POCKETS PICKED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 300, 20 December 1938, Page 12

POCKETS PICKED.

THIEVES AT WORK. SOME HEAVY LOSSES. AUCKLANDERS WARNED. "Dippers," by which name pickpockets are known to the police, arc operating in Auckland, and in the last few days several cases of unsuspecting citizens being relieved of their wallets have been reported. This type of crime has not been prevalent in Auckland during the last few holiday seasons. Several years ago pickpockets from Australia were in the habit of arriving here to work the races and the crowds in the city, but they were either caught or discovered before they had time to commence operations, and, heeding the advice ot the police, returned to Australia. These "dippers" were professionals, most of whom were known*to Mr. Alf. Hammond, who was chief detective in Auckland at the time. On one occasion Mr,. Hammond, while at the iaces, caught, a whole gang of tliern, and caused then to return by the next available steamer. ' There is no reason to believe that the pickpockets operating in Auckland at present are experts from across the Tasman, yet they are clever thieves who succeed in jostling persons in crowds, either in/a.queue, ot' in-a shop, .bus or tram, to * snatch a wallet from a hip picket: Already thefts of .wallots containing, sums up to . £10 havo been made from liip pockets.— : ' Boy ' Scout's >Loss. v On Sunday evening na suspect was arrested on a charge of flheft from the person, and yesterday he appeared in the Police Court and was remanded .on a charge of stealing a wallet containing £1 & The latest victim was a New Zealand boy scout who sails to-day by the Awatea to attend the big scout jamboree in Australia. While using a public telephone outside the post office at 11 o'clock this morning, someone robbed him of his wallet containing £1. 'The wallet was left in a side pocket of his overcoat. It was there when he started the telephone conversation, but when he had finished lie discovered that the wallet had been stolen. . •«- On Saturday a man who was standing on- the rear platform or a car bound from the city to Reinuera shortly after noon had his pocket picked, the thief getting away with hjs wallet containing £9. The victim did not discover his loss until later in the afternoon, when someone telephoned him to announce that his wallet, containing papers and a driving license, but no. money, had been found between the tram lines at th'e foot of Parnell Rise. Last Friday evening during the storm two women were robbed of their purses from handbags .while taking shelter under a verandah in a crowd. Pocket pickjng is usually carried out in a crowd or, a queue, and often the "dippers" work in pairs, the thief handing the wallet or purse to his accomplice, who' quickly extracts the money and rapidly disposes of the cn&ily identifiable container. The public should beware of any man who appears in a crowd and uses a newspaper. This is a favourite trick employed by pickpockets. The opened newspaper, which he pretends he is reading, is merely used to cover up his movements as he dips his hand into a pocket to withdraw the wallet." People would be well advised not to carry 'their money or wallet in hip o.r side pockets. - ~