Security

Barcelona has a theft problem like many cities in Europe, Rome, Athens, Paris...... The news in September is that Barcelona is the worst in Europe.

Barcelona is world famous for the high level of pick pockets ....and nothing is done about it !.

Every year it is the same. Some pick pockets have been processed legally in 2009 for 80 cases of small thefts ! Yes 80 cases ! The legal system and the politicians are incompetent; they seem to be on good wages, do not live in the tourist areas and do not care. (there are many legal cases against politicians in Spain for corruption, personal benefit seems to be the main interest of many politicians and not things like security).

[The politician responsible for security in the City Council in the years to 2007 was Jordi Hereu. The City Mayor is now Jordi Hereu. So he can not claim that he has only had the job for a few months and has not had time to make changes (and the same party has controlled the city council for 30 years; the socialist party PSC). (the same policital party is also the main party in the Government of Catalunya and in Spain !!; so they can not blame any other party for the theft problem in Barcelona being ignored for years now. Jordi Hereu is supposed to be a socialist but in fact goes against the citizens, examples the development of the mini stadium at Camp Nou and his involvement in the corruption case of Palau de la Musica where he went "against" the signatures of 3500 local people to agree to the demolishing of a protected building to build a hotel, the main people involved are now in prison while the legal case goes forward. The mayor Jordi Hereu acts like a dictator in favour of hotel owners and business owners and avoids dialogue/participation with the citizens].

(Crime reports show that 58% of the people arrested were foreigners !. A high percentage of the street thieves in Barcelona are Morrocan; normally with dark skin, and dark black hair; thieves will often/sometimes have a baseball cap on to hide their identity a bit). Many citizens think that a large part of the problem comes from illegal inmigrants that have no papers to work in Spain and do not receive money from the Government so they steal to survive.

If you are not already street wise to street/cafe/bar theft then before you arrive you should try to prepare a bit (perhaps go on a course !!), perhaps by reading the security advice in travelbooks and perhaps considering buying a traveller's neck wallet or something.
Note. Some people think that the city intentionally manipulates/reduces the reported number of thefts by intentionally having queues of hours at the police station, so that people give up after 2 hours of waiting and do not report the theft they have sufferred (on a short 3 day holiday with 2 or 2 1/2 days in Barcelona few people are willing to spend half a day waiting in a queue). The police station to report thefts in the large tourist centre of Barcelona is in Carrer Nou de la Rambla 08001 Barcelona if you want to see the queue !

Take care not to keep the address of the apartment with the keys for the apartment.

(one reason that tourists are target number 1 is that they do not want to come back if a thief gets taken to court 3 months later and of course because they often carry cash/cameras/mobiles. And the police and authorities in Spain are not that bothered about protecting tourists. With the nice weather and places to visit they know that tourists (and their economy helping money) are not likely to stop arriving.

So be more careful than usual on your arrival and departure days and keep hold of your bags. And during your stay if anyone approaches you and asks you anything, for a light or the time or anything, it is best to keep walking and just shrug.

Some of the types of crime :- bump theft in crowded places (such as pushing onto the metro, metro escallators, in the Ramblas etc), theft of bags from under restuarants/cafe/internet chairs.

Internet Cafes. Take special care in internet cafes, especially in "Easyeverything" cybercafe in the Ramblas, the thieves think it is really is 'Easyeverything' !!. Once people start tapping the keyboard and staring at the screen they can not also look at their possessions.

The thieves are often quite blatent in Barcelona, if they get seen they are not that bothered, they just drop the bag and say 'wasn't me' and walk slowly off. If a thief of say 20 years old, with 2 friends, has your bag or wallet and is walking away with it are you willing to do anything about it ! Probably not, so it is best to keep your valuables in a protected pocket, such as a front trouser pocket or traveller's neck wallet, and have firm hold of your bag.

It is common to wear small rucksacks, daysacks, on the front of the body and not on the back; this avoids unseen thieves helping themselves behind your back.

Take special care when watching street performers since thieves like to rob peoples' back pockets or backpacks while watching the show.

If you put down a a bag (like a day rucksack) then you should put one leg through the strap of the bag so that if anyone tries to take it then you will know. (theft of bags from under a chair at a cafe or bar is very common, tourists forget about them until it is time to leave). Never put a bag or jacket on the back of a chair.

Police statistics for reported thefts says that in summer time 50% of the thefts happen in the metro or on the beach !! (and also that 40% of the police take their holidays in August ).

The find the hidden ball trick is popular in the Rambla, but note that of course it is a con and you are playing against a small team and not just against the dealer/performer.

TV reporters that went with undercover police have talked to thieves on the city metro that the police know well, and one thief said openly that stealing was their job !, that they have been doing it for 10 years. This despite having been arrested and found guilty on many occasions, one person was 50 times ! (the associations for the police have repeatedly complained about the leniency of the legal system that processes the thieves that they repeatedly arrest).

Arrival and Departure days.

On arrival day you will especially look like a tourist, with your bags, probably the flight tag on your bag, no idea where to go and a street map in your hands. You are in the group of people the street lives like best, tourists !!.



In a car.
You should not leave anything visible in the car. And this applies to a car parked in many cities of Spain and in many other large European cities like Rome. If you leave some bags in your car it would be best to leave a male adult with the car or to leave the car in the supervised car park close to the flat. Leaving a few bags in a car on a street just for a few minutes is not a good idea anywhere in Cuitat Vella in Barcelona. A car can normally be left without problem if it is empty and visibly empty. Car theft is much less of a problem that theft of items from cars.
You should also be careful when travelling to and from Barcelona when stopping at places to eat or drink.

On motorways be very careful if anyone tries to get your car to stop. It is a common trick for thieves, many cases between Barcelona and France. One group of thieves arrested in Sept 2009, one person had a history of 40 similar thefts ! (this is very common that thieves are arrested/processed many times, many people think that the punishment system seems to let them back out to steal almost straight away).