Crime in Panama is moderate but becoming more frequent, particularly because of the narcotics-trafficking related violence and activities of youth gangs. Police checkpoints have become common place on weekends on roads in between cities. Based upon reported incidents by local police, the high-crime areas around Panama City are San Miguelito, Rio Abajo, El Chorrillo, Ancón, Curundu, Veracruz Beach, Panama Viejo, and the Madden Dam overlook.
The crimes plague metropolitan areas and include rapes, armed robberies, muggings, purse-snatchings, "express kidnappings" from ATM banking facilities, in which the victim is briefly kidnapped and robbed after withdrawing cash from an ATM, and petty theft. There have been several targeted kidnappings in Panama with the complicity of corrupt law enforcement.
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