Petty thieves are the same no matter where you go

[Poconnor]

Wife and I went on vacation in Europe to visit christkindlmarkts in Germany , Austria and Italy. Had a great time. Loved the gluhwein. Wonderful weather. I was concerned about the refugees but it was unfounded. Heavy police presence and the cold weather kept the refugees away. We had one near incident in balzano Italy. We went as a small group. While walking in a crowded street I noticed a young male dressed as a felon in training. Black hoodie, flat brimmed Chicago bulls cap, unlaced timberlands and pants hanging down past his ass. I thought this guy doesn't look right from the way he was watching the crowd. My wife was busy doing the tourist cell phone photo thing when this guy starts going for her. His eyes were locked on her and he didn't see me. I already had my fosters coin sap in my hand and was moving to intercept him. He stopped one step short of me doing a Pete the puma on him before he disengaged. How many lumps do you want? It just goes to show, now matter where you go there's always somebody who deserves a thumping and situational awareness and blending in with the locals are very important. I'm sure he picked my wife because she was busy with her phone and her purse looked full and easy pickings.

[Nephrology]

I lived in France for a fairly significant period of time when I was younger and honestly if anything petty thieves are bolder and more numerous over there. I could speculate forever as to why but in my opinion it's because people are much less likely to resort to violence in self defense over there (armed or not). I definitely was targeted for robbery far more times when I lived in France than I ever have been here.

On the flip side, higher stakes robbery (home invasion, armed robbery, etc) are also typically less common. Worth mentioning too that this is all purely anecdotal and I have no evidence to back any of this up.