JONATHON GATEHOUSE: The Gazette – December 18, 1997
Pickpocketings and purse thefts show a steady rise as the holidays approach. The police have advice for harried shoppers on how to avoid becoming a victim.
Christmas is the time for giving, but that doesn’t mean you have to make it easy for people to take things.
Every year during the holidays, Montreal’s streets, stores and shopping centres bec orne favoured hunting . grounds for thieves, con artists and pickpockets.
Harried consumers can be easy marks, but despite annual warnings from the police, the message never seems ta get through.
« People just seem ta think it will nevel’ happen to them, » Constable George Manoli, a crime-prevention specialist Withthe Montreal Urban Community police, said yesterday. « They have to understand that the bad guys are out there and this is the perfect time to do it. »
While crime statistics for this Christmas are not yet available, police are confident the story will be the same as in past years. ln 1996, for instance, the number of monthly incidents of pickpocketings and purse thefts showed a steady rise as the holidays approached, peaking at 605 reported cases in December.
Manoli says the common denominator for most crime victims is carelessness. Amomentary lapse as simple as leaving valuables in open view in a parked Cal~ not keeping a close eye on a purse or wallet, or counting cash at the bank machine, cau become an open invitation to a thief.
« We have to consider the image that we give people, » Manoli said. « The idea is ta stash it, not flash i1. Be a zebra alllong zebras, don’t stand out like a gjraffe. »
Manoli has lots of practical tips on how shoppers can eut down the risk, like parking in supervised areas, carrying less money, using a secret poeket, or having a decoy wallet to give ta a bandit in the event of a robbery.
THE CROOKS KEEP COMING
The premise is simple – don’t give someone the opportunity to make you a victim .
Sébastien Cérre, head of security at the downtown Eaton Centre, agrees. Though his man tries hard to protect shoppers during the holiday rush, adding extra personnel and using plain-clothes operatives, the crooks keep coming.
« If people are depending on just the security guards to protect them, ifs never going to work, » he said. « They have to pitch in and help. »
Cérre said his workers try hard to educate consumers and the mall’s 240 merchants about the dangers, but corne Christmas his office is always booming.
« It’s rock’n’roll time here, » he said.
« We’re right downtown and a bit of a magnet. »
Out on Ste. Catherine St. last evening, as thousands of shoppers flitted from store to store burdened with packages, few seemed to be concerned about Christmas crime.
Most people questioned, like a woman who would only give her name as Nadia, sa id they don’t give mu ch thought about how they protect themselves and their holiday purchases from crooks.
« I don’t really do anything speciaL » she said. « I1’s never happelled sa l don’t thinkabout it. »
But a minority, like Sorrel Chaskin and her husband, Bernard, said they were aware of the lurking danger and take steps to minimize it
ASTOUNDED BY CARElESSNESS « We don’t carry cash. We use the credit Cal’d instead, » she said.
David Eaton said he and his wife are always astounded by the carelessness of most shoppers.
He described how a stranger had Iefl ber purse beside him on a bench earlier that day while she went off and browsed in a store.
»l’ve never seen this woman before in my life and suddenly l’m guarding her purse. If it’s hard.