r/BeAmazed • u/Admirable-Interest49 • May 13 '26

Skill / Talent Police officer with the pickpocketing skills

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u/[deleted] May 13 '26

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u/Listekzlasu May 13 '26

There was a program in some local TV channel here, name translates to just "thieves", which consisted of a policeman and an ex-criminal (and sometimes more ex-criminals) showing tactics thieves, pickpockets, robbers and other such criminals use, exactly in the way this video shows. It really sparked imagination.

11

u/68_hi May 13 '26

There was an old show in the US called "It Takes a Thief" that I remember watching as a kid hosted by former thieves - they would stage a break-in to someone's house and talk about security.

21

u/GrogSmashToPieces May 13 '26

I would be interested if anyone has information about the efficacy of shows like this or PSAs in general. It seems like a lot of us would look at a show and believe that we could never be taken like the people on our screens as opposed to this guy who actively proving that our confidence is unwarranted.

21

u/isthatmyex May 13 '26

If I remember correctly there was a pickpocket awareness campaign at a London underground station. The result was an increase in pickpocketing because whenever people saw the signs they tapped their pockets to check, this alerting the pickpockets to the location of their valuables.

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u/Smoldogsrbest May 14 '26

Hahahaha I don’t know if you’re making this up but I feel like we’re dumb enough as a species for it to be true.

2

u/NotARealDeveloper May 13 '26

When you watched these shows, you normally get the opposite idea:

Holy shit, these guys are skillful and I would have fallen for that.

1

u/nonotan May 13 '26

Efficacy as measured in prevented crimes? Probably very low. A few people might pay attention and take measures to protect themselves (though the people likely to do that were probably already being somewhat careful anyway) but, at the end of the day, the criminal is just going to find some other "sucker" and target them instead.

As long as they can easily guess who's an easy target, and there's plenty of them around, in societal terms all slightly increased awareness is going to do is potentially shift exactly who the victim is. Individually, it can be helpful to improve the odds you are not the victim, of course.

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u/DepartmentSudden5234 May 13 '26

everyone can say that until it happens to them.

1

u/RoryJ May 13 '26

And willing entrepreneurs to test out new tactics

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u/Liusloux May 13 '26

I remember seeing a historical documentary about someone similar starring some Italian guy (I think) called "Catch me if you can".

1

u/LastElf May 13 '26

Anyone who's worked in a sizeable white collar office will have had building security drilled into them too, don't tailgate, don't open the door for strangers, etc. Lots of videos from people like DeviantOlam showing you how you can break into almost any large building with a can of air and a $10 ring of keys from eBay.

1

u/Old_Kodaav May 13 '26

Pickpocketing as easy victims as presented here is borderline braindead. You need steady hand and half a brain to pick victms in a crowd. You could do it tomorrow if you went to the city centre of wherever you live, unless it's some total rural area

1

u/spekt50 May 14 '26

Biggest crime deterrent is an aware public. And a video such as this should make people more aware.