Asalto en El Salto?

[Bonnie]

3 hours ago, Brundageba said:

Yes.  RD is your better choice.  Prompt information on crimes to members.  Secured data base that is much more comprehensive.  Years of experience and knowledge.  Follow up with customers who have utilized his service, ongoing until the case is well in the hands of justice.  I know i can call him 24/7 ...and receive the help/information I need.  All of that is extremely important these days.  If you have moved 2 mos ago, filed a change of addy and as yet are not 100% sure the service has registered that...then you may not have the service you think you have.  When I press the "call Rodney button"...I KNOW help is on the way...to my house here where i live.

I agree with Brundageba. I have been a client of Rodny's since the beginning, and I have never been disappointed. Adding to the quoted post, Rodny has developed extensive contacts with law enforcement which serve him well in emergency situations.

[JohnF13]

1 hour ago, Keith Woolford said:

Agreed but if I'm not mistaken John, that's what AAC was supposed to be doing.

Yup, but apparently they are not, so I guess we will have to do it ourselves.  Sad though, I was hoping for more.

[Franagain]

From AaC's website:

• ''We will communicate pertinent information to the Boquete community.
• Please be aware that we sometimes choose to not publish every detail about every crime, especially when an investigation is in progress.  However, we will make public any information when we believe it is necessary for the community to be informed and be aware of a dangerous or threatening situation.''

Apparently, since AaC's idea of ''pertinent'' does not include informing us of violent home invasions I'd be interested in what does qualify as ''pertinent.''

"....when we believe....'' seems to mean that the information the community needs and/or wants does not carry any influence.

Every public ''posting'' from AaC in the last several months has amounted to 1. Bashing of RodnyDirect and/or its administration, 2. Requests for money, 3. Insults to our intelligence regarding information AaC does not believe we are entitled to or can handle, or that they are obligated to provide.

I'd like to see AaC behave professionally, responsibly, with respect for the people of Boquete, and actually PROVIDE (timely) information about dangerous or threatening situations.  However, with it's history and current administration, I don't see that happening.  I foresee a future of continued grade-school level whining about RodnyDirect, a continuation of  no-replies to inquiries and requests, no information about criminal activity or danger, and no effort to earn the respect of the community.

 

[Keith Woolford]

3 hours ago, Franagain said:

From AaC's website:

• ''We will communicate pertinent information to the Boquete community.
• Please be aware that we sometimes choose to not publish every detail about every crime, especially when an investigation is in progress.  However, we will make public any information when we believe it is necessary for the community to be informed and be aware of a dangerous or threatening situation.''

Apparently, since AaC's idea of ''pertinent'' does not include informing us of violent home invasions I'd be interested in what does qualify as ''pertinent.''

"....when we believe....'' seems to mean that the information the community needs and/or wants does not carry any influence.

Every public ''posting'' from AaC in the last several months has amounted to 1. Bashing of RodnyDirect and/or its administration, 2. Requests for money, 3. Insults to our intelligence regarding information AaC does not believe we are entitled to or can handle, or that they are obligated to provide.

I'd like to see AaC behave professionally, responsibly, with respect for the people of Boquete, and actually PROVIDE (timely) information about dangerous or threatening situations.  However, with it's history and current administration, I don't see that happening.  I foresee a future of continued grade-school level whining about RodnyDirect, a continuation of  no-replies to inquiries and requests, no information about criminal activity or danger, and no effort to earn the respect of the community.

 

It's hard not to criticize the inactions of AAC and the level of condescension that recent communications have shown to be prevalent.

If I'm not mistaken the org. is no longer posting on Chiriqui Life because..

"on another forum some detractors of Alto al Crimen (the usual suspects, no longer on .ning so far as I know) responded to the news item introducing Franc Lugo with some questions and comments that appeared to be based on the assumption that the board of directors of Alto al Crimen just climbed down off a load of turnips and began administering a Panama foundation."

As well, reports of criminal activity from any source need to be factual and not emotional, as is often the case.

[Admin_01]

Because of many requests for credible information regarding initial reporting of the vicious attack on Richard Moore, the management of this website approached a mutual friend of Barbara and Richard Moore. (We have never met them.) Four questions crafted by me were posed, and Barbara very graciously responded to those four questions. Here are the unedited extracts from those emails.

First the four questions:

Quote

1. Who made the first request for emergency assistance, to whom was that request delivered, when was that request made, and what was requested?
2. What was the first official response by emergency resources and when was it delivered?
3. How did Richard get to the hospital in David?
4. Was either or both or neither AAC and/or RodnyDirect contacted, and if so what was their response? If neither was approached, why not?

And now Barbara's answers:

Quote

1. We called our friends who live in Alto Lino, they are bilingual. They called the police and ambulance (bomberos) while on the way to our house. Our friends were the first to arrive and began applying pressure to my husbands wounds.
2. Both police and ambulance arrived in about 20 mins. Bomberos applied emergency care and loaded him up for transport.
3. Bomberos took him to Hospital Chiriqui.
4. Attempted to call AAC first but when I got voicemail I realized I had not put the new numbers in yet. Intended to sign up with Rodney also, but hadn't done so yet.

The management of this website is grateful for Barbara's sharing of the first hand particulars in this tragic situation. We wish both of them a speedy and full recovery.

[Penny]

Should not the AaC number been answered by Franc? It's worrisome that the call went to voicemail.

[TwoSailors]

Sounds like Rodney Direct is the one to be with! 

[Bonnie]

1 hour ago, Penny said:

Should not the AaC number been answered by Franc? It's worrisome that the call went to voicemail.

If they had not yet switched to Rodny Direct, the number in their phone would have been that of Alto al Crimen. So, yes, it should worrisome to all AAC clients that the call went to voice mail rather than being answered. There's the possibility, I suppose, that Franc was on another call. But in that case he should have returned the call as soon as he was free. I assume he did not as there is no mention of it.

[JudyS]

2 hours ago, Bonnie said:

If they had not yet switched to Rodny Direct, the number in their phone would have been that of Alto al Crimen. So, yes, it should worrisome to all AAC clients that the call went to voice mail rather than being answered. There's the possibility, I suppose, that Franc was on another call. But in that case he should have returned the call as soon as he was free. I assume he did not as there is no mention of it.

This is important to know.  If Franc reads this site, he needs to respond.  Did he immediately return the call?  If he did not, that is totally unacceptable.

[Bob G]

I learned of the attack on Richard shortly after 3:00 p.m. on the day of the attack.  A good mutual friend of ours and the Moore's told me that Barbara had called the AAC Hotline and got a voice mail reply.  I immediately called Franc Lugo.  He had not received a call, and there were no calls all all that day showing on the call log on the telephone until my call to him at 3:19.  If there had been a missed call, it would have shown in the log.

Alto al Crimen has the same number with the same SIM card as we have had for years.  It is in a brand new, good quality Samsung telephone.  Rodny, who was our contract employee, turned over the actual SIM card, so there has been no change at all.  We also recently announced that we have a second number.  We prefer that the main number be used, but the second number is available at any time the service on the main number is not available or not working properly for any reason 

Unfortunately AAC can not do anything about the occasional anomalies in the telephone systems in Panama, but we have added dual diversity to minimize the chance of missing calls.

Contrary to Fran's post, I am not aware of any AAC post that has "bashed" Rodny direct at all, and I don't know what "its administration" is supposed to mean or when any "whining" has occurred.  Conversely, there is a large amount of AAC "bashing" on this site.

Of course we frequently mention the need for donations because that is how the organization works.  Every advertisement for Rodny Direct asks for money because it is a business that charges for its service.  AAC does not "charge" for its services, but those services cannot exist without the money needed to keep them operating.

As for insulting people's intelligence and not providing information they "deserve," I need to ask something.  If you had had every finite detail about the attack on Richard Moore within an hour of its occurrence, exactly what benefit would it have provided to you?   You are either already taking proper security measures with regard to your home and your person, or you are not.  If a similar home invasion occurred in the same area or another area and the victim was a Panamanian, you might never know about it.  Wanting near-instantaneous information about crimes affecting Gringos is really more a matter of morbid curiosity than something that provides a tangible benefit.  AAC looks into the details and weakness in security that contributed to the problem and provides information that can help other people to take measure to prevent similar occurrences in their homes.  If Fran or someone else wants to take on the role of Brenda Starr, crime reporter, be my guest.  It will not constitute an encroachment on AAC's mission.

We are going to do some careful research to see if we can find any problem that may exist in the telephone system or our own  equipment that could be causing calls not to go through.  Franc Lugo has the phone constantly with him.

Meanwhile, we have received calls to the AAC Hotline that have worked just as they were supposed to, so there is no indication that the system has any kind of across-the-board failure.  Remember these TWO AAC Hotline numbers  6477-6662 AND 6917-0011

===========================

[Brundageba]

Something is unsettling here.  Now I am concerned that my phone won't transmit when I am in an emergency.  I live in an area that always seems to get good transmission but it would be a concern if you hit the number thinking you are calling an emergency service and the telephone does not send to the phone but in fact triggers a voice message then just disappears into space.  "New numbers"...this is also a confusion as Mr Gregory states there are no "new numbers"   I'd feel better if I could fully understand what happened.  In an emergency response situation you have to be 100% certain that phone will be answered. 

[Bob G]

Almost nowhere in the world can you be 100% sure that an emergency call will go through.  Certainly in an area with very few land line phones (and those often have microwave radio paths as a part of the system) and large numbers of cell phones, there will be glitches at times.  During the time of the Coffee and Flower Fair in Boquete (going on now) we have an influx of very large numbers of people, all with cell phones and all making calls, thus overloading the systems of the various carriers.  Even without bad connectivity, there will be times when a system will be busy so that a call will not go through.  Alto al Crimen has added a second number with a different carrier based on the premise that two different systems will not be likely be have problems at the same time (though Murphy's Law will tell you that it CAN happen).

As I mentioned above, no emergency call about the attack on Richard Moore came to the AAC Hotline telephone.  I am not saying that a call to our number was not made, but if it was, there was a problem in the wireless phone system, and it did not reach our phone.  We have scheduled a meeting with an expert on local cell phone systems to help us analyze the problem.  But the longstanding AAC Hotline number and its associated SIM card are unchanged and have generally been working as they are supposed to. 

I have had the experience (and probably all of us have) of calling a number and immediately hearing a squawk indicating a transfer to voice mail.  That MAY mean the called phone is turned off, but it may also be a system problem.  I have had it happen when calling my wife's phone when she is at home in the house with it.  Yesterday it happened five or six times when I was calling someone on AAC business.  Finally a call went through and it was clear as a bell.  He had not been talking on his phone during those other calls I tried to make.  It was just a problem in the system. 

Unfortunately, the AAC Hotline is not immune to these kinds of problems.  Several months ago an AAC Hotline call was made to Rodny for emergency medical assistance for a heart attack victim.  Rodny did not answer.  He reported later that there had been a problem with a MoviStar tower.  The best answer we have at this time is having a main number and a backup number.  Make sure that both are in your phone under AAC or AAA so that they remain at the top of your contact directory.   Here are the numbers again:  6477-6662  and  6917-0011

 

[TwoSailors]

Bob,

Does anyone monitor your web site? We have been trying to get confirmation of change of address since November!!!

Also asked Bob at Tuesday market about this a few times and he said he would get back to me. No response.

Who is in charge of maintaining customer service?

[Dottie Atwater]

Question: Has there ever been a call to Rodny that was not answered?

[Brundageba]

Just now, Dottie Atwater said:

Question: Has there ever been a call to Rodny that was not answered?

According to Bob Gregory, this has happened to Rodny as well.  I'm going to check on that and get back.  I'd say...if you are calling and get an answering message...then KEEP CALLING.  Seems eventually it will go through.

Edited January 16, 2016 by Brundageba
Edited what I said as Bob Gregory seemed to answer the queston

[Bob G]

Dottie:  Yes, did you not read the post above?

-------------------------------------------

Two Sailors:  Send changes to AAC.boquete@gmail.com   Be sure to include your Residence ID number.  David van Harn will be adding a page for submitting modifications to existing AAC Hotline registrations.  It will function similarly to the email option except that it will have fields for the various categories of information. The changes do not go directly into the data base because it is much better that they be checked first.  We will also be contacting registrants about updates because quite frequently people forget to update their information when things change.

[Dottie Atwater]

I do not live in Boquete.

 

[TwoSailors]

45 minutes ago, Bob G said:

Dottie:  Yes, did you not read the post above?

-------------------------------------------

Two Sailors:  Send changes to AAC.boquete@gmail.com   Be sure to include your Residence ID number.  David van Harn will be adding a page for submitting modifications to existing AAC Hotline registrations.  It will function similarly to the email option except that it will have fields for the various categories of information. The changes do not go directly into the data base because it is much better that they be checked first.  We will also be contacting registrants about updates because quite frequently people forget to update their information when things change.

Done. 

[Bob G]

No need to check on the missed call by Rodny I mentioned.  My computer remembers these things.  Here is an excerpt from the text of a message from Rodny reporting the problem.  I mis-remembered and thought it was a heart attack when it was a stroke.

 

"...after getting up from bed this morning, I found a text message on the hotline phone saying that at 1 05 earlier in the morning, a phone number tried to call me. So I called the number to find that it was a lady who tried to call but the call did went through, and that the reason for her call was that her husband had a stroke. They found an ambulance on their own and take him to the hospital where he is on treatment . The hot line seems to work fine now since today there has been 2 calls on how to sign in and one for fire.

I contacted Movistar and they are saying that their system went under some maintenance and that it may have cause the malfunction.

So for now the hotline is up and running."

 

 

[Brundageba]

The quote is from what person calling what service?   I'm a bit confused.

[Bob G]

Think about it.  If the message was from Rodny, and I have it, does that not give you a clue that the service was the AAC Hotline?   The problem occurred before Rodny Direct was activated for the Boquete area. 

The message from Rodny is more than sufficient to show that he did not receive that particular emergency call.  The name of the caller is not in Rodny's message, and there is no need whatever for that name to become involved.

[Pat]

20 minutes ago, Bob G said:

Think about it.  If the message was from Rodny, and I have it, does that not give you a clue that the service was the AAC Hotline?   The problem occurred before Rodny Direct was activated for the Boquete area. 

The message from Rodny is more than sufficient to show that he did not receive that particular emergency call.  The name of the caller is not in Rodny's message, and there is no need whatever for that name to become involved.

Question to Bob G.   Why do you post your comments in red? No one else finds it necessary to use this method and my eyes are tried of trying to read anything in this glaring color. Please do a favor and stop using this red color.

[BD]

On January 17, 2016 at 8:48 PM, Bob G said:

No need to check on the missed call by Rodny I mentioned.  My computer remembers these things.  Here is an excerpt from the text of a message from Rodny reporting the problem.  I mis-remembered and thought it was a heart attack when it was a stroke.

 

"...after getting up from bed this morning, I found a text message on the hotline phone saying that at 1 05 earlier in the morning, a phone number tried to call me. So I called the number to find that it was a lady who tried to call but the call did went through, and that the reason for her call was that her husband had a stroke. They found an ambulance on their own and take him to the hospital where he is on treatment . The hot line seems to work fine now since today there has been 2 calls on how to sign in and one for fire.

I contacted Movistar and they are saying that their system went under some maintenance and that it may have cause the malfunction.

So for now the hotline is up and running."

 

1 hour ago, Bob G said:

Think about it.  If the message was from Rodny, and I have it, does that not give you a clue that the service was the AAC Hotline?   The problem occurred before Rodny Direct was activated for the Boquete area. 

The message from Rodny is more than sufficient to show that he did not receive that particular emergency call.  The name of the caller is not in Rodny's message, and there is no need whatever for that name to become involved.

Bob G,

With all due respect, I haven't got a clue what you are talking about. Maybe my IQ is just to low.

My opinion is that your writings make you and AAC all the less relevant to me because you are always putting other people down. You are the one damaging your reputation, not others.

Are you asking me to believe that Franc's cell phone and your computer are connected together? What message are you referring to? Who are you quoting? Why do you write in red ink? Why can't you write short statements giving facts? How much has AAC actually published in the last two years? I find it convenient that there was a claimed cell system error that gets you off the hot seat.

I no longer am going to dedicate my time to try to figure out what you are saying. I hope it is clear to you but believe me when I tell you that I have no clue.

[JudyS]

I have asked him to quit writing in bold.  It is shouting, like all caps.  He doesn't listen.

[BD]

Thanks, Judy, for helping me understand why the red ink bothers me so much. He is shouting.