Subte Robbery Alert (C Line)

[Ryoga]

yesterday, i had a friend get robbed at gun point by the same guy who robbed me.

the cops dont care

 

[orwellian]

How do you know it was the same guy? And what happened?

 

[citygirl]

Victoria:
In answer to your question about car-jackings - I don't know how common they are but cars getting broken into/stolen are extremely common. I've had 3 friends have their car stolen in Las Canitas. My friends only park in garages even in the "safe" neighborhoods.

Sorry again about your experience. Unfortunately I find that carrying anything large (even a large purse), makes you a target. I take the subte/colectivo frequently and have never had any problems but I do only travel with a small, zipped purse that I hold on my lap or on my chest, with the strap wrapped around my hand so no one can snatch it or reach into it without me noticing.

But yes, as someone said, the longer I'm here, the more I assume it is a question of when, not if I will be robbed/pick-pocketed/etc.

 

[wreReynolds]

It's a waste of time going to the police, they do nothing. I have been robbed four times (once in my apartment, hree times in the street: pickpocket, once with a knife, and once my bag was stolen in a nice cafe in recoleta). When my apartment was broken into, it was pretty obvious the portero was proibably involved. There was no signt that the door had been forced, yet they never even spoke to him. But they sure do a lot of paperwork, even asking me to come back to police station to answer a few more questions... then nothing.
Just look at them on the street, they just stand there picking their noses and do absolutely nothing.
I love Buenos Aires, but the police here make me gag.

 

[marksoc]

I know that you are not going to agree, but I feel that the most insecure areas (out of the very poor ones) are were tourists and expats abound. I feel more insecure in Barrio Norte, Recoleta, Palermo and Belgrano than in the suburbs. If you were a thief, where you would go to steal? To my suburb, were I don't carry nothing of interest oher than a book and a debit card? Or to Recoleta, where you could take an I-phone, laptop, gold credit card, etc etc?

 

[Diskosis]

Someone tried to pickpocket me on the 132 on the weekend. He shuffled up next to me with a jacket over his arm and was reaching for the pocket of my board shorts (which had nothing valuable in it, and he wouldn't have been able to get it open without me noticing anyway as the velcro is super-strong). Anyway I am paranoid all the time, so I looked down and saw his hand. I stepped back and looked at him - didn't bother shouting because he hadn't actually touched my clothes yet and he would have just denied it. He pushed passed me to the back of the bus and made a fuss about getting on the wrong bus or something (as I continued to watch him) and got off at the very next stop - after he had just gotten on. I was pretty sure he had an accomplice with him as well, an elderly guy. The funny part was that he seemed genuinely annoyed that he'd just paid for a ticket, then had to get off again.

The frustrating thing is that you can never really do much about it - shout maybe, but there are never any police around when you need them, and everyone else just stands around and gawks, and a few old ladies tut tut a bit - I've seen it happen on the subway. Punch him? You don't know if he's got a gun or a knife, or how many people he is working with.

I've never been robbed here, but I do find it a little annoying that a lot of Argentines almost seem proud of the way the thieves rob people (foreigners especially). As in, when somebody tells them a story about a robbery, and they chuckle knowingly and say, "Yeah, those guys are really good." But when it happens to them it's all "negros de mierda, police this, Cristina that, Macri bla bla bla".

To conclude my rant, I also feel '9 reinas' is quite over-rated. It's a clever story, but the acting (apart from Darin) is pretty poor - and really it's a fairly typical heist movie. 'Secreto de sus ojos' is a much better movie overall.

 

[victoria]

Hola everyone,

I had an idea (I'm always full of ideas) about how to constructively vent our anger (and I'm talking about ALL people who live in BA). You know how the subte drivers go on strike to protest wages? What about a grassroots effort to protest against crime in the subway: A designated day where everyone boycotts the subway ... where the cars run empty? Wouldn't that be a great statement?

Being a temporary resident who speaks limited Spanish, I, unfortunately don't know the culture or have the means to organize such a thing. But if everyone who hates the subway paranoia and crime were to participate, what a statement that would be!

Our demands would be both uniformed and plain clothes officers on the trains and thorough investigations of thefts. I understand the Captiol Federal officers don't work the subte because its not their jurisdiction, but if the subte is a private enterprise that is government subsidized, let THEM spend some of their money to hire their own security.

I so admire the Madres who march for the Disappeared every week. They stood up to the status quo and continue to do so. Their actions were grassroots and they are iternationally recognized for what they do.

 

[sesamosinsal]

Someone tried to pickpocket me on the 132 on the weekend. He shuffled up next to me with a jacket over his arm and was reaching for the pocket of my board shorts (which had nothing valuable in it, and he wouldn't have been able to get it open without me noticing anyway as the velcro is super-strong). Anyway I am paranoid all the time, so I looked down and saw his hand. I stepped back and looked at him - didn't bother shouting because he hadn't actually touched my clothes yet and he would have just denied it. He pushed passed me to the back of the bus and made a fuss about getting on the wrong bus or something (as I continued to watch him) and got off at the very next stop - after he had just gotten on. I was pretty sure he had an accomplice with him as well, an elderly guy. The funny part was that he seemed genuinely annoyed that he'd just paid for a ticket, then had to get off again.

The frustrating thing is that you can never really do much about it - shout maybe, but there are never any police around when you need them, and everyone else just stands around and gawks, and a few old ladies tut tut a bit - I've seen it happen on the subway. Punch him? You don't know if he's got a gun or a knife, or how many people he is working with.

I've never been robbed here, but I do find it a little annoying that a lot of Argentines almost seem proud of the way the thieves rob people (foreigners especially). As in, when somebody tells them a story about a robbery, and they chuckle knowingly and say, "Yeah, those guys are really good." But when it happens to them it's all "negros de mierda, police this, Cristina that, Macri bla bla bla".

To conclude my rant, I also feel '9 reinas' is quite over-rated. It's a clever story, but the acting (apart from Darin) is pretty poor - and really it's a fairly typical heist movie. 'Secreto de sus ojos' is a much better movie overall.

There is just no sense of community in Buenos Aires, in my opinion. In November, I was helping a guy from the UK get to Retiro via the Subte. He got his wallet snatched by a group of people that were pushing up against both of us. I knew the pushing and bumping was suspicious, and even told the UK guy that I thought it was suspicious. However, I still had all of my things, and he never said that they had taken any of his things... until we arrived at the next station.

The guy and his friends hurried off at the next station, thinking that we were staying on. However, we were getting off to make a connection with Line C. The UK guy then tells me, "That guy has my wallet!" I looked up at the escalator, and the guy that was doing the pushing and shoving (I assume his friends were closeby) is looking back at both of us.

I lost it. I went after him, yelling at him first in English. I'm sure that was quite a sight, but my adrenaline was just pumping so hard. I was so angry because I can't stand a thief. I eventually switched over to Spanish. I questioned him for a bit, and he claimed to have nothing. He was a liar. I'm sure he had placed the wallet in his underwear or somewhere else where I couldn't demand he reveal anything.

Except for one guy who came up to me saying, "El chorro se fue corriendo! Deberías llamar a la policía," and "Lo mismo ocurre con nosotros también," no one did a damn thing. (Nice guy though, whoever he was)

I was just so frustrated that almost everyone just minded her/his own business, as if it was just too much of a hassle to stop and help someone, who is clearly foreign, in a tough situation.

 

[orwellian]

It's a waste of time going to the police, they do nothing.

Of course they do nothing. If there is no evidence, how are they going to get a conviction? Sure they could go and talk to the guy you suspected having a hand in it. But most likely this guy would deny it and it would all be a waste of time.

I know that you are not going to agree, but I feel that the most insecure areas (out of the very poor ones) are were tourists and expats abound.

And middle class Argentines.

Hola everyone,

I had an idea (I'm always full of ideas) about how to constructively vent our anger (and I'm talking about ALL people who live in BA). You know how the subte drivers go on strike to protest wages? What about a grassroots effort to protest against crime in the subway: A designated day where everyone boycotts the subway ... where the cars run empty? Wouldn't that be a great statement?

You are overreacting, the crime here is not that bad. I've been here 3 months and I haven't even seen any. I don't think anybody would join that strike as there are other issues people care about more.

I was just so frustrated that almost everyone just minded her/his own business, as if it was just too much of a hassle to stop and help someone, who is clearly foreign, in a tough situation.

That's because most people don't want to die over a wallet, especially someone else's.

 

[citygirl]

Owellian - you have only been here 3 months? Ahhhhh.. that explains a lot. If you haven't seen crime yet, you will. It's just a matter of when, not if. I used to be one of those that said "Oh..it's not that bad, people are over-reacting." That was when I moved here. That was before 2 of my friends were stabbed during muggings, (San Isidro & Las Canitas), 2 other friends were mugged (Palermo & San Telmo), 3 friends has cars stolen in Las Canitas in the space of a year, I saw a guy get hit in the head with a wooden board by a street guy (again, Las Canitas), saw someone mugged on the subway in Centro, watched a woman get her laptop stolen in Palermo and the list goes on....

No, it's not the most dangerous city in the world by any means but crime is a factor.