Guestpost by Justyna Anna Pezik.
My camera was stolen from me in Placa de Sant Agusti Vell in Barcelona at 17.00hrs on April 2nd, 2012.
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| All above photos © by Justyna Pezik | ||||
I was taking shots of street art in the area. I was absolutely amazed by the creativity of Barcelona’s street artists.
Suddenly someone grabbed my camera and pulled it out of my hand with huge force… I’m not used to men attacking me, so things slow down and reality went kind of out of control. The very moment I realised those guys had grabbed my camera, they were already running away with it.
Digital SLR Sony A550
I ran after them, I was shouting at them and I shouted at all the people who were in front of them at Carrer d’En Serra Xic, but unfortunately no one was brave enough to catch them. They ran into a block of flats at Carrer de Llastics. I knew which block they had entered. There were two taxi drivers outside of the block. They called the police.
A police woman arrived after seven or eight minutes, then a policeman, but they said they could not search the block of flats and asked me for the identification number of my camera. I asked if this was all they needed to allow them search the flats. I was sarcastic because how on earth could I have the number? I was not expecting anyone to steal my camera from me!
Anyway, since I didn’t have it, they couldn’t make a report and they told me I could do it really quickly at the police station. The police station report was another thing, and I had a long discussion before I got the police to take the report.
I am extremely disappointed. No one helped to catch them, especially those two big taxi drivers. I am still disappointed that all they cared about were their own asses.
Location of the Incident
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It´s a shame your camera was stolen. However, to say, “I am still disappointed that all they cared about were their own asses.” is pretty harsh. The cab drivers DID call the police for you.
I´d never expect someone to attack a thief who had stolen a material item away from me.
It´s not worth anyone getting hurt over or getting in trouble with the law all over a camera, no matter how much you paid for it.
Totally agree
well I actually asked them to call the police. They looked like two helpless guys but they were standing on the way of those two running guys and it was very easy to trip them becasue the street was narrow. I know I would do.
What a dreadful experience. These thieves seem to be getting more brazen by the day.
There is a (small) chance that you can trace and recover your camera. If you have photos taken with it on your computer, open any one of them using Windows Photo Gallery. Go to File > Properties > Details. You will find the camera’s serial number there. Then go to http://www.stolencamerafinder.com/ and enter the number in the box. If anyone ever uploads a photo taken with the same camera to the web, you will be notified. With any luck, it will be on a traceable site such as a Facebook page, whereupon the police can take action.
Good luck!
thank you. I will check it out. I had no idea about website.
Sorry to say it… but I used to live on Serra xic and these things happen every day
if so, would it be useful to install cameras around there? It is such a beautiful part of Barcelona but if this is what is happening on daily basis maybe it is worth to display information about this.
Sadly, the Mayor of Barcelona speaks about getting tourists to help Spains economy, but as I experienced myself, the police/system in Barcelona/Spain does not do anything to help tourism.
Lessons learnt, we must spend our hard earned cash in a country that doesn’t encourage thieves. Shame, because Barcelona has so many other things going for it.
the Police handle things strangly. It has been my first time dealing with police ever in my life … so I have no experience and I cannot compare it to others but I can tell they were doing everything so I do not make official report. I was determined but I know a lot of people would resign so I also can say for sure that it looked like police is adviced as few reports as possible to keep the number down :-(
Reall sorry! Thank you for sharing. I heard it is city of pickpocets. I am going soon and will not go to this area.
There are more houses there and in fact I think it´s since a year worse in that area than in Raval. I see a robbery there multiple times per day, that´s also why people don´t react anymore and also the thieves threaten people that do try to stop them and are living in that area. I even know 2 shop owners on Carders that have been beaten with a bat on their head from behind just after they closed their shop after stopping a thief that day and getting the police involved.