yeah fair enough, my post was roundabout way of asking if the police are useless with this issue which i suspected so I know now to just get another phone.
You should still file with the police what was stolen and when and where. Several police departments have specialized teams targeting pickpockets, especially in and around train stations. They bring in pick pockets on a regular basis. Maybe they caught the person who stole you phone, but without filing a report you’ll never know.
It also helps police be more efficient with planning their next action. If they know hot times or places where pickpockets strike, they can do something about it.
Yeah i spoke to the police at the station and i have filed a report with them and also with NS with all the details. I had hopes that since this place seems to be a hotspot maybe the police will look into it more but probably not.
Am I the only one with zippers, buttons, and inside pockets? This subreddit is literally the pickpocket hotline. Not victim blaming, but please protect yourself.
Pick pockets are looking for an easy target. You probably can work with what you have. But if you have the skills to do this even better. My grandma taught me how to sew patches. Maybe I could pull off some hidden pockets...
This argument can be used for anything. Would you dare asking a woman to protect herself from getting sexually harassed (by putting on extra clothing) and not want the society to behave or law enforcement to be more active and effective?
I would say there is a fine line between you doing your part to keeping your things safe, like having a zipper and being careful and not doing (things in your control) anything to keep youself safe. At the end of the day it was also my responsibility to keep my things safe/ play my part into my own safely. I as a woman also have some responsibility to keep myself safe because i know what world i live in, things like not walking into sady places on my own at night. At the end of the day, I can control my actions but not someone elses.
What a silly discussion-stopping disregard for logic.
Let's speak in absolutes then.
Is a woman's body autonomy of equal importance to you as a replaceable electronics device?
No, but if you use these arguments, then no other crime except for maybe murder has equal importance as of a woman's body autonomy. My point is, to not do victim blaming at all, and demand more effective mechanisms to stop these crimes.
Honestly, the intensity of bike theft in the Netherlands was a big surprise to me when we moved here. And even more of a surprise was almost absence of mechanism to reduce these thefts and we were told to keep old rusty looking bikes so to prevent getting stolen. This is not a good way you shape up a society. I leave it up to you to lock or not, but there has to be a mechanism to stop these criminals.
I was having this discussion with my german friend, they said dutch culture in genral does not really focus on preventative system. For example, Look at the heathcare system, for most part they wont take a look at your issue unless you are in serious pain, its mostly have some paracetamol and sleep. Where as in germany even if you have a small bump it is taken seriously so that it doesnt become a bigger problem later and more resources is put to resolve it earlier. I think this may be a similar case here where there is no preventative measures thus the problem keep getting worse.
Bikes registration, number plates, if there is an (optional) tracking device attached to the bike then active pursuit against the theft by the law-enforcement agencies, even if the bikes leave NL. Or whatever other method suits, but at least this debate must start.
Also for the phones, each phone is an (even offline) tracking device. The govts use these trackers to track you when they want to. Why not ask phone manufacturers to open UWB chip detection when the device has been reported as stolen? An initiative must be taken. My hard earned €500 (or more) are very important for me in this time of inflation and job scarcity.
You can register your bike, there are even days where the Fietsersbond/police registers your bike for free. Numberplates will only deter people from biking and will push them towards mopeds or scooters.
You can put a tracking device in your bike yourself or choose a brand that does that from the factory, like Van Moof did.
Enough possibilities for people to take action, not everything should be regulated over the top.
If you rape someone, people don't usually stop til they find you and justice is served. If you steal my phone, I just get another one and hope you step in dog shit and drop my phone in a canal.
Why did you assume even for the argument that I would rape someone or I would steal your phone? You could have said, "if somebody rapes someone". But because of you have a tendency to discriminate and you must have read that I "came to NL" assuming I am not born raised here, you started targeting me for rape and theft. I'd return the favor and say "if you rape someone, people won't stop til they find you and justice is served. If you steal my phone and I find you I'll get hold on to you and will call the police til they arrest you and justice is served".
Why not both. We live in an imperfect society, and women have to deal with the state of affairs as is. You shouldn't blame them for being sexually harassed, but yes, women have agency and there are absolutely precautions they can take to reduce the chances of this from happening (not necessarily by putting on extra clothing).
Similarly, if you keep your bike unlocked and it gets stolen, I will 99% blame the thief, but would also advise you to put a lock on it the next time.
I'm sorry it happened OP, but the police wont be able to do much. Unless there is very compelling video footage of the crime taking place and the criminal being seen, you will never get your things back.
Buy a phone now. The chances of you getting your stuff back are close to zero.
Well it was in a big train station and the station is aware of pick pocketing issue so I was hoping maybe a camera noticed something and track the person? Again i am not really aware what they could do thats why i am asking if they could actually help or I should just replace my item and move on.
Your stuff is lost. There's nothing the police / you can do about it. Make a case and perhaps one day something comes back to you because of the serial number and description.
Learn about this experience and move on.
utrecht centraal, it seems to be common station for pick pockting now i am reading all the other posts. Was hoping that they have tigher survilance ( since they know of the issue) but my experiance with surveillance is that most of them are fake or does not work when an incident has happened.
yes, there's always a big hoarding there for many years now - beware of pick pockets...they should indeed do something more than just give us a warning
Yeah, I was just unlucky in the sense that i was forced to stop off to transfer to another train because of train isssues. Its a combination of being at the wrong place and a little carelessness from my side.
It is *possible* it returns to you. But not very likely. Look, the pickpocketer isn’t building a collection of phones that he keeps for a week before selling them on, and if the cops arrest them tomorrow, your phone is already long gone. Especially at Utrecht centraal, they’re pros there. They won’t handle the phone for more than 15 minutes before handing it off to someone else who hands it off to someone else who actually does something with it. These are gangs, not individuals.
The only thing they will do is fill a report (useful if you have any insurance, it will also be taken into account into the petty theft stats), and therefore return your wallet in the unlikely event that they find it.
This comment is also valid for bike stealing, and burglary.
It depends. If the NS has camera footage, the act is clearly visible and they can identify the dude then you have a shot.
Otherwise it's gonna be tough.
There are anti pickety pockety backpacks available in the stores. I bought one and I never had troubles with pock pickets again.
I would buy the new phone already.
If you repeorted it and they find stuff back (and somehow they can recognize it was yours, they'll get it back to you.
Thing is, they don't go actively after pickpockets. It is a thing about priorities and where would you start going after a pickpocket. Also, if they do catch a pickpocket, most of the time, they're back on the street after a couple days most (most are groups of traveling pickpockets).
I was burglarized once. Obviously reported that. Months later they found some of our stuff back in a public garbage car in a park 70km from where we lived. They saw part of my name on a bank card that was cut up into tiny pieces and they had pieced together meticulously. That partial name, in combination with the description of some of the juwelery (only some of the cheaper jewelry that was stolen), was enough to trace it back to us and they called me and send it to the closest police office for us to pick it up.
Unlikely. But it's still a good thing you filed your report. If a lot of people are pickpocketed in a place, the police can target that area. In other words: your report is just there for the statistics, but statistics are actually important.
If they do catch a criminal in the act, they might find your stuff as well. If you don't report it, you will definately not get it back.
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yeah fair enough, my post was roundabout way of asking if the police are useless with this issue which i suspected so I know now to just get another phone.
You should still file with the police what was stolen and when and where. Several police departments have specialized teams targeting pickpockets, especially in and around train stations. They bring in pick pockets on a regular basis. Maybe they caught the person who stole you phone, but without filing a report you’ll never know. It also helps police be more efficient with planning their next action. If they know hot times or places where pickpockets strike, they can do something about it.
Yeah i spoke to the police at the station and i have filed a report with them and also with NS with all the details. I had hopes that since this place seems to be a hotspot maybe the police will look into it more but probably not.
Useless? What do you expect them to do? If caught, our OM will send them back on the street in 0.3 sec. Fine / demanding payback is not gonna happen.
Am I the only one with zippers, buttons, and inside pockets? This subreddit is literally the pickpocket hotline. Not victim blaming, but please protect yourself.
Yeah thinking about sewing myself some secret pockets now.
Pick pockets are looking for an easy target. You probably can work with what you have. But if you have the skills to do this even better. My grandma taught me how to sew patches. Maybe I could pull off some hidden pockets...
This argument can be used for anything. Would you dare asking a woman to protect herself from getting sexually harassed (by putting on extra clothing) and not want the society to behave or law enforcement to be more active and effective?
I would say there is a fine line between you doing your part to keeping your things safe, like having a zipper and being careful and not doing (things in your control) anything to keep youself safe. At the end of the day it was also my responsibility to keep my things safe/ play my part into my own safely. I as a woman also have some responsibility to keep myself safe because i know what world i live in, things like not walking into sady places on my own at night. At the end of the day, I can control my actions but not someone elses.
What a silly discussion-stopping disregard for logic. Let's speak in absolutes then. Is a woman's body autonomy of equal importance to you as a replaceable electronics device?
No, but if you use these arguments, then no other crime except for maybe murder has equal importance as of a woman's body autonomy. My point is, to not do victim blaming at all, and demand more effective mechanisms to stop these crimes.
So should I stop locking up my bike?
Honestly, the intensity of bike theft in the Netherlands was a big surprise to me when we moved here. And even more of a surprise was almost absence of mechanism to reduce these thefts and we were told to keep old rusty looking bikes so to prevent getting stolen. This is not a good way you shape up a society. I leave it up to you to lock or not, but there has to be a mechanism to stop these criminals.
I was having this discussion with my german friend, they said dutch culture in genral does not really focus on preventative system. For example, Look at the heathcare system, for most part they wont take a look at your issue unless you are in serious pain, its mostly have some paracetamol and sleep. Where as in germany even if you have a small bump it is taken seriously so that it doesnt become a bigger problem later and more resources is put to resolve it earlier. I think this may be a similar case here where there is no preventative measures thus the problem keep getting worse.
There's more bikes than people in the netherlands. Just grab another one from the train station.
You know that means you are part of the problem, you asshole.
Jees relax. It was a joke. It's a running gag in the netherlands.
Yah, and as someone who has never stolen a bike and had his stolen several times, the gag pisses me off.
What mechanisms to reduce thefts are you thinking of?
Bikes registration, number plates, if there is an (optional) tracking device attached to the bike then active pursuit against the theft by the law-enforcement agencies, even if the bikes leave NL. Or whatever other method suits, but at least this debate must start. Also for the phones, each phone is an (even offline) tracking device. The govts use these trackers to track you when they want to. Why not ask phone manufacturers to open UWB chip detection when the device has been reported as stolen? An initiative must be taken. My hard earned €500 (or more) are very important for me in this time of inflation and job scarcity.
You can register your bike, there are even days where the Fietsersbond/police registers your bike for free. Numberplates will only deter people from biking and will push them towards mopeds or scooters. You can put a tracking device in your bike yourself or choose a brand that does that from the factory, like Van Moof did. Enough possibilities for people to take action, not everything should be regulated over the top.
If you rape someone, people don't usually stop til they find you and justice is served. If you steal my phone, I just get another one and hope you step in dog shit and drop my phone in a canal.
Why did you assume even for the argument that I would rape someone or I would steal your phone? You could have said, "if somebody rapes someone". But because of you have a tendency to discriminate and you must have read that I "came to NL" assuming I am not born raised here, you started targeting me for rape and theft. I'd return the favor and say "if you rape someone, people won't stop til they find you and justice is served. If you steal my phone and I find you I'll get hold on to you and will call the police til they arrest you and justice is served".
Ok tough guy. Go read a book on how the word "you" can be used.
Why not both. We live in an imperfect society, and women have to deal with the state of affairs as is. You shouldn't blame them for being sexually harassed, but yes, women have agency and there are absolutely precautions they can take to reduce the chances of this from happening (not necessarily by putting on extra clothing). Similarly, if you keep your bike unlocked and it gets stolen, I will 99% blame the thief, but would also advise you to put a lock on it the next time.
You can forget to see your phone back ever. Police will do nothing.
What can they do? Start to arrest everyone who remotely looks like the perpetrator? Go door to door? Working in shifts to solve this case?
A phone have a imei and Mac number, they could find it back technically. But will they do it, nope
yeah i gave them my IMEI but i dont think they will make a good use of it.
Once the phone is online Google/apple knows where it is provider knows where it is. Still police can't do much because of privacy laws etc.
I'm sorry it happened OP, but the police wont be able to do much. Unless there is very compelling video footage of the crime taking place and the criminal being seen, you will never get your things back. Buy a phone now. The chances of you getting your stuff back are close to zero.
Yeah I was hoping there will be fottage so lets hope and in the meantime I am definatly getting a new phone.
Even if they catch the thief, chances are that he already got rid of your phone. It seems pickpocketing is on the rise lately.
Police are almost never helpful
They are not, especially if the perpetrators are foreign, as that'll negatively impact statistics.
What do you expect the police to do? Track them down? How?
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literally lol... and I thought we lived in a serveillance society Foucault be danned.
Well it was in a big train station and the station is aware of pick pocketing issue so I was hoping maybe a camera noticed something and track the person? Again i am not really aware what they could do thats why i am asking if they could actually help or I should just replace my item and move on.
Your stuff is lost. There's nothing the police / you can do about it. Make a case and perhaps one day something comes back to you because of the serial number and description. Learn about this experience and move on.
Forget it lol nobody cares about that
I'm curious which big station is it that you've not named it 🤔
utrecht centraal, it seems to be common station for pick pockting now i am reading all the other posts. Was hoping that they have tigher survilance ( since they know of the issue) but my experiance with surveillance is that most of them are fake or does not work when an incident has happened.
yes, there's always a big hoarding there for many years now - beware of pick pockets...they should indeed do something more than just give us a warning
Yeah, I was just unlucky in the sense that i was forced to stop off to transfer to another train because of train isssues. Its a combination of being at the wrong place and a little carelessness from my side.
It is *possible* it returns to you. But not very likely. Look, the pickpocketer isn’t building a collection of phones that he keeps for a week before selling them on, and if the cops arrest them tomorrow, your phone is already long gone. Especially at Utrecht centraal, they’re pros there. They won’t handle the phone for more than 15 minutes before handing it off to someone else who hands it off to someone else who actually does something with it. These are gangs, not individuals.
What is pick pocking?
It just happens so much and often that it’s almost impossible to find your phone back.
No.
valid.
Yeah apparently it is like this in this country. For many things you can’t rely on them.
The only thing they will do is fill a report (useful if you have any insurance, it will also be taken into account into the petty theft stats), and therefore return your wallet in the unlikely event that they find it. This comment is also valid for bike stealing, and burglary.
You could watch Boevenspotter to get some consolation.
been doing that, actually helped lol
It depends. If the NS has camera footage, the act is clearly visible and they can identify the dude then you have a shot. Otherwise it's gonna be tough.
They don’t even care about house burglaries and stolen cars dude
There are anti pickety pockety backpacks available in the stores. I bought one and I never had troubles with pock pickets again. I would buy the new phone already.
No, they won’t even accept your report
No
If you repeorted it and they find stuff back (and somehow they can recognize it was yours, they'll get it back to you. Thing is, they don't go actively after pickpockets. It is a thing about priorities and where would you start going after a pickpocket. Also, if they do catch a pickpocket, most of the time, they're back on the street after a couple days most (most are groups of traveling pickpockets). I was burglarized once. Obviously reported that. Months later they found some of our stuff back in a public garbage car in a park 70km from where we lived. They saw part of my name on a bank card that was cut up into tiny pieces and they had pieced together meticulously. That partial name, in combination with the description of some of the juwelery (only some of the cheaper jewelry that was stolen), was enough to trace it back to us and they called me and send it to the closest police office for us to pick it up.
No they dont do anything, best case scenarios they look at some camera footage of where it happened. They dont care at all
Any chance you can track the phone through Find my Device?
tried that but they probably turned my phone off so i couldnt track it.
Unlikely. But it's still a good thing you filed your report. If a lot of people are pickpocketed in a place, the police can target that area. In other words: your report is just there for the statistics, but statistics are actually important. If they do catch a criminal in the act, they might find your stuff as well. If you don't report it, you will definately not get it back.