Uncuffed

Uncuffed Issue 1 - PICKPOCKETING MAGIC FINGERS

CATCH THEM IF YOU CAN

Tips from a professional

Mapping out Cardiff ’s crime

POPULAR PICKS Lawbreakers in popular culture

intro

CASE FILES

W

elcome to the first issue of Uncuffed, a magazine with a focus on Cardiff ’s criminal underworld.

Uncuffed aims to shine a light on a widely unknown topic and to engage the public in discussion on criminal activity. The best way to tackle crime is to raise awareness and we are committed to helping our community.

In a seven-part monthly series we will focus on a single crime Uncuffed Magazine

Contents

in each issue that is affecting Cardiff.

This issue focuses on pickpocketing, a crime so common yet often overlooked. It is something that takes place in towns and cities across the world, yet goes largely unreported.

Within the magazine we map out the hotspots of crime in Cardiff, interview a professional pickpocketing magician and dissect the mind of a lawbreaker.

We hope you enjoy reading Uncuffed.

P. 3 Catch Them If

You Can P. 4 Magic Fingers P. 6 Blast From The

Past P. 7 Popular Picks

P. 8 Psychological

Profile

@UncuffedMag

Meet the Editors 6’0’’

6’0’’ 5’8’’

5’8’’ 5’4’’

5’4’’

5’0’’

5’0’’ 4’8’’ 4’4’’

4’8’’ 4’4’’

4’0’’

4’0’’ 3’8’’

3’8’’

3’4’’

3’4’’

Ryan Jones

Alessio perrone

21, Bodelwyddan

Liam turner

24, Milan

22, Pontypool

Jessica phillips

Crime most likely to commit:

Crime most likely to commit:

Crime most likely to commit:

Crime most likely to commit:

Defamation

Shoplifting

2

Treason

21, Swansea

Identity theft

Facts and Figures

Catch them If you can

Cardiff pickpocketing at a glance

BUTE PARK: PICKPOCKET FREE FOR 12 MONTHS

WINTER You are twice more likely to be pickpocketed In the winter than in the summer

72% IN CARDIFF’S

PLACES TO AVOID 23% of pickpocketing incidents took place in St Mary Street

Source: Police Wales. Data from October 2014 to September 2015

CENTRE

Cardiff and European cities

Cardiff ’s number of pickpockets compared to major European cities in the space of 12 months

Cardiff

London

Naples

Barcelona

797

8,250

32,000

115,000

97.5% of Cardiff ’s pickpockets go

UNPUNISHED 3

Feature

Magic Fingers

The pickpocketing underworld’s tricks and techniques through the guidance of a professional magician

I

n Gloucestershire, a number of students know Richard Parsons – they came across him in a students’ fair. He begins by striking up a conversation. The next phase is to entertain by showing them a card trick or two. Then, as students giggle in amusement, Richard pulls their wallet out of his own pocket. They walk away bewildered with a lesson to be learnt.

Richard is a professional magician from Gloucestershire who specialises in pickpocketing. He says magic and pickpocketing aren’t much different: they use

4

similar tricks.

“It’s all about attention span and distraction,” he says. “Pickpockets are using the same techniques as magicians, but just for a criminal purpose. Like magicians, they manage people’s attention, and turning that into pickpocketing isn’t a big step away.”

Richard has worked with Gloucestershire police and Crime Stoppers to spread awareness about pickpocketing. He says the students always admitted that they didn’t realise how easy it could be to be pickpocketed.

Cardiff also has an issue with pickpocketing.

The city is thought to be one of the safest places in the UK, but over two pickpockets are reported everyday. And in the most cases (85%), the police can’t even identify a suspect, least of all charge them.

Richard offers insight into pickpockets’ mind and tricks.

known as a “stiff ”. Richard says he is wary of anyone walking towards him with a coat over their arm.

A bit like gambling

Top 5 strangest thefts in wales

While pickpocketing, Richard admits to experiencing a buzz, and suggests that criminals feel the same way.

A guide to gangs “It’s a difficult trap to get Pickpocketing is usually out of because it’s a bit like done in teams, with everyone gambling”, says Richard. “If assigned a separate role. Some you win a couple of times of those teams are so effective and you get the buzz and you that pickpocketing becomes know you can do it, you’re their profession. more likely to try again the “One person might be next day.” the blocker: “Sooner or later But despite the their job is you get caught” low conviction block people,” rate of pickpockets Richard explains. “Then in Cardiff, Richard claims, you’ve got the dip: a person “sooner or later you get who does the pickpocketing cuaght,” as it’s usually the and offloads to an accomplish same people pickpocketing. nearby as soon as he can.”

“I think the difficulty for the Richard also reveals some police is the budget here. And of the techniques used by it’s not really their fault,” he pickpockets. He says that says. “Taking somebody’s they often place something phone or wallet is not a major over their arm, such as a priority compared to some of newspaper or a coat, to hide the things that they’re dealing their other hand as they with. Prevention is always slowly intrude in someone’s better.” And that’s where he pocket. The technique is steps in.

5. Sheep A farm in North Wales has reported that £637,000 of sheep has been stolen.

4. Thirty-thousand bees The mystery of the missing bees continues as 30,000 bees were stolen from bee-keeper Katie Hayward in Anglesey.

3. Minion Statue A 3ft statue of a minion from the film Despicable Me was stolen during a Pembrokshire County Show.

2. Biscuits £20,000 worth of biscuits were stolen from factories in Cwmbran. Biscuits included Wagon Wheels and Jamie Dodgers.

1. Garden Lawn Pensioner Mair Ingman woke one morning in Wrexham to find a 90sqm of her articifical lawn missing.

Hands off Richard’s top tips to avoid being pickpocketed

Zip up!

Back pockets

Cover pins

Distance

Pickpockets are very opportunistic, so they’ll go for the easy target.

Girls put phones in their back pockets.

You don’t really want to do that.

If somebody sees your pin number, you’re more likely to be a target.

Gangs of pickpockets will usually hang around where there’s a certain crowd.

5

History

Blast from the Past In an era when women had no refuge within the law, one Welsh suffragette had an explosive response

I

following year she was the branch’s n the wake of suffragette martyr secretary. She travelled across Britain Emily Davison’s death at Epsom promoting female suffrage, sold the racecourse in 1913, the fight for Votes for Women newspaper and wrote a female enfranchisement in Wales was column for The Western Mail. She even only just beginning. Welsh women had invited Emmeline Pankhurst to speak at exhausted every avenue to gain the vote legally. But when the law refused to work Newport’s Temperance Hall.

Margaret began to with Welsh women, Welsh women refused “They were not seen as encourage women to smash windows, cut to work within the law. citizens, so they had On Newport’s to bring attention to telegraph wires and attack areas of male recreation.

Risca Road, Margaret their plight” She became known as Mackworth – later “The Welsh Boadicea”. Her biographer, Viscountess Rhondda (1883-1958) – Angela V. John said, “They were not seen walked the streets of her hometown, as citizens, so they had to bring attention approached a postbox and tried to blow to their plight. They attacked property, it up with a homemade bomb. Margaret but never attacked people.” was a Welsh suffragette, and had now By 1913, Margaret was imprisoned committed a crime for the cause. at Usk Gaol for the explosive device she Margaret came from attempted to detonate. She refused to a powerful and liberal let her husband pay the £10 fine for her family in Newport. She freedom, but was released after staging a debated political issues with five-day hunger strike. her father. Her mother was a Margaret’s notorious act of defiance member of the Central National became her lasting legacy. She proved Society for Women’s Suffrage. that Welsh women were not willing to In 1908 Margaret joined Newport’s Women’s Social and sit idly by in a man’s world, but were prepared to shape it.

Political Union (WSPU); by the

6

Culture

Popular picks

An investigation into pickpocketing in cinema, literature and video games

focus (2015)

Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Oliver Twist (1840s) Charles Dickens

This 2015 romantic comedy-drama centres around seasoned con-artist, Nicky Spurgeon (Will Smith) as he teaches Jess Barrett (Margot Robbie) the tricks of the trade. Her first test?

Picking a few pockets. The film is purely fictitious, but Robbie actually had to learn how to pickpocket for the role. So if the whole acting thing doesn’t work out, at least she will have something to fall back on.

Dickens’ timeless portrayal of a povertystricken orphan who gets swept up in the sordid side of London, is synonymous with pickpocketing. After the protagonist arrives in the city, he meets the Artful Dodger, the leader of a gang of child pickpockets. What ensues is the classic tale that we all know and love, and is the quintessential example of pickpocketing in literature.

The numerous film and TV adaptations of the tale stand testament to how it has been able to transcend the eras.

Assassin’s creed (2009) Ubisoft The long-running video game series sees the player take the role of fictional assassins during different periods in history.

The videogame allows for plenty of stabbing and shooting, plotting and scheming but it also gives players the ability to pickpocket. Whether you find yourself in revolutionary Paris, colonial Boston or industrial London, there are always plenty of pockets to pick.

7

identikit

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE An insider's look into the mind of pickpockets according to Consulting Psychologists Press

- Perceptive They are more likely to make decisions on the spot, because of something they perceive rather than based on rational judgements. This often leads to mistakes in judgement - Feeling Pickpockets don’t value routine task or administrative jobs. They place more importance on feeling than on critical thought - Intuitive Source: Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc

Their relation with the external world is based on intuition rather than on the senses - Extroverted Unlike other criminals, pickpockets tend to be very sociable and easy-going people

Don’t miss Uncuffed’s next issue

PROSTITUTION Out on 8 January 2016 Order or subscribe online

@UncuffedMag Uncuffed Magazine Uncuffed Magazine, Bute Building King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff

8