is only a 1 in 500 chance of being burgled
this is great news

 Thanks lantana, I will certainly sleep more soundly tonight.

[Lantana]

I must take issue with the statement which Caradog makes - to paraphrase - he says that as it is mainly foreigners who are the victims of crime, no one really wants to know.

Who are these people in Kalkan who he says care so little? Where does Caradog get this fact that no one really wants to know.?

Certainly it does not apply to the Jandarma, they are very concerned. It is their role and responsibility to maintain law and order, they take that responsibility very seriously. Believe it or not, they actually care that tourists coming here are safe and have a good time. They also know that foreigners will make far more fuss than a local if they are burgled (as this forum demonstrates)  and this adverse publicity has a negative impact on tourism on Turkey and reflects badly on how they perform their role.

His statement does not apply to local business owners, who recognise that adverse publicity negatively impacts on their own livelihoods.   They have an informal network of watchers who keep an eye on strangers and look out for anything suspicious.

It does not apply to those who have influence in Kalkan at a local government level. Earlier this week we were at an informal small meeting where a potential mayoral candidate for next years election and some of his local supporters discussed the issue of crime and how foreigners can be protected (and they also expressed great concern over the taxi drivers issue)

Such throwaway statements as that made by Caradog are not only completely inaccurate they are also offensive to all the local people here who care very much about what happens to foreigners. Perhaps because they know that without tourists Kalkan will die -  but that does not impact on the fact that they do care.

And finally, Caradog has an interesting use of statistics, since the government''s own report paints a rather different picture. The Home office report ''Crime in England and Wales 2007/8'' (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs08/hosb0708.pdf) makes these points (page 6 if you want to look it up.) The figures are for the UK as a whole.

''Overall around 2% of households had experienced a burglary in the last year''  and ''Overall 3% of adults had experienced a violent crime in the UK''

So compare this with Kalkan and make up your own minds about whether or not this is a safe place where people do care what happens to foreigners.

Lantana

[Ahsap Man]

Kalcamp

Isn''t it great that you can now sleep more soundly and also know that you can walk the streets of Kalkan, day or night, and not have to worry about being mugged, pick pocketed, assaulted, murdered or raped as you do in lots of other places in the world.

Kalkan''s very low crime rate should be celebrated from every ''roof top'' restaurant of Kalkan!

[Em1]

Hi Lantana
Perhaps Caradog is referring to messages posted on here recently about burglaries. I seem to remember that people felt they got no help from the local Police at all?
Perhaps Caradog could expand further...
Em

[Hoca]

Thank you Lantana for putting all in perspective
We have lived here for 4 years now and this place is for me virtually crime free
Never seen a vehicle stolen
Never seen any street violence
Never heard of any one being mugged
Never heard of any sexual assaults
No gangs of youths hurling abuse
No vandalism
No children being stalked
No elderly people being harassed
No shopping stolen while you go to the toilet
No tossers ( don''t work won''t work ) begging on the streets
So all in all not a bad place is it ?

[Charlie]

Not a bad place at all - and I can''t wait to be there in a few hours!

[Blue Lizard]

they have forcast heavy snow followed by hail stones and sleet !! 

[hel66]

  Re: Villa burgled - 23 June 2008
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2008, 11:48:34 AM » Quote 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DB, you have my sympathy.  You did all the right things and still they found a way in.

The silver lining to this cloud is the friendly and helpful response you received from some of the locals.

One thing that concerns me is your comment about how the Jandarma were not helpful.  Please could you be more specific on the type of response you got from them?  Whilst I personally have never had cause to call the Jandarma, this is a comment I have read on the EK forum many times, and I would be interested to hear from anyone who has any constructive ideas as to how this apparent unhelpfulness can be addressed.

John

This a quote from the feds, from the ''villa burgled 23rd June'' thread in the ''General discussion'' section page 3.

[hel66]

  Re: Villa burgled - 23 June 2008
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2008, 01:44:46 PM » Quote 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TheFeds

The Jandarma were not very thorough, only one officer visited the crime scene, clearly fingerprints where everywhere we thought  that a follow up visit would have been made to gather more evidence,  this never happened. We were summoned to their office for several hours to make a statement, via an interpreter and at one point they accused us of fabricating the crime and questioned why we had left so many valuables in the safe. We were told that CCTV was available nearby and they could check this to see what vehicles were in the area that day, however we found out later that the CCTV does not record and this was not possible.  At no point did the Jandarma offer any advice or support or even the use of a telephone. There has been no follow up visit or contact by them.

And this is the reply from DB, the unfortunate person to be burgled on this occasion


possibly one reason why there might be a bit of negativity around.

[Hoca]

Can some one please tell me what the standard response from the U.K. police is to non aggravated burglary preferable from a former or current employee of the police and not a victim.
Can some one also tell me what they would expect the Jandama to do if they were to be broken into.
I would expect them to take an itinerary of goods stolen and give me a crime number for insurance purposes. What more can they do ?

[kalkanbelle]

Lantana thanks for the reassurance that the Jandarma do care about villas and apartments being robbed but I wonder if you know whether they have actually arrested anyone or have any idea who is commiting these crimes?  It would be useful to know if they are making any progress in catching these offenders?

[bluefudge11]

A quick look at my local daily (17th September) and I see reports on 1 murder, 2 stabbings, 1 child sex attack, 1 drug dealer bust, 4 burglaries, 3 assaults and numerous motoring offences.

Statistics not needed!

Anyway i never trust statics -eg 1 in 3 fatal car accidents involve drink driver, so that means 2 in 3 fatal car accidents involve people who are sober, therefore it is safer to be drunk when driving !  Poppy Cock!

[Marni]

Lantana - thank you for taking the time to share this information with us.  We had become increasingly concerned about what we might find next time we return to our villa having read some of the recent posts on EK.  This information is incredibly reassuring.

John (The Feds) - I share your frustration!  I used to enjoy lunchtime sitting at my desk with a sandwich and reading posts from others who love Kalkan as much as I do. I now believe that some members are determined to look for something negative to say.

Margaret

[Blue Lizard]

Hoca..response from UK police to non- aggravated burglary? i work in a busy freight yard/container area on the south coast.We are a private contract company and often have incidents due to the nature of goods etc in the varous lorries and containers...often asylum seekers are caught in the backs of soft sided vehicles for which the last response time was the next day!!(not unusual!!)obviously they are miles away by then...the first thing the police ask is do you know where they are?We are not at liberty to hold people against there will. Some nights ago we found the rear doors to a building open and contacted the police..the correct proceedure was followed, as the door had been forced it was assumed the intruder had a crow bar or such item ..we were told by dispatch "wait outside, officers will be here shortly"several phone calls and 4 hours later we entered the building ourselves as no police attended.the intruder was long gone and thankfully all was in order except for minor forced entry damage.A later phone call was made to the police who apologised but said they were short of officers? i left for home after that and after coming off the motorway saw 3 police cars(2 occupants each) and 2 police motorcycles gathered round an officer with a speed gun!!  Priorities right?

[Em1]

Hi Villa Marni
I dont believe there are people who are ''determined to look for something negative to say'' about Kalkan, but there are people who are not happy about having to gloss over real issues?
In addition to this, just because someone has an issue that they want to talk about, like house burglaries, does not mean that they do not love Kalkan as you do?
Just my view...
Em