ietf
[Top] [All Lists]

pickpockets

2009-04-15 12:25:23


Ingemar Johansson S wrote:
Pickpockets: Summer in Stockholm is high season for pickpockets who often like to operate in teams, so keep your wallet close.

For those who did not see the spiffy exchange on this topic, at the time of the Paris IETF, here are some specifics, based on my post hoc learning after being expertly double-teamed, a few weeks before the Paris IETF, when getting off the Paris Metro:


Background:  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickpocketing>

Protection:  <http://wikitravel.org/en/Pickpockets>
             <http://www.thereareplaces.com/infgdes/Safety/pickpock.htm>

There are quite a few online pages that list the same (verbatim) information and misinformation, including some official police pages.


Personal comments:

1. While it does tend to slow the pickpocket down a bit, putting your wallet/etc. into your front pocket is not serious protection. That's one of the things I learned by experience.

2. Carry two sets of ID, money and credit card, in two different places, on your person. Unless your are thoroughly mugged, you'll only lose one of them.

3.  A money belt really does help.

4. Have a /third/ set of ID, money and credit card back in your room, along with a copy of your passport.

5. Almost anywhere in the world has some risk of your stuff being taken. I think Japan is probably the only place I'd assume there is almost no risk. If you are in an unfamiliar place -- /any place/ and not just in a different country -- stay actively and overtly alert to your surroundings. It's your best defense. (A bottle of wine tends to defeat this advice.)

5. Perfect protection is impossible. Make the assumption that at least some of your stuff will get stolen. If you embrace the likelihood beforehand, the trauma will be a lot smaller when -- not if -- it happens.

6. Don't get freaked out by all this. It does not need to get in the way of having a great time. Really.

d/
--

  Dave Crocker
  Brandenburg InternetWorking
  bbiw.net
_______________________________________________
Ietf mailing list
Ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>