constant vigilance! and other lessons from being robbed

My handbag was snatched as I was walking home at night last week. Some dude came up behind me on his bike and grabbed it, and took off. I yelled, but there was no one around, and I happened to be wearing heels that night so the chase was rather short. This happened within a couple of blocks from home, so I ran home, rang the doorbell like crazy and got Seb to call the police.

The night of, I was just shocked. Couldn't believe it happened. I couldn't tell the police anything of much use, since I only saw the back of the guy's hoodie, but I spent most of the night unable to sleep, brooding over the scene in my mind. By next morning, I guess the shock had worn off, and I was really mad. How dare this guy steal my stuff! What an asshole! Fueled by my fury, I spent a couple of hours prowling around the area where my stuff was taken, looking suspiciously at anyone on a bike, to see if the thieves had discarded anything. I kept going over what happened in my mind, to see if I could have done something differently.

I was regretting that I hadn't taken off my shoes and thrown them at the perp as he was making his getaway, when the police called to say that someone had turned my stuff in. Along a little side street within a few of blocks of home, one of the residents had found my bag on a bench in front of their house. Missing was the cash and my phone.

I was happy to get my stuff back - at least I would be spared some of the replacement expenses - but at best I had mixed feelings. I was thankful to the person who had turned my stuff in, but I was still really angry that this had happened at all. But I was also starting to think that it could definitely have been a lot worse.

So the lesson here is this: These things happen when they happen, even in "safe" parts of town, and the best you can do is minimize the chances that the thieves will choose you as their victim. Like, always be aware of your surroundings, especially when there aren't a lot of people around, look around to see if someone is coming up behind you. When in doubt, just take a taxi. Even if you are generally paranoid about these things, the thieves will choose to strike the one time you didn't stick your cash and credit cards in your sock and you're wearing heels instead of sneakers. So constant vigilance! Because it could happen to you too.

On homicides in Montreal and Philadelphia

So far in 2007, Montreal has had 7 homicides, of which 6 are street gang related. This has fueled a slew of articles about street gangs in Montreal in the Canadian press, and speculation of a gang war quickly quashed by police (links from the montreal city weblog). Just to say, 6 gang related homicides in 6 weeks in Montreal is considered newsworthy, and is considered to be a serious problem.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia has had 47 homicides (this comes out to roughly one homicide per day this year). I've gotten used to seeing the phrase "no arrests have been made, and police are still trying to determine a motive" in these articles. There is a general acknowledgment that Philadelphia has a high homicide rate and that this is a problem, but nothing much seems to be happening to deal with it, other than people talking about it and saying how it's a problem.

For comparison purposes, the population of the city of Montreal is around 1.5 million. The population of the city of Philadelphia is also around 1.5 million. (Note that the Philadelphia metropolitan area is more populous than that of Montreal.) Sure, Philly is a big city, and big cities often have lotsa crime, but this is inexcusable. I find the violent crime rates here in Philly put a serious damper on the quality of life. One big reason why I still pine for Montreal. I'm still looking for violent crime stats (ie. not just homocides) for both cities, and hopefully will post something on that later.