Pickpocketing committed by mobile organised crime groups

Abstract

This theoretical paper is published by the EUCPN Secretariat in connection with the theme of the Maltese Presidency. The Maltese Presidency, in line with the Trio’s subject of Organised Crime, focused on two topics, namely domestic burglaries and pickpocketing, committed by mobile organised crime groups. For the Theoretical Paper and Toolbox, the Maltese Presidency proposed the EUCPN Secretariat to concentrate on the phenomenon ‘pickpocketing’. This Theoretical Paper gives more information about ‘organised property crime’, whereof pickpocketing is just one phenomenon. Each year, thousands of citizens and especially tourists become victims of pickpockets. Luckily there are many things you can do to prevent yourself from being pickpocketed. Therefore, this paper provides a brief overview with prevention tips. Furthermore, since it is assumed that itinerant crime groups are responsible for a significant part of the committed pickpocketing, a notable part of this paper focusses on itinerant crime groups in general. Mobile organised crime groups commit a wide variety of crimes, including pickpocketing, and are active in many crime areas. They move quickly around within and across multiple jurisdictions, which makes it tough and difficult to identify and tackle them. A cooperation within and outside the EU is important to identify and dismantle the networks behind these mobile organised crime groups. A toolbox with legislative measures, existing policies and best practices on this topic will follow.