Outdoor Safety
Pickpockets

For complete Outdoor Safety, pickpockets, though usually nonviolent, are worth avoiding.

Most pickpockets work in crews of three or four. Their favorite haunts? Airports, train and subway stations, shopping malls and other busy areas. They blend in, dressing and acting like others in the environment. ... Their favorite victims? Women with loose, dangling purses. Lost out-of-towners or shy, naïve-looking people concerning outdoor safety. Parents distracted by their kids or babies. Well-dressed folks in pricey clothes or jewelry. For hours, pickpockets will scout banks and ATMs at airports and shopping malls. After victims make cash withdrawals, the crooks can see where the wallets and pocketbooks go. ... The crew tails the victim, then strikes. The first crew member, called "the stall," pretends to drop a coin or a contact lens in front of the victim, who may be riding down an escalator or waiting in a line. ... With the victim distracted, a second crew member nabs the wallet or pocketbook. Sometimes, the pickpocket will use a suit bag or briefcase to hide his hand. ... Then the pickpocket quietly hands the stolen item to a third gang member, called "the dish," who walks away unnoticed. If the pickpocket is questioned by a suspicious victim or the police, he won't have the goods on him. All of this happens in an average of four seconds.
Excerpted from USA TODAY – 16 June 2003

PICKPOCKETS IN PAKISTAN
Pickpockets go for easy targets. Pickpockets may dress up as policemen and become friendly with their prey while an associate performs the ‘trick’. A pickpocket who gave up crime said, “Pickpockets’ hands are as fast as a snake. Pockets with zippers and buttons made ‘lifting’ more difficult. “The only plus side is that they are usually bigger, making the actual dip much easier. Razor is the tool when all else fails,” he said. “They hold it between their middle and index finger and with one swift movement slit open the bottom of the pocket. The wallet then falls right into their hands.” ... “A stranger that is quick to greet and anxious to get near you can be a pickpocket. Try to keep a hand on your belongings when such a person approaches you,” he said. “A theft often starts with a handshake that lasts too long. This allows the thief to get close to you. Most people think nothing of it when a person presses or bumps into them.”
Excerpted from The News International (Pakistan) – 15 September 2008

If you want my title, it's professor of pickpocketry. As a security consultant… I have seen a person steal from someone in a wheelchair. I have seen women bare their breasts and drop their pants to shock and distract their victims if they are accused. ... I probably have more insight into outdoor safety within the subculture of global pickpocketing than any other person in the world, on either side of the law. But that doesn't mean that pickpockets can't outsmart me. Last summer in Rome, my wife and I were packed like sardines in a metro at rush hour. There were 20 people near the door, and 14 were probably pickpockets. A woman was working my hip pocket, gently moving out my [dummy] wallet. I had a small wireless video camera hidden in a cellphone in my right hand, high up filming the action. My wife was to my left, with two guys trying for her handbag. Another team of three guys was trying to go for a tall American man standing close beside me. I pretended not to notice anything. ... Unbeknownst to me, they succeeded in removing a small video recorder from a bag I was holding at knee level while I was watching everyone's faces. Embarrassing, yes, but I have to acknowledge the finesse of high-end pickpockets because of the perfection in their combination of stealth and precise choreography. I keep my money tucked inside my trousers, in a thin leather pouch that hangs from my belt.
Excerpted from the 09 March 2004 New York Times interview with Bob Arno – coauthor of “Travel Advisory: How to Avoid Thefts, Cons, and Street Scams While Traveling” – Bonus Books 2003.

Pickpockets favor pedestrian bottlenecks (street intersections, turnstiles, elevators, escalators, or any doorway such as in a building, bus, or train), or any crowded situation where people aren’t surprised to be touched or jostled. Thieves might use anything – a newspaper, jacket, map, or a baby – to hide their thieving hands.

Anyone, from a child, a grandmother, or a beautiful woman, to a distinguished gentleman or an invalid in a wheelchair, touching you in any way, is a telltale sign of a sneak-thief pickpocket. They also try to distract you with anything from conversation to a nearby commotion so a partner can pick your pocket without your knowledge. Also beware of small groups of vagrant children – they can swarm and fleece you in seconds.

Your best outdoor safety protection from these masterful sneak thieves is to keep a tight grip on your wallet (in your pocket) while most vulnerable and to always maintain strong physical contact with your bags. Keep your valuables in hard-to-reach spots or get the stash clothing (such as money belts) at www.magellans.com.

It’s impossible to fully anticipate the panicky chaos of a sudden threat forcing you to make split-second life-and-death decisions. Nonetheless, understanding your options now will help your Intuition choose an option then.

Pepper Spray & a Noisemaker visibly ready will greatly enhance your first option – Posturing as a tough target – and probably deter a predator immediately. Your fifth option – Fighting – is enhanced as well.

For convenience, learn self-defense ONLINE:

KRAV MAGA, a practical self-defense system used by many police forces worldwide, teaches you to defend yourself, enhances your survival instinct, and can be applied under extreme stress. It's not flashy, just very effective. I highly recommend it. The Krav Maga TV - Online Training videos are especially convenient to learn at home when your schedule allows or if you don't live near a training center.

Find Outdoor Safety for parking lots, city streets, suburban byways, country roads, and secluded paths by going to:
• Outdoor Safety - Overview
• Friendly Predators first try to get near you to isolate and trap you, then attack you. Never forget that and you’ll never fall for a stranger’s lure.
• Force Predators: ambush zones revealed.
• Predator’s Favorite Targets: how not to be one.
• Spotting Danger ahead of time, and sensing if someone is about to draw a weapon - and what to do before it's too late.
• Facing Danger: if you're already targeted in a robbery, purse snatching, rape or kidnapping attack, choose among the five outdoor safety options: Posturing, Fleeing, Outsmarting, Surrendering, or Fighting.
• Rescuing a Victim Safely: how best to be a hero.
• Dog Attack: facing an attack on you or a loved one.
• Pickpockets (YOU’RE NOW ON THIS PAGE): stopping masterful thieves from stealing you blind.
• Recap of this section.
• Pepper Spray & Devices for Outdoor Safety.

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