"LordAvalon" wrote in message
om...
I live near Paris and a few days ago in St Michel railway station I
spotted a pickpocket at work.

A couple of asian tourists were going down stairs looking at direction
signs. The young thief walked down just behind them. The man had a
sort of box like bag with a strap slung over the shoulder. It was
hanging near his hip a little behind. While the couple was going down
and the box was jerked the thief started to search the box in find of
valuable, his foray lost in the general movement.

We, with a passerby, spotted him at the same time and stopped him. We
asked the couple to check their valuables and since everything was OK
and the thief was a minor we let him loose.

So when visiting touristic places (everywhere in the world) just
remember to keep watchful and not to have open bags, wallets in the
back pocket of your pants... Be careful of children if they seem out
of place (late at night, in small groups with no school bag...).
Nothing to be afraid of but it is a noisance.

We, with a passerby, spotted him at the same time and stopped him. We
asked the couple to check their valuables and since everything was OK
and the thief was a minor we let him loose.

The other important issue here, aside from being careful, is what to do when
you actually spot a pickpocket in question. In this particular case, the
perpetrator was a minor and I would imagine fairly easy to handle. What if
he were a linebacker type that could not easily be controlled and could
possibly be prone to violence. What would your recourse be in that case? The
reason I ask is because of an incident in Sacre Cour in Paris while riding
that funicular. A pickpocket was actually trying to steal something from a
tourist's backpack and he was caught red-handed by the victim's body. The
funny thing is that the pickpocket didn't act like he was scared at all
about being caught red-handed. He pretended like nothing happened and like
he was just going about his business. One of the victim's buddies tried
talking to him but the pickpocket pretended that he didn't even exist. As
soon as the funicular reached the top, the pickpocket just walked away
casually and the victim and his friend were wise enough not to pursue the
guy.

In short, these pickpockets have become so daring that they're not even
afraid of getting caught. Also, once you catch them, they're not just gonna
stand around while you call the cops. If you try to physically restrain
them, some violence may result. Therein lies the quandary.