Crime in Davenport

[ellie]

There is no easy answer to whether a gated community is 'safer.' Although gated communities may appear on the surface to be 'safer' it is quite easy to access one - unless, of course, there is a 24 hour security guard on the gate, and these are few and far between. Numerous people have access to the codes of a gated community - from the dustbin men to the pizza delivery boy, from the gardeners to the pool maintenance guy, and you can drive behind anyone who has the key code and get in by following them when the gate opens. We have seen this happen frequently.

As has been said already, burglaries can happen anywhere, and Polk cannot be regarded as an unsafe area such as you might find in parts of large cities like Miami or London.

Guests can do their bit to protect their property by sensible precautions - and not fogetting basic safety issues such as shutting all windows, locking all doors and setting the alarm. Blinds should also be drawn across windows, not only for security, but to prevent the sun fading carpets and furnishings.

We once briefly visited our home (with the guest's permission) and found the rear patio door not locked. Not ensuring that the home is securely locked is madness.

[florida4sun]

Basic security measures are all that is needed, we we once burgled in a prominent 5 star hotel, if I had followed mown advice it would not have happened.

1 - this type of incident is by opportunists. Do not give them the opportunity.

2 - Do not leave stuff on show.

3 - Draw a curtain in one bedroom and leave the TV or radio on at a reasonably loud volume (thus is what I did not do).

4 - I always leave an open bottle of wine and 2 glasses out on the balcony in hotels or of course this could be done by a villa the pool. You could use an old bottle filled with water or squash.
Combine 3 with 4 and even an idiot would get feeling that someone is in the bedroom having some hanky panky any song of life and they will move on.

Burglaries can happen anywhere, hotels, villas, cars and at home.

[SteveandJan]

I agree with what has been said above and burglaries happen anywhere unfortunately. They are opportunists. As for the gated communities, there is too much traffic for a security guard to keep track with the number of service personnel and deliveries going in and out all day long. A gated community will not give you 100% protection, neither would a hotel or any other accommodation.

I like number 4 Martin!

Looking at some figures I found on the web, polk burglaries were 0.009% for 2009 which is very small.

We always advise our guests to use the alarm (which is very loud) and always use the safe, just as you would in a hotel. Even if we stay at hotels that don't have a room safe, we always find somewhere to hide our valuables.

Mike don't let it worry you. Go on holiday, don't think about it and do what you would normally do with valuables etc. From the stats above, there is such a very minute chance of this happening and compare this to the number of visitors that Davenport has each year. [msnsmile]

Have a great time Mike.

[Madabouttigger]

We have stayed next to Highlands Reserve several times now and never had any problems. If fact I always feel safe when I am in Orlando and usually see a very visable police / Sheriff presence. Admittidly we always use the safe and keep valuables out of view, but on more than one occasion have come back to the villa to find we have left the safe wide open!!

Like the idea of the bottle of wine and 2 glasses out, will be trying that one out in future.

Hopefully this is a one off, I have been burgled 3 times in this country and it is a horrible, horrible experience, but It wont stop me getting o with the rest of my life or going on holiday.

Diane.[msnsmile2]

[DisneyPrincess]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by florida4sun
Basic security measures are all that is needed, we we once burgled in a prominent 5 star hotel, if I had followed mown advice it would not have happened.

1 - this type of incident is by opportunists. Do not give them the opportunity.

2 - Do not leave stuff on show.

3 - Draw a curtain in one bedroom and leave the TV or radio on at a reasonably loud volume (thus is what I did not do).

4 - I always leave an open bottle of wine and 2 glasses out on the balcony in hotels or of course this could be done by a villa the pool. You could use an old bottle filled with water or squash.
Combine 3 with 4 and even an idiot would get feeling that someone is in the bedroom having some hanky panky any song of life and they will move on.

Burglaries can happen anywhere, hotels, villas, cars and at home.




[/quote]

Some good advice i think. Its easy when on holiday to forget about reality - and sadly in real life crime does happen. Criminals target tourists because we let our guard down when away - its a sad fact but even in the most magical place on earth (Florida of course!) we must remember not to give these people opportunities.

[sarahnmitch]

We are staying on Highlands Reserve right now, one street away from where Garry was staying. Yesterday we went out in the morning, set the alarm and locked the front door. When we came home, my five-year-old daughter beat us to the front door and managed to open it. Hubby and I were pulling shopping out of the car and didn't realise what she had done until we heard the alarm go off. Managed to shut it off and recieved a phone call from the security firm to make sure that everything was okay.

I feel very safe here, it is our second visit to HR and hubby and I have even discussed the possibility of purchasing a home here.

As others have said, thieves are very opportunistic. If they want to get in, they will. Why spend your vacation worrying about "what if's"? If that's the case, you could start with the drive to the airport: what if we get in a car accident? what if the plane goes down? what if I have the same name as a known terrorist and am denied entry to the US?....I know, I'm exaggerating, but you can't worry about these things otherwise you would never be able to enjoy anything.

[drino]

We stayed in davenport like 8 years ago and the rental guy said some villas just had front doors stoved in to gain access...we always try and share cars leave one on drive,leave lights on music on tv going,kids toys near front door,just plain craziness really as you on holiday but gotta be done.....shame for garry and his family but this [bad language filtered out] goes on all over florida.Dont let it spoil your holiday or one you got booked just be more aware!!

[7165red]

I like the wine and glasses and a radio on. Good tip!

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by florida4sun
Basic security measures are all that is needed, we we once burgled in a prominent 5 star hotel, if I had followed mown advice it would not have happened.

1 - this type of incident is by opportunists. Do not give them the opportunity.

2 - Do not leave stuff on show.

3 - Draw a curtain in one bedroom and leave the TV or radio on at a reasonably loud volume (thus is what I did not do).

4 - I always leave an open bottle of wine and 2 glasses out on the balcony in hotels or of course this could be done by a villa the pool. You could use an old bottle filled with water or squash.
Combine 3 with 4 and even an idiot would get feeling that someone is in the bedroom having some hanky panky any song of life and they will move on.

Burglaries can happen anywhere, hotels, villas, cars and at home.




[/quote]

Reminds me of a story I heard once when somebody did that and returned to find their home burgled and a note from the burglar saying how thoughtful it was to have left a drink for him and his accomplice and how much more pleasantly their task was performed with some musical accompaniment.

More seriously, all these things do help but if you're targeted it's almost impossible to guarantee you'll be left alone. The best you can hope for is that you'll divert the intended crime to somebody else.

[bargainqueen]

We no longer visit the theme parks but when we did we bought a polystyrene (sp?) cool box and kept it in the boot area of the hire car. We kept any cameras etc in this as well as keeping out drinks cool.

Our friends who live out there warned us about the handbags we were using and that they thought we could be targets of purse snatchers. They were small handbags (purses) with straps which go over the body crossways.

As always don't advertise the fact that you're tourists, keep maps off dashboard and all valuables out of sight.

We have been going to Florida for over 15 years, I've never had any problems but I'm always wary and before we leave the villa I check to make sure there's nothing valuable on display.

We were burgled at home, it may have been a coincidence but my husband had left his video camera in the dinning room in plain sight.