Last Monday, the press released a video of a woman being assaulted during a traffic jam in Hatillo. The comments over social networks were endless and some claimed to have been victims of crime aswell. However, not many people file complaints with the authorities.
Marco Carrión, head of the Assault Section of the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), said that Hatillo, the vicinity of the Monument to Water in La Uruca and La Galera in Curridabat, are criminals’ favorite sites.
We can proceed when the criminal is caught in the act or if the victim files a complaint. We are investigating the subject that is seen in the video (…) if the press does not publish that video, we would not know a woman was assaulted and that crime has increased,”
explained the official.
Carrión acknowledged that they are conducting an investigation in this regard and it has been determined that a large percentage of victims are women, who claim to hide their bags under the seats.
Criminals have developed great skill to detect where there are hidden articles, so they break the window and subtract the article,”
said Carrión.
The OIJ has arrested several individuals for this type of situation. However, the practice of breaking window is passed down to the following generations.
It is very important that people file the complaint because that allows us to allocate resources for the sites, hours and days where the phenomena occur. If people do not report crimes, we take for granted that they have slowed down and the Public Force reduces police presence there because there are no reports that justify it,”
said the expert.
The most vulnerable hours are ‘peak hours’: from 6:00 am to 9:00 am and from 6:00 pm to 12:00 am.