Thirty percent of homes in Santiago have been victimized by robberies

SANTIAGO. A study carried out by the Volunteer for Safety in Santiago (Voses) found that 30% of the homes in the province of Santiago have been victimized by some sort of crime, mostly robberies or assaults.

The study called "Victimization by robbery or assault in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros," covers the period from 1 October 2011 and October 2012.

This research was done with the idea of designing, proposing and carrying out strategies, mechanisms and campaign that permit preventing or reducing these criminal incidents in the different communities that make up the city.

The methodology which was used in the research was framed in a descriptive design, not experimental. They obtained a representative sampling from all of the city of Santiago of some 1,540 homes and it has a margin of error of 2.5% and a confidence level of 95%.

Of the 1,540 homes that were visited, 30% indicated that between October 2011 and October 2012, the person interviewed or some member of the family was a crime victim.

"Practically a third of the population interviewed was affected by crime," says the study.

Among the crimes of which these persons were the victims were home robberies, vehicular theft, and assaults on public roads.

Upon consulting the persons regarding the number of times that they have been victims of home robberies, the results were an average of 1.68, which is to say that they have been robbed more than once. Zone V (Reparto Universitario, Villa Olimpica, Los Alamos, Hato Mayor) has the highest average at 2.05.

The areas with the highest percentage of victims of this type of crime, robbery and assaults, are Zone I with 34.1%, in second place is Zone Vii, with 32% and this is followed by Zones V and VI with 31.7%.

Zone I covers Mejoramiento Social, Parque Metropolitana, Pueblo Nuevo, Baracoa, Nibaje, El Ensueño, the Retiro, the Jardines Metropolitanos, Ensanche Simon Bolivar, Libertad, Bermudez, Urbanizacion henriquez and Barrio Los Santos.

In addition the area includes Rincon Largo, La Zurza, La Loteria, Los Ciruelitos and La Terraza. Zone II includes Buenos Aires, Gregorio Luperon, Los Reyes I, Los Reyes II, Los Salados and Las Antillas.

The places where the most of these assaults took place were on the street (74%), in second place, while leaving the house or place of residence, and in third place on public transportation.

These crimes were committed from noon into the afternoon, and the robberies were at night and during the dawn hours. Vehicular thefts were done mostly (68%) at night, especially during the dawn hours. That assaults were characterized by the use mostly of psychological violence (49%) and physical violence (31%).

In another part of the study, in 2012 they reported 207 homicides, and in 2011 they reported 210, showing a difference of 3 deaths less.