Situational Awareness" and not acting "Touristy"

 I have been busy with "Meatspace"...Hey it is what it is...I will post an explanation in a day or 3, LOL nothing bad, just really busy.

   I got this in my email and granted the guy is trying to sell stuff, his observations do make a point.  I don't begrudge the guy trying to make a buck. 

   I have done  many post about "Situational Awareness" before, anybody that has spent any time overseas or any time in less than friendly areas here stateside quickly develop it or become prey.  Even on Europe if you go to Italy, Greece, Spain, Central or South America, North Africa Middle East or to certain areas in Germany where Turks or other 3rd world denizens congregate, there is a lot of petty crimes and they target Tourist.   I learned a long time ago, when I travel outside the United States, I don't dress or act "American".  I can put a German or Russian accent on my English and make me sound like it is my 2nd or 3rd language.  It is something that I cultivated a long time ago, anything to not look like "Lunch" if you know what I mean.  last time I did that was when we did a cruise a few years to Nassau and other stops and I was dickering with the vendors and I could tell that the price totally changed when they realized that I wasn't "American".  My son looked at me strangely but he didn't say a word until we left the vendor stalls and I explained what I was doing and why and I also explained the facts of life outside the Western based World.

    Here is the email.   he added a link for a bugout bag....but I didn't add that part.  Although the part about Pickpockets working in teams of 2 or more is accurate, and also kids frequently are involved because adults normally "ignore" kids as no threats.....I on the other hand don't have that illusion.

 

"I was overseas with someone who wasn’t very security savvy…

 

I wouldn’t call this person a friend, they were more like an acquaintance.

 

We were headed somewhere for a meeting (I knew exactly where we were going) and this person decided to stop and pull out a huge map.

 

Standing in a crowded street, they unfolded the ginormous map that screamed out, “I’m an American tourist, come and rob me.”

 

I was several paces ahead of this person when they made this brilliant move.

 

And within seconds, I watched a fellow walk up to them who was a local.

 

I could hear this fellow mention about how he knew the area well and could help them find where they were going.

 

As soon as this fellow walked up to my foolish, non-friend with the map, I immediately started scanning the area.

 

I was looking for the person who was going to do the pickpocketing.

 

You see, these guys often work in teams of two.

 

The first guy will spot the tourist they’re going to rob and they walk up to the person to distract them.

 

In this case, it didn’t take much distraction since my acquaintance had pulled out a map and made them an easy target.

 

While the first guy is doing the distracting, the second guy comes out of the shadows and does the pickpocketing.

 

By the time the tourist realizes what happened, both men will be long gone and the tourist will be minus their money, credit cards, and passport.

 

Now, that didn’t happen in this instance…

 

As I was scanning the area, I quickly saw the other guy who stood out and was paying way too much attention to my acquaintance with the map.

 

I’ll admit, for a split-second, the devil on my shoulder said, “let this knucklehead get pickpocketed.”

But, of course, I didn’t do that…

 

The moment I saw the other fellow start walking towards the situation, I rushed to my acquaintance, grabbed them by the arm, and said, “let’s go.”

 

This clueless person was like, “what’s wrong with you, why did you just do that since the guy was helping me with directions?”

 

I explained that they were about to be robbed and they needed to stop standing out and drawing so much attention to themselves.

 

The fact is, criminals love the use of distraction whether it’s pickpocketing or kidnapping.

 

So, the next time someone comes up to you and offers help, make sure you glance around and see if (and where) the #2 man is.

 

These days, you can never be too vigilant and it takes only seconds to scan the area to make sure you’re safe."