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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3741 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 27, 2022

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Why don’t US cities have pickpockets? I’ve always heard (in the US) that if you’re traveling to a major city in Europe to be on the lookout for pickpockets, and I’ve heard stories from a few people who have had wallets/passports/phones stolen there. But despite the US having more crime in general I’ve never heard of this happening in any US city. You hear that there are certain parts of US cities to avoid, and I’ve heard stories of muggings or bikes being stolen, but nothing about pickpockets. Does anyone have a theory about why this is?

NYC has pickpockets, especially on the subway. https://nysubway.com/subway-station-safety-tips/ has something that can explain why:

Pick pocketing, purse snatching and violent robberies are very common especially where thousands of local commuters and unsuspecting tourists from all over the world gather, sticking out like ATM machines. Pick pocketing mostly happens on busier stations where there is a crowd, while robberies are more common late at night where there are less passengers around.

You need large numbers of people using public transportation or walking around for pick pocketing to work. I tried to test this theory by googling for pickpocketing news and it looks like the usual suspects like San Francisco with its walkable streets and Muni do have pick pockets as well.

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