Pickpocket
The number of pickpocket is still one of major crimes in Japan, which had decreased a little in recent years after the peak in 1993, increased again in 2000(chart). Many of pickpockets are done so quickly that those people who have their wallets stolen don’t recognize when the crimes happen. Some of the people may think they just drop the wallets on streets or lose somewhere. If such cases are included, the official number of pickpocket would be high.
Do you know which pocket is easier to be picked when you wear a pair of punts? It's said that the answer is hip pockets. Especially if you have longer wallets and put them showily enough to protrude some of the parts from your hip pockets, this is as good as to say' Please pick my wallet'. Since people tend to concentrate on somewhere in angles of views mostly to the front side, the attention toward the back is naturally becoming loose It’s easier to be picked because hip pockets are out of your sight.
Even though you change the place to put your wallet from hip pocket to the inside pocket of your jackets, there is still such a risk. When you have lunch or dinner, for example, will you keep wearing your jacket in a restaurant? Unless your table is so chilly, it's natural to put off the jacket because you want to enjoy meals comfortably. In this situation where you put your jacket with a wallet onto a hunger and you concentrate on the meals or pleasant conversations, the risk remains. However, this risk is avoidable as you image.
The situation would be different in rush hours even if you put on your jacket and you are cautious about your wallet in the inside pocket. Under the circumstances of much overcrowd in trains, you cannot move even an inch, additionally your sight below your chest is limited. To your discomfort, you might not recognize pickpocket in the trains unless you have added cautions such as tightening jackets
As I introduce some of the pickpocket cases above, we have a fixed concept about the crime. The techniques of pickpocket is so skillful that it is happening before we know it. Recent pickpockets, however, are becoming rather rough and violent in seeing a series of pickpockets by foreign crime syndicates. They bear in mind how to run away just in case that pickpockets come to light soon instead they don't polish their criminal techniques of how to steal wallets as if nothing happened. Typical was the case, which happened in a train of JR Tokai line in Kanagawa prefecture October 2000. When three members of a pickpocket gang were on the verge of being caught by police men, they scattered tear gas over the faces of police men and passengers in trains and brandished knives. In this incident as many as fourteen passengers were taken to hospital appealing eyes or throat aches because of tear gas. Fortunately the police managed to arrest one man. The gang members allegedly stayed in Japan and repeated pickpockets.
Advises to follow
：
Carry money into different pockets separately.：
Keep good positions in trains such as door sides.：
Not include something to give hints for Pin codes of your cards in your wallets.：
Write down credit card's numbers to call as soon as possible before used.：
Register telephone numbers of credit card companies or banks in your potable phones.：
Not follow pickpockets persistently by yourselves(call police soon).
The number of Pickpocket
|
Year |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
|
No
|
26,462 |
26,819 |
30,217 |
25,038 |
24,386 |
23,483 |
22,181 |
21,019 |
21,928 |
24,526 |
|
Cleared Rate |
28.1% |
35.0% |
42.3% |
52.1% |
47.2% |
49.9% |
49.9% |
45.7% |
37.3% |
20.4% |
Notional Police Agency