How about jet skies?

Seriously hysterical responses here. Now I will have to stock up on travel hair spray before my next trip to Rome.
My husband and I did discover that you can wear those neck pouches with the pouch at your back...just head into the restroom before you have to pay the bill. This would be an almost impossible place to be pick pocketed. This works best in cool weather travel when clothes are a bit heavier.

Seriously hysterical responses? I thought a lot of them were quite hysterically funny! I love the sense of humor on Fodors.

Years of similar stories! Question! Why are police or guard services not present? Has anyone sent any of these reports to local tourist offices?

Embee took the words right out of my mouth. Spray on cheese???? What in the world do you Americans legtimately do with such a substance? I guess you wouldn't want to get it mixed up in your bag with the hairspray or breath freshener. Doesn't bear thinking about.

Someone asked a legitimate question about why isn´t the local law enforcement doing anything. Well, I´ve been wondering the same. Maybe it´s because most of the people who are involved in such petty crime are not legal residents of the country. The authorities feel that if they started to chase down these small time crooks, they´d be soon doing more severe crimes. Once they´ve got nothing more to lose, that is. I don´t know. After all this is a problem to the people who actually get robbed, but most travellers and locals couldn´t really care less. The Italians are famed all over Europe for being more relaxed about such things. This kind of crime would not be tolerated in many other countries. Of course there are ways to prevent or at least make it more common.

From what I understand, pickpocketing is well-known in Spain (e.g., Barcelona) and just recently there was a thread here about an increase in Paris. I've not been a victim myself in years of traveling, and I don't use security wallets and belts, but some of it may have to do with living in a large city where reasonable precautions are second nature.
And, having had a bit of luck.

jandaan, thanks for this reminder. My husband made me hold the passports and money because he figured that thieves would target him instead of me. After talking with other Americans we met in Rome, boy was he wrong. I wore a money belt hidden underneath my shirt and made sure no one saw me whenever I had to open it (I usually went to the bathroom to take money out). Although we never ran into trouble in Rome, just about every other American we met there had stories. An older American couple we talked to on the train were very seasoned travelers--their 16th trip to Europe. They've been vicitmized numerous times. By then, they knew not to keep anything of value in their pockets. However, on one train a large group of gypsies (their words), mostly women and children had boarded the train, and got off at the next stop 3 minutes later. As a gentleman, he stood up to let the women and children sit down. When they got off, all 7 of his pockets had been picked. Another time the wife had her fanny pack under her shirt with a jacket over and was walking to the Colliseum. She had the uneasy feeling that someone was following her but her husband told her she was just paranoid after past experiences. Soon after, some guy ran up to her, lifted up her shirt, and cut her belt bag and took off. They filed a police report, and later found her bag empty but the thieves managed to charge $2000 by the time she called the credit card companies. She said Bari was the most dangerous place in Italy for her. Another woman told me that someone on a motorcycle drove by and just grabbed a lady's handbag off her arm and drove off.

The day we picked to do most of our sightseeing in Rome started raining, and eventually poured later in the afternoon. I think the thieves stayed home that day.

so before I go on holiday, I'll stock up on spray cheese and hairspray, that way if I don't get pick-pocketed, at least I'll have great hair, and never go hungry!

What about the breath freshener Sonia Therese?

You are so fortunate to be able to buy spray on cheese. I have to settle for breath fresh spray coming from down under!!!!!

Of course you take precautions and are more careful when you are travelling to another country. But going to the bathroom everytime you need to take money out? That is taking security a bit too far. Do you really do that in every museum, shop, restaurant?
In several trips to Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, I have not been pickpocketed, and I don't wear fanny packs or neck pouches.

Just saw this happen yesterday in Paris, near the Eiffel Tower....two guys on a motorcycle (no scooter)drove up on a side walk and pulled the shoulder bag off a middle aged man. He was wearing it cross shoulder, so in the process it pulled him down. It happened so fast that no one could respond, or even get a license plate number.

No, I would usually take out a couple hundred dollars at the start of our day for our daily use and have it in my purse or backpack for easy access. I'd keep the passports, spare credit card, ID's, bulk of our travelers checks or cash, and important papers in my hidden belt if the hotel didn't have a safe, or if we were traveling between cities. It wasn't too often I'd need to retrieve them--I needed the bathroom more times than when I needed the passports.

When I was robbed in NYC there didn't seem any point in going to the police : what were they going to do about it, at c. 11pm in a busy bar ? As for reporting it to the local tourist office - is that what you'd do if you were robbed in a US city ?

I completely disagree with caroline's hopeless, apathetic approach.

I officially report everything, not only for insurance purposes but to provide statistical information. Good people in governments and agencies rely on these numbers to make their case for change. Always report a crime, no matter how inconvenient.