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Hanging on a wall in the office of New York police lieutenant George Pagan is a still from Casablanca captioned Round up the usual suspects. But when it comes to crimes against tourists, Round up the usual victims might be more appropriate.Crime is down in the Big Apple, but the commanding officer of the detective squad at the citys Midtown North precinct still gets exasperated when he flips through tourists crime reports. Little has changed in his 31 years on the force. The majority of things happen because people are careless, he says, shaking his head. Minimal caution would stop a lot of this stuff. And not just in New York. Miami Beach police detective Al Boza says crimes that tourists report there usually have one thing in common: Theyve almost always been preventable.Although some tourists commit outrageously stupid acts—such as the European who was robbed in Miami Beach recently when he left all his luggage on the beach while he went for a swim—many are victims of behavior they might not ordinarily think twice about. Go into a restaurant and count how many women have their pocketbooks hanging over the chair, says Pagan. Thats an incredible invitation. You should have it between your feet or beside you. It takes just a couple of seconds to reach into a purse and grab a wallet. We find that some thieves are stealing only one credit card, he says. You might not realize it until you get homeThe most common crime against tourists is distraction theft, committed by groups called lick teams. As some members of the team distract the victim and everyone around him, another removes his property. Robert Duvall of Las Vegass Tourist Safety Unit recalls an incident in which a victim who had $10,000 sitting on a casino cashiers counter was distracted by someone from a lick team who dropped coins on the floor. When the victim bent down to pick up the coins, a cohort grabbed the cash. Luckily, it was all caught on videotape, and the thieves were nabbed.

 

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