reporting a mugging; friday night on powder house blvd

[boycrikey.livejournal.com]

hi all, I wanted to report another mugging on Powder House blvd late friday night / early saturday morning. $10 was stolen along with a purse, wallet and cell phones from two victims. the crime is under investigation at the moment and may or may not be linked to the other recent incidents in the area.

I wanted to post this to reiterate that Teele square is NOT an unsafe neighborhood, nor should we make it become that by avoiding it out of fear. as was said in an earlier post the goal is to make it unsafe for muggers, not for those of us who live and work there. the potential theft of a cell phone or driver's license is NOT worth sacrificing security and being afraid to go out in your own neighborhood at night. safety in numbers, be mindful of what you have on you, and consider a fake wallet to throw. these kids are NOT professionals in the least.

Comments

[elements.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who lives in DC in an area where he was told to expect to be mugged eventually. Sure enough, he was - and his decoy wallet saved his real wallet and other valuables. He ended up being featured on the local news for it (though then newspapers assumed he'd been a woman in their accounts cos, natch, only women are ever victims of anything).

How to do a decoy wallet:

Get a cheap wallet at a thrift shop or use an old one (one that's too worn for daily use but can still hold itself together is great). Put a few fake credit card type things in it - the kind of thing that *doesn't* have your name or any personal info but is like those fake cards you can get in the mail when you have credit card solicitations. Sacrifice a few dollars, and make sure they are visible when the wallet is folded (my friend actually taped his to the wallet so that the edges of the bills would stick out a bit). Consider other cheap and non-personal touches that could make the wallet feel, weigh, and look legit.

Carry this wallet in a more visible place than your real one. If you're mugged, act like you are giving in, and toss the wallet to the ground - ideally in a direction that makes the mugger have to choose between pursuing you or grabbing your wallet - and run like heck.

[whaler.livejournal.com]

This is a really good idea, I'm going to do this with an old wallet :)

[whaler.livejournal.com]

heck I might even carry my old motorola so I don't end up losing my iphone.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I had one of these for years and need to replace it. Thanks for the reminder.

Also, when I upgrade my Blackberry I will keep my old one for this same purpose.

[bwilder.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this sane post about crime in our neighborhood. The other post has been stuck in my craw for days.

Too bad that the criminals may be reading this....

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Damn shame...

Re: Too bad that the criminals may be reading this....

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Maybe the criminals is you!

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Maybe the criminals is you! <insert shifty eyes ... >

Re: Too bad that the criminals may be reading this....

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I did kill some mice, recently.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Is this a Tufts announcement? I was up there on Sunday and saw a few notices taped to walls that looked similar. Nothing online at the usual place, though... http://inside.tufts.edu/announce/index.php?t=all

[boycrikey.livejournal.com]

Tufts police were on site with the Somerville police after the 911 call. They have the same information as the SPD, but I don't know what they do with it.

[simonbillenness.livejournal.com]

And I'm the guy from DC who used the fake wallet. Story here:
http://simonbillenness.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-was-mugged-yesterday.html