To catch a thief

hi, i am not a lady of violence and i wont run after him but would make a noise and in India if you make a noise and crowd see the theif then they would definitely give him a chase and if they catch him then god save him. I know once i was travelling in local train in Mumbai and someone caught a pick pocket there and first crowd gave him a big beating then threw him out of moving train.. it is horrible but it is many years now and i have heard now that this happened few times and now no one dares to steal anything and local train in Mumbai is life line of city and even businessman travel in it carring lacks of ruppes in breif case ( 1 lack = 100,000) so it has become safe. i would at most inform police.

interesting topic.if my wallet or cash was stole by a thief,i'm not sure will risk my life in exchange of the lost things.two weeks ago, those thing was meet by a colleague,she is only less than twenty years old.every weekend,she used to english corner by bus,one saturday,when she was on bus a man who was standing behind her.when the bus stoped at one station,the man suddenly was steal her wallent and running out off the bus quickly,she was shocked and a few minuter later she was running behind the thief,it was lucky,the thief returned back the wallet and said "sorry" to her.we are shocked and it is very hard to believed it when she talked his experience to us,she said that it is because of all of the money which she had own were in the wallet,if stoled. she will have no money go back home.i am not sure if i meet what i would be.good luck and have a nice day.

HI Karan! I would not catch a thief, if I am in my city. Because I know it is quite difficult to catch a thief and even if I get hold of him, he may attach or even stab me. Therefore, in the present circumstances, I would let him go with my wallet, my life is more important than my wallet.

i SURE WOULD CHASE THE BOOGER. THE WAY I GET AROUND NOW I'M NOT LIKELY TO CATCH HIM BUT IF I DID I'D USE MY WALKING STICK ON HIM. cAN'T U JUST PICTURE THAT, LOL.

Hello my friend PeacefulWmn9 JI, Everything depends upon situation and comparison with me. Being Old Lady, I may only stand at place and cry to attarct the public, but I did chase when I was very young a college student. Further it all depends upon theft item. Was it taht important.Togive you example, money may not be so important in front of Jwellary, and further, some important documents/papers may carry more weightage than jwellary, at last a small antique piece or some rememberence may carry maximum urge to etrieve the item. But I would think twice all these points and chase. May God bless You and have great time.

I will not risk my life to chasing and fighting with thieves. I had an experience two years ago---while i was walking home with KFC bag on my right had, three teenagers dragged my KFC bag and ran. I was so shocked then and was not able to utter any words. I just let them ran and continued walking as if nothing happened. Then i pray and asked for strength because i was so frightened then and angry...they took my dinner and that time i was so hungry from work. It happened in the US.

You know what the sad thing is about the criminal system my dear friend? Is that if you did confront the thief and hurt him in any way it could be YOU that gets prosecuted and the thief, and this is where I get so angry could actually SUE you! For hurting them! It's damn ridiculous. Although having said that I am starting self defence lessons so if anyone does pick on me I'll have the confidence and the wherewithal to be able to strike back, but if I attack them? It's my word against theirs and then how do you draw a line between an attack and self defence? The law as usual is a mockery so even if a thief stole your wallet and you chased after them and knocked them down it could be YOU arrested and not them. Crazy!

It all depends upon the emotional and the monetary value of the possessions that have been filched, and also my own mood and frame of mind, the difference between my physical condition and that of the thief, at that point of time. Generally it is easier to catch the person in the act or just after the act. If too much time has gone by, it is generally difficult, nay impossible to catch the thief. The cops are generally so bogged down with many other cases that they generally don't bother about theft cases unless the victim is a well known and well connected person, or the thief is caught by accident. I have seen thieves being badly beaten up, and there are sometimes cases of lynchings too in some of the more backward areas, or where the public knows that the thief would either get off because of police complicity or due to the slow course of action of the judiciary system. I have personally caught a person (a van driver) stealing Industrial Oxygen Gas Cylinders (used to cut and weld metals) from my company that I once owned, my employees started to beat him up, but I stopped them and was going to hand him over to the police when the owner of the van (whom I had called up) turned up and requested me no to do that and assured me that he would personally see to it that man ended up in jail if he ever repeated the act.

Here in our country its quite dangerous to chase a thief. We call them snatchers and usually they have back up. You might end up getting hurt or worst get killed. There were many incidents of people getting shot just merely because they did not give up their cell phone or wallet or bag. I would not risk it. So what I do, Is I always secure my things and bring only those that I need when I go out on places that I am not sure is safe.

hi peacefulwmn9 A few years ago I was shopping at The Village a large shopping mall. I needed to use the ladies room so went into an empty stall and as usual hung my handbag,really a shoulderbag,a big one, on the hook on the back of the door so it would be off the floor.Well I was just adjusting my skirt when a hand snaked over the rim of the door and began to tug at my handbag.the loops caught and the woman thief could not quite get it to pull free so i grabbed it and yanked open the door, throwing her against a sink . another lady saw her trying to steal my shoulder bag, and she grabbed her arm, and yelled for security, a big husky negro lady in uniform strode in and yelled, drop it nettie,gotcha this time. She handed it to me and said,thank you for grabbing her, and thank you maam as she turned to the other shopper who had helped me. wow , I got my shoulder bag back. I had made up my mind that woman whoever she was was not going to get my hard earned money no way jose.

Ah, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly... :-) I'm not in the best of shape and I wouldn't do anything that could get me hurt or endanger the children if they were with me. I'd let the police do their job...

I don't own anything that is worth hurting some one to get back, besides I am a total coward and hate confrontation.

If the thief caught me on the right day and I thought I could catch him and beat him with my bag you better believe it! Some people play detective to catch their identity theives.

Hi Peaceful Wmn: i think it's very difficult to have that kind of courage, i won't do it because i respect my life over my personal goods and even if would feel frustrated i'll let the job to the police. It's better to not play a role that you're not used to play. Even with that i'll else mention that my eldest brother would catch the thief because he's stronger than me, he loves to play the Terminator role XD and he doesn't like these kind of people. Lol. XD

I never met a thief that stole my wallet or anything.And i only seen a thief stole somebody`s wallet in the movie or books.i think if some one stole my wallet and i find it ,i will not stop chase the thief until i get my wallet back.if i can not catch the thief i will call the police,though i do not know how they will do and really they can catch the thief .if the thief stole one and no body chase or catch ,he will stole another and any more .this is not a good thing for our society and every one should stop this.

Hi Karen, interesting idea here. I really don't know what I'd do as in theory it would be enough to incite me to anger but I have never once used physical violence and am too small to take anyone on so might as well be realistic here. I would definitely scream for assistance and an angry mob of Greeks would soon be in hot pursuit as that kind of thing just isn't tolerated here. I doubt that escape could happen amidst this nosey lot. Actually it has happened to me, my friend and I took a long weekend break to Paris and were strolling along Montmarte long after midnight in the company of a delicious French man we'd met, quick as lighenting my bag strap was cut off and I hadn't even realised before the French man was off in hot pursuit but didn't manage to catch the thief, apparently a regular going on in that area by professional thieves. He did however telephone the French police as a report was necessary for the insurance company.

In the past i have chased someone for trying to cause damage to someone elses van,i do not know if they were going to try to steal the van,but i did chase them and i was in a night shirt at the time,perhaps that was what scared them a woman with not much on.lol.

I don't think I will take the chance, specially lot's of news today saying that robbers, snatchers or pickpocketers usually doesn't works alone and works as a group, you don't want to get clobbered or much worst be killed. Just report it to the nearest police station and let them do the job. Now, chasing and catching these thieves then giving them some karate blows or a hard clothesline usually works only in the movies but in real life, I don't think so, these crooks won't give you a chance, so don't take the risk, cheers!

wow,It's really fantastic experience if I can catch him.Now I need to work out often and waiting for the arrival of time.you know,if you are not stronger than him,it's a very dangerous thing.