Seattle is a very friendly place to live. It has one of the lowest crime rates in the country and, just over a year ago, Mayor Nickels and Chief Kerloikowske (who has since been tapped to be the new national drug czar) announced that crime had hit a 40 year low. But Seattle is still a city none-the-less and it always pays to be on your guard. It’s really easy to fall victim to a scammer or a thief if you’re not deliberately mindful of where you are and who you’re with at all times.
A friend of mine was reminded of this the other day when she ran into a genuine pickpocket on her way home. She was in line to board a bus when the man in front of her paused and began to ask a confusing series of questions about how to get where he was going. While my friend was busy dealing with this distraction, the man’s accomplice took advantage of the close quarters to steal her wallet. The thief was nimble-my friend didn’t feel a thing-but he wasn’t slick enough to escape the view of the other passengers, who cornered him, retrieved the wallet, and returned it safely to her hand. Three cheers for good citizenship!
So what can a person do to avoid this situation? The City of Seattle offers a good selection of tips on their Street Smarts webpage and in a Personal Safety booklet you can download.
Home Alive is a non-violence based organization that provides self defense and public awareness classes.
These resources are a great place to start if you want to learn how to avoid looking like a target, what to do if someone confronts you asking for money, where to keep valuable items you have to carry with you, and how to use public ATMs safely.
More in-depth advice can be found in a variety of books available through the library. In Safe at All Times: Protecting Yourself and Your Family in a Dangerous World, Detective Janet Rodgers teaches readers about situational awareness and self-defense.
Aviv Juval offers an even more comprehensive guide to personal safety in his book, Staying Safe: The Complete Guide to Protecting Yourself, Your Family and Your Business.
In the end, I draw two important lessons from my friend’s cautionary tale: First, it pays to spend time thinking about street safety-scary as this is-because a little bit of knowledge can go a long way toward ensuring you’re not a victim. Second, we really do need to look out for one another. I love the fact that total strangers on a bus would be willing to step in and apprehend a thief on behalf of my hapless friend. Seattle is a great city that way. Stay safe out there!
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