Police vacations canceled as crime rate surges

Crimes of theft and armed robbery have registered a palpable increase in Panama, leading to the suspension of vacations for police personnel.

In the first 10 months of 2021, there were a total of 2,380 crime complaints s, while in the same period of 2022, 2,645 were registered – an increase of 265 crimes.

Also between September and October 2022, several robberies have been perpetrated on banks and jewelry stores, many of which are not yet reported in the statistics cited above.

For example, between August 3 and 4, a group of officials from the National Bank (BNP) and individuals entered the branch located on Calle 25 Calidonia and stole $678,000. In this case, the police and the Public Ministry managed to arrest five people, three of them bank officials and two individuals allegedly involved in the theft.

Another case was reported on September 3 at Banesco. when, four people with firearms in their hands entered the bank branch, located at the corner of 72nd Street and 50th Street, San Francisco, exercising violence and intimidation against the security, managing to subtract $6,725.

More recently, on September 27, four armed individuals entered the branch of the Caja de Ahorros de Villa Lucre, district of San Miguelito, and took $39,633.

The same state bank was the victim of another robbery. On October 10, five armed people entered the branch in El Ingenio, Betania, and stole $60,000. On Sunday a judge legalized the detention of a man, apprehended in San Miguelito, allegedly linked to the assault

Jewelry hits 
Jewelry stores have also been victims. On October 12, five men robbed the Brilat jewelry store, located on Samuel Lewis Avenue, Obarrio.

The next day, a group of armed people robbed a jewelry store in Avenida México. In both cases, the authorities have not yet been able to quantify the amount of what was stolen.

In the midst of the wave of robberies, the National Police ordered the suspension of vacations of all its personnel to redouble the work of surveillance in the streets. Vacations have been suspended since last Friday and all operational personnel had to report to duty at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 16.