Nowhere is safe...

The "Why Italy?" thread got me thinking, and reminded me of an incident last year.

I live in Switzerland, considered one of the safer places in Europe. People walk around wearing expensive watches and jewelery all of the time. I live in a large town / small city which has doubled in population in the last 20 years (currently 38k inhabitants).

I would not say there are any "bad" areas. There is no gang violence like in Vevey, Lausanne or Geneva. Maybe the train station here qualifies as it is the local hangout for drug dealers, their clients, etc. Police are often present recently.

However, last summer, my brother and I went walking around taking some photos, I had my D90 with the battery grip.

We stopped at a local tiny supermarket to get a bottle of water in what is considered a good part of town. As I was about to start to take a drink, my brother shouts at me to watch out. I stopped and look around to see someone walking straight at me, eyes fixed on my camera. He was not 20 meters away, I retreated around the corner of the building with my brother. The guy likely though better than to try to take on two people for a camera (little did he know the worth, to the uninitiated it likely looks like a big, expensive piece of kit, when in reality it is worth maybe 200 bottle caps at most).

I have since been reading that incidents of on-the-street scams and overly agressive beggars (thieves) are increasing in the larger cities (Züric, Bern, Lausanne). So, indeed not everywhere is safe, and one should always keep their wits about them no matter where they are, and not matter what time of the day.

Hello, Hector.

I ditched my Nikon camera strap over 20 years ago for a plain black one, and all of the logos on my Canon and Nikon gear are taped over with black PVC electrical tape, mainly to blend in for street photography. Bad actors usually don't approach me, as I have many facial scars from a bad traffic accident in my teens. No kidding.

Wearing socks (listen up, Yanks) with sandals will also identify you as a target. For foreign travel, remove all baggage labels at the reclaim carousel... before you leave the airport.

Thanks for your reply. I never used the Nikon neck strap, can't stand them. Instead, I use a wrist strap, makes it a lot easier to not drop the camera. Nothing special, just a standard black only Peak Design Cuff.

I like the idea of taping over the logo, I might do that next time I go out near the less welcoming parts of town. I have now taken to putting the camera in a Tenba BYOB inside my old, almost falling apart backpack from Aldi so as not to attract attention. I usually do this long before getting anywhere near the "bad" part of town (which is a joke compared to bad parts of major cities I have visited in the past).

I'm not wearing an expensive watch or anything either. Low key is the way to go.

I am not a small person either, neither is my brother, so likely the guy was desperate for a fix.

Socks with sandals... hehe, never!

I think that would be applicable to any large city in the world.

The basic philosophy I use regarding personal security for my wife and I when travelling is don't draw unnecessary attention to ourselves. Though that's easier said than done sometimes and so common sense plays a big part as well.

Indeed, it is, but I do not live in a large city, not by anyone's standard. Switzerland used to be an exception, I could leave my car unlocked overnight 20 years ago, not the case now. Now you have the people who leave the "we buy any car in any condition" cards in the windows, who at the same time are checking the doors to take advantage of any unlocked opportunity. And the police drive around in cars, not interested in "petty" crime. Times, they are a'changing...

Time to re-sharpen the skills I learned as a young lad, keep your wits about you...

Yes, it's certainly a very different world we live in now compared to only 40 or 50 years ago.