The police presence in tourist areas has been beefed up in the wake of a fourth travel advisory to American citizens.
Other destinations have also increased the police presence near tourist attractions due to crime incidents, according to international reports.
Chief Superintendent Leamond Deleveaux, the commanding officer of the Central Division, told The Nassau Guardian yesterday, "I've been putting a police officer on every corner for over six months, and within the last month we've gotten more officers."
The entire complement of newly graduated officers has been deployed to Bay Street, Deleveaux said.
Officers have been assigned to the city center, tourist attractions, Potter's Cay Dock, Harbour Bay Shopping Center, Montagu Beach and Meeting and Augusta Streets.
Deleveaux said the officers posted at Meeting Street and Augusta Street "act as a buffer" to direct wandering tourists toward the city center.
According to Deleveaux, crimes against tourists are non-existent. He said, "To be honest with you, crimes against tourists are almost non-existent, despite what you hear or is printed in the media."
The U.S. Embassy issued the following advisory in November: "While U.S. citizens have not been targeted directly, over the past several weeks there has been an increase in the level of crime in areas where U.S. citizens live and frequent. We also have noticed criminals increasingly becoming more brazen and creative in their methods. For example, three armed robberies of U.S. citizens have occurred in daylight hours in heavily frequented tourist areas, including an armed assailant assaulting and robbing a woman walking near Ardastra Gardens. In mid-October, during daylight hours in a heavily populated area, two men armed with handguns robbed customers waiting in the drive-thru line at a local restaurant. Armed assailants have placed random items in the street as impromptu roadblocks so unassuming drivers would stop and could be robbed. A man was shot at Potter's Cay, near the base of the Paradise Island bridge, at a time when tourists would still be frequenting the area."
There has been a sustained police presence in Chippingham since the armed robbery near Ardastra Gardens, Deleveaux said.
Deleveaux said while tourists are a "priority", everyone should feel safe in the city.
According to USA Today, the St. Thomas police stepped up foot patrols in tourist areas across the island following the 2010 shooting death of 14-year-old Carnival passenger Liz Marie Perez Chaparro.
In 2011, Puerto Rico increased patrols in tourist areas in the capital of San Juan to reassure visitors the area remains safe despite a rising homicide rate in much of the island, according to the Associated Press.
According to the Daily Mail, hundreds of armed police were placed around Paris' major tourist monuments in 2013 because of an influx of criminal gangs from eastern Europe.

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