Venice gangs using young children to steal from tourists
Police chiefs say gangs have turned away from using pregnant women – who can be prosecuted – and instead turned their attention on children.
But even when the youngsters are caught and sent to a community centre for the night, they escape within hours, according to Marco Agosti, the commander of the Venice local police.
Many of the pickpockets are known to police. Frustrated local activists catch them tailing their victims and later post their images on social media, as well as their names or nicknames such as 'Shakira', 'Mika' or 'Dodu'.
'I didn't feel a thing, they were invisible,' said one 50-year old British victim, who did not want to be named. She was targeted during the city's annual Carnevale festivities in February. 'I didn't realise my wallet was gone until I arrived at the railway station.'
Local and national Carabinieri police say they have apprehended more than 150 alleged thieves since the beginning of the year and filled 15 large bags of stolen bags and empty wallets at the town hall.
The victims are mostly foreigners and they hardly ever come to the hearing
Despite more than 800 police cameras conducting surveillance across the World Heritage listed city, police say they are hamstrung by legal loopholes that allow criminal gangs to exploit the 'baby borseggiatori' (or baby pickpockets) as well as the transient nature of their crimes.
'Pickpocketing is only actionable on a party's complaint and if the robbed person does not show up for trial, the complaint is thrown out,' Gianni Frazoi, the deputy commander of Venice police, told newspaper Corriere della Sera.
'The victims are mostly foreigners and they hardly ever come to the hearing. And so there are no trials and no convictions.'
Venice police said 41 people had been caught pickpocketing or arrested between January and May this year but there had been more arrests in June and July. In the first two weeks of May, police arrested 11 pickpockets.
All were minors but five could not be prosecuted under Italian law because they were under the age of 14.
Commandant Agostini rejected suggestions Venice was any worse than Italy's other tourist hotspots such as Milan, Rome, Florence or Naples. But he did say it was sometimes difficult to get a conviction under Italian law, citing the recent arrest of an alleged Venetian burglar known as 'The Grasshopper' for leaping from one building to another and who has been in and out of jail for his alleged break-ins.
Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro is calling for an immediate change to the law and broader police powers.
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