Post-lockdown crime spree is here

As Spanish society emerges from lockdown, the criminals are venturing out, too, said Jennifer Creaser. Last year, Barcelona was “in the midst of a crime wave,” with “an alarming rise in street robberies” of tourists. A visiting South Korean government official was even killed in a vicious mugging. Coronavirus travel bans and warnings have emptied the city of tourists, and so criminal gangs are now targeting Spaniards. Robbers are picking on elderly people and women, stealing jewelry, cellphones, and wallets. These pickpockets are professionals, repeat offenders well known to the police. Yet because of a quirk of Spanish law, they can’t be locked up. Stealing

something worth less than $475 is a misdemeanor that brings only a small fine, and even multiple offenses don’t rise to the level of a crime. That’s why “gangs of pickpockets appear so brazen, often working the same beat with no need to even hide themselves.” Before the pandemic, violent muggers also routinely evaded conviction because their tourist victims often flew home before a trial could begin, and so they couldn’t identify their attacker in person as required by the law. Now that the victims are locals, they can attend trials and help ensure their attackers are put away. By the time tourists return to Barcelona en masse, we hope “the streets will be safer.”