Distract, snatch and dash
After purse snatchings, experts give tips to deter thieves
Purse snatchings are not the most serious of crimes, but it’s seriously inconvenient for the victims who typically lose their money, identification and credit cards.
Recent incidents in South Florida and elsewhere show that purses or their contents can be long gone before the crime — either calculated or of opportunity — is noticed.
There was a heavy Boca Raton police presence Wednesday in the Palmetto Park Square shopping plaza in the 1200 block of West Palmetto Park Road after someone grabbed a shopper’s purse while she was loading groceries in a car.
That late afternoon crime was obvious and police were even able to get a slight description of the thief and the car he used to get away. Police think the same man grabbed a purse from another shopper in the same Publix parking lot a week earlier.
It was a less-obvious snatching that happened in Central Florida at an Ormond Beach Panera Bread restaurant Feb. 7 when an unsuspecting woman’s purse was grabbed from the back of her chair.
Surveillance video released by police shows that the misdeed was fast and smooth.
The victim didn’t notice it — nor did her companion at the other side of the table who was facing the purse snatchers who brushed by — a man and a woman who appeared to be going to the nearby restrooms.
When the two left the restrooms, investigators think the stolen purse was inside the man’s backpack.
“This is how quickly you can become a victim,” Ormond Beach police said in a Facebook posting.
Investigators say a third person was likely involved.
Surveillance images showed a woman using credit cards stolen from the victim’s
purse of a woman to make $4,000 in purchases from a Daytona Beach Best Buy, police told WKMG-Ch. 6.
A short time later, another $1,200 was charged at a Macy’s store, police told the station — suggesting the crooks were experienced and calculating.
“This is not their first time,” Ormond Beach Office Keith Walker told the station.
Similarly, investigators in Broward think it was a practiced pair of thieves who got away with a Publix shopper’s wallet on Jan. 10, something that wasn’t discovered until she was in the checkout line.
Surveillance video in that case showed one man chatting up the woman as she picked apples in the produce aisle while his accomplice furtively grabbed her wallet from the purse in her shopping cart.
The annual FBI crime report shows there are typically more than 20,000 purse snatchings in the U.S. each year.
To help deter such crimes, experts suggest:
■ Leave your purse home when possible and carry necessary items safely tucked in a pocket.
■ Carry only necessary items and keep another copy of credit card information to note if your purse is stolen.
■ Walk in busy, well lit areas.
■ Hold your purse tightly, close to your body.
■ Close vehicle doors when gassing up and don’t leave your purse on the seat.
■ Don’t hang purses from the backs of chairs.