19
Jul
2012
By Calvin at 14:04 GMT, 13 years ago
This is a reminder that if you are going to be travelling around London during the Olympics you’ll need to take extra care of your possessions as gangs of Eastern European and South American pickpockets (plus some indigenous ones as well) will be after your stuff – mainly wallets, purses and phones.
As part of Project Spiderweb, a major crime reduction initiative between British Transport Police (BTP), Metropolitan Police Safer Transport Command and Transport for London, a marketing campaign called ‘Don’t give them an inch’ has gone live across the transport network. BTP has also launched a micro-site, which advises people how to keep their valuables secure and it’s well worth a visit.
The Met Police website describes this operation as a ‘crackdown’, but in reality they’re dealing with these types of crimes throughout the year as there are peaks during the summer months and at Christmas. Some of you may have experienced the crush along Oxford Street in the build-up before Christmas and can understand how easy it is for pickpockets to operate.
The simple message from the Met’s website page is:
“Do not advertise your valuables; keep them secure and safe at all times”.
- Keep your valuables out of sight
- Keep your bag zipped up
- Wear your bag on your front
- Keep your phone and wallet in an inside pocket of your jacket or deep inside your bag
The BTP micro-site also suggests marking your valuables with a permanent UV pen. I’m not sure what they mean by this and I would recommend following the advice in Property identification – marking, tagging and tracking on this website.
Your chances of experiencing a crime on London Transport is low and it will be zero if you don’t present the opportunities in the first place.
Do take care and keep ‘em peeled
Calvin
