Pick pockets about on the Arenal

Hi Jacqui,

Many thanks for the alert - sounds like you were lucky in the end!

Take care,

Kim

Seems to be that this type of crime is on the increase right across the Costa, stay vigilant. 

Please report these sort of incidents to the police. If they know its happening they can do something about it. If it doesn't get reported, it will get worse. Take a photo if it's safe to do so.

Thank you for the advice but it happened so fast and the two of them disappeared so quickly that we didn’t think and we’re a little stunned by the whole experience

Ian62. I am afraid that this comment leads on from another thread on this forum. One member reported that a few years ago he had money stolen from his golf bag on the Lo Romero golf course. He went to report it to the Guardia Civil in Pilar Horadada and was told that he could not report it unless he was accompanied by a fluent Spanish speaker. The incident went unreported because of this. I have also reported that in the Guardia Civil officies behind the tourist information site in Playa Flamenca there is a notice that says if you cannot speak Spanish you should have an interpreter with you as the officers do not speak english. This makes it expensive to report crimes and inevitably they go unreported.

These sorts of crimes have been going on for years all over Spain.   As for requiring an interpreter, wouldn’t you expect a foreigner in the U.K. to use one if they didn’t speak English or would you expect the policeman to speak the perpetrator’s language?

Golandrina: While not expecting anything, and not wishing to get into a debate about what happens in other countries, it is accepted that when reporting a crime in the UK if the person reporting the incident does not speak the language commensurate with reporting the crime the police will contact an interpreter to facilitate the reporting of the crime. I would politely point out that on the Spanish Costas there are an enormous amount of foreign visitors and home owners paying taxes to the local government who will be required, under these directions, to employ translators to report crimes which damage the reputation of the area concerned. It may be prudent of the local government, and the enforcement agencies, to suppress the reporting of these crimes to protect the tourist industry in their areas. Economics rule all things