crime stats

The National Police received 2,512 complaints for property crimes during the first half of this year, representing a 13.6 percent drop from the same period of 2016.

Homicides weren’t the only dark spot in Monday’s report. Thefts have more than doubled across Costa Rica in the last five years and car thefts were also slightly up over 2014.

Last year was a rough one for Costa Rica when it came to crime. No where was this more clear than the dramatic increases in homicides and burglaries of homes, according to the Judicial Investigation Police’s (OIJ) 2014 annual report released Monday. Homicides spiked across the country by 14.6 percent – more than any other crime – with 471 people killed during 2014.

Costa Rica’s Red Cross reported that 79 people died by accidents and other violent causes in the first 19 days of this month. That exceeds by 27 the number of deaths registered in the same period last year, when the Red Cross reported 52 deaths.

According to the Costa Rican Red Cross, August was the most violent month so far this year, with 102 deaths in "tragic circumstances," a term the agency uses in statistics to refer to both homicides and accidents. The report was released on Tuesday.

During a late June visit to Costa Rica, a pair of U.S. tourists fell victim to an ongoing scam where thieves targets tourists by flattening the tires of their rental cars and then offering to "help."