QCOSTARICA – Authorities continue to evaluate measures to combat the phenomenon of ‘quiebraventanas’ (smash car windows) in the capital.
One of the alternatives is to promote more fluid vehicular traffic, mainly on the Circunvalación, which gives criminals the advantage of the traffic congestion to make a smash and grab in a matter of seconds without room for action by the victims or police.
Daniel Calderón, director of the Fuerza Publica, indicated that they have already requested the collaboration of the Traffic Police to regulate road traffic at traffic lights located in Los Hatillos, in particular the Hatillo 6 intersection.
On Wednesday, authorities held a meeting in order to coordinate more aggressive actions against the ‘quiebraventanas’, at the same time that they requested collaboration from drivers to avoid being victims of road crime.
According to Calderón, it is essential that those who pass through the Circunvalación take preventive measures such as not leaving valuables in plain sight in the vehicle.
The Fuerza Publica also announced that it will increase the presence of officers on motorcycles in the surroundings of the Circunvalación, taking into account that there are multiple alamedas (walkways between homes) through which criminals usually flee, and this makes pursuit by difficult by officers in patrol cars.
A longer-term solution, one that has been in the works for decades, is the building of an overpass in the Hatillo 6 intersection, a hot spot for the ‘quiebraventanas’.
The Ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes (MOPT), announced in April 2021 that it began the design work for the new intersection, which would take about 300 days to complete. No word on this since.