Curious about crime and safety for your destination? New information is becoming available. The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) has started releasing its annual Crime and Safety Reports. (OSAC is part of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security for the U.S. Government). The reports typically cover such topics as:
- Overall Crime and Safety Situation
- Political Violence
- Post-specific Concerns (i.e. country specific concerns like local scams and common crimes)
- Natural Disasters
- Police/Emergency Response
- Where to get help in an emergency
Not every country is covered, but some countries such as Mexico will have city-specific reports. (The ones for Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey have already been released). Don't look for them at all once -- the reports are usually rolled out throughout the year. The reports are worth a read even though they are specifically geared for U.S. citizens (translation: beware of any bias). They often provide more detailed information than is found in government travel advice.
Incidentally, those of you still shaking your heads at
Australia's travel advisory for Canada will be mollified by OSAC's
Toronto Crime and Safety report in 2007. Not all countries receive such a glowing review.
See the OSAC
Crime & Safety Reports page for the latest releases. Any available Country and city-specific reports can be found on the
Country Travel Advisory pages at AllSafeTravels under the "Security" section.
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