A few beach communities are named Playa Hermosa in Costa Rica, and two of them often get mixed up by tourists and expats. There’s Playa Hermosa near Jaco Beach -this one is in the province of Puntarenas, and there’s also the Playa Hermosa of Costa Rica’s Gold Coast in Guanacaste. These two tourist and expat havens have one thing in common: They are gorgeous beach towns besieged by crime that often goes unreported.

A cursory online search of complaints about crime in Playa Hermosa of Guanacaste can certainly seem intimidating if they are not cross-referenced with actual crime reports and statistics from law enforcement. The following comes from a TripAdvisor forum created by online users for the purpose of discussing their concerns about crime in Playa Hermosa:

I just returned from a lovely vacation in Costa Rica [in Playa Ocotal of Guanacaste, not far from Playas del Coco and Playa Hermosa]. The only unfortunate event was that we were robbed – a man came into our suite while we were sleeping!

That same night a guard was SHOT in Playa Hermosa when he stopped robbers from entering his resort.

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We heard of break-ins in the hotel next to ours that were just like the one you described, through a tiny vent window by the ceiling.

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We had a similar experience in Playa Hermosa. We rented a private house during the Christmas week Dec 2007 and although all our windows were closed, we forgot to lock one of the windows. [They] took everything they could get there hands on: iPods, camera, even dirty clothes and my flip fops.

There’s also this report from tourism advice site Virtual Tourist:

You need to watch your belongings in this region of Costa Rica. Keep valuables locked up and don’t leave items on the beach. With the influx of tourists and money the crime rate has gone up in Playa Hermosa. As usual common sense prevails.

When the New York Times published a real estate market report on Guanacaste in 2009, readers leaving comments were quick to point out crime issues in Playa Hermosa:

Most of the issues that we are dealing with will be solved as this country continues to develop and as more money continues to flow down here, roads, water, petty crime etc.

Based solely on media reports, it seems as if the crime rate in Guanacaste has moved parallel to the increase in tourism, real estate development and expats moving to the region. One of the problems in this regard is that real crime rates are distorted by media reports in the absence of official crime rates, which in turn suffer from under-reporting. The official crime reporting body in Costa Rica is the Organization of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ), and many crimes involving expats and tourists are often never reported to this law enforcement agency.

Members of beach tows in Guanacaste are forming groups to discuss crime incidents in their communities. There’s Coco Crime Watch on Facebook. There’s also the Samara Crime Report and the Neighborhood Watch of Playa Hermosa Association. These groups stress the importance of reporting crimes to the OIJ, and the best way to accomplish this is by telephone.

The Guanacaste OIJ phone numbers for reporting crimes in the Gold Coast are 2685-5328 or 2685-5416, to report anonymously use 800-8000-645 or send an email via computer or smartphone with photos to lfonsecah@poder_judicial.go.cr or oij-lib@poder_judicial.go.cr.

Denuncias can now be filed in person at the Police station in Playas del Coco, removing the need to travel to Liberia.

Should translation from English to Spanish be required, victims can ask officers from the Tourism Police for assistance, but they should not rely on these officers to be the actual crime reporters.