Pickpocket spotted in action

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.

LordAvalon wrote:

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.

When my son was 16 he went on a school trip to Europe. We live in a
small town and the chaperone was not terribly street wise. When an old
lady bumped into my son on the bus (intentionally) he pushed her away and
yelled at her. The chaperone was shocked at his behaviour and blasted him
for being rude to an old lady. When she was finished berating him she
discovered that her wallet was missing from her purse. The old girl was a
pickpocket.

Dave Smith wrote:
LordAvalon wrote:


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.


When my son was 16 he went on a school trip to Europe. We live in a
small town and the chaperone was not terribly street wise. When an old
lady bumped into my son on the bus (intentionally) he pushed her away and
yelled at her. The chaperone was shocked at his behaviour and blasted him
for being rude to an old lady. When she was finished berating him she
discovered that her wallet was missing from her purse. The old girl was a
pickpocket.


About a year ago on the metro I saw a similar pickpocketing. Train pulls
into the station. I get on. At the door at the other end of the train
there is a commotion. A 20ish Asian guy is sandwiched between two men.
He is alone, very prosperous looking, and loaded down with bags from
expensive stores. The guy in front is yelling at him for bumping into
him when the train stopped. The guy behind, the one who pushed him into
the other pickpocket, is still tangled up with the Asian guy. He felt
something, reached for his wallet, found it gone, and began grabbing the
guy behind him. He realizes at that moment that he was pickpocketed, the
two guys start running, he takes off after them. Last I saw them all 3
were running down a corridor toward the exit. This happened ahout 10am
on a weekday. There were no other people were on the train when it
happened. So much for the guidebooks that tell you that metro crime
happens mainly on crowded trains and/or at night.

"Patrick Hernan" wrote in message
...

So much for the guidebooks that tell you that metro
crime happens mainly on crowded trains and/or at night.

Perhaps the thieves read that section of the guidebook and figured they'd
have less competition (not to mention the element of surprise) operating
during off-peak hours.

Richard

Take a look at this web site: http://www.jones.tc/barna/scams.html. It's
got pages and pages of accounts of personal experiences with street crime,
mostly in Barcelona, and mainly pickpocketing.

Harriett


"Richard" wrote in message
...
"Patrick Hernan" wrote in message
...

So much for the guidebooks that tell you that metro
crime happens mainly on crowded trains and/or at night.

Perhaps the thieves read that section of the guidebook and figured they'd
have less competition (not to mention the element of surprise) operating
during off-peak hours.

Richard

Richard writes:

Perhaps the thieves read that section of the guidebook and figured they'd
have less competition (not to mention the element of surprise) operating
during off-peak hours.

Since they were pursued, it sounds like their strategy was not well
chosen.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

LordAvalon writes:

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.

I've seen Gypsy children examining the pockets of tourists gazing at
Notre-Dame cathedral in a very obvious way; amazingly, tourists do not
seem to notice it. Easy pickings for pickpockets.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

Mxsmanic wrote:


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.

I've seen Gypsy children examining the pockets of tourists gazing at
Notre-Dame cathedral in a very obvious way; amazingly, tourists do not
seem to notice it. Easy pickings for pickpockets.

The last time I was in Paris we were walking from the Metro station to
Cemetere Pere LaChaisse and I spotted a family standing around a woman who
appeared to be having convulsions. I was tempted to stop and offer
assistance, but the just didn't look like they were really concerned about
their mother's condition. After a few minutes of flopping around on the
sidewalk for a few minutes without any suckers, this little band of Gypsies
helped Mom up off the ground and they all walked off together. Miraculous
recovery.

It's bad enough that bands like this prey on innocent people, but it's
particularly distasteful when they prey on those who have stopped to help
them.

"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.

punktilious writes:

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.

Pickpockets are almost always wimps. If they could strongarm people
into giving them money, they would.

--
Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.