Foto: chris8800
On Friday, we published an exclusive story entitled “Tourist catches thief… tourist thrown in jail,” which was much commented upon.
It was a lengthy piece by our guest contributor, Kristina, and in the midst of the article was a component we feel was overlooked.
The article detailed an incident in which a tourist who found himself being robbed was able to avoid the robbery and in so doing catch the thief. When the police arrived he was arrested for his act, as the thief hadn’t successfully stolen anything, and therefore there was no reason for the tourist to have attempted to apprehend the thief. This is how things work in Barcelona. The tourist was put in a jail cell for the night.
We’ll let Kristina narrate the next piece of the story:
The following morning, after spending the entire night locked in a jail cell, the visitor was released, and the police staff gave him back his wallet and his phone and told him he was free to go. Tired and upset, he headed to the ATM to withdraw some money for his cab ride back to the hotel. After two failed attempts, he called his bank only to find out that around 5:00am there had been multiple attempts at making a purchase of €2,000 with his card – a time when he was soundly locked up in police custody. Luckily, the bank had blocked the card, and the money was not taken.
So now our tourists will realise that it’s not just the pickpockets they need to watch out for, it’s the police as well?
How sad it is that in this city there is no one the people can turn to for safety? There is no one to trust, or expect to help in a time of need. Things need to change in Barcelona. I’ve often told tourists that it’s a waste of their time to involve the police if they know who the robber is, or in a lucky situation, if they have caught the person. If you need to file a police report for insurance, fine, but that should be the extent of police involvement. If you’ve caught the thief, just get your stuff back and let them go. This seems absurd to anyone from any place other than Barcelona, but the truth is, the police here aren’t your friends. If you involve them, you’re looking to ruin your holiday even more, and maybe even be robbed again.
Does anyone have any additional observations about this?
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Unfortunately I imagine the victim has left the country and has no intention of ever returning. The stories on this site give ample evidence of the futility of trying to go up against the police. However, I’ve just been reading up on the Hoja de reclamaciones (official complaint form), which should be available in police stations. According to this link – http://www.eyeonspain.com/forums/posts-long-14347.aspx – it can be very effective in obtaining a better attitude from the police. This link – http://www.spainexpat.com/spain/information/hojas-de-reclamaciones-official-consumer-complaint-forms/ provides more detailed information on how it works. Perhaps RiB should publicise this option? Does anyone have any experience of using it, especially against the police?
While I think that anything is possible in this city, the policeman would have to be really, really stupid to do something like that. I think there must be another explanation.
@Dave: I think that what RiB wants to point out is that, if this story is in fact accurate, there has been an attempted robbery by the Police forces themselves, which is, obviously, an extremely serious accusation… it goes way over the Hoja de Reclamaciones. I never had such an experience so I can´t really add to the story. But when I first read this story, I was also perplexed at attempted robbery and what I don´t understand is why the author/victim didn´t go any further into it… specially after the “treatment” he got and the values involved in the attempt. My opinion, however, is that it would take one dumb ass policeman to do such a thing since everything gets recorded and therefore is very easy to prove.
It could well be possible that someone attempted to make a purchase on this card at that time, but whilst everyone saying it must be someone connected to the police doing this, that could just be a co-incidental occurrence; or the one that’s running through my head, is that it didn’t happen at all. Without sticking up for the police here, as it could be a bent officer, or the police giving this person ‘payback’ for something we don’t know, or a cloned card that was coincidentally used at the same time as the arrest, or the card being in possession of a unknown third party at the time, the only thing that supports this is some words by someone who is annoyed with the police because they were arrested for doing something which they thought was right. Without evidence to support the action on the card being used/blocked, this seems like a case of someone trying to get one back for thinking they have been ‘wronged’, much in the same way as a lot of folk would cry for wrongful arrest, et al. There’s too much convenience and ‘safe alibis’ in this not to seem suspicious.
Credit cards are commonly “skimmed” for the data embedded in the magnetic stripe. New cards are then made with that data, and used quickly to purchase expensive items. While it’s possible that the tourist’s actual, original card was used, it could also have been that he card had been skimmed earlier in the day at a shop or restaurant. One thing that worked right in this story is that the charge did not go through, thanks to the credit card company’s “intelligent” software, probably.
Well…. I also hear stories going round the streets that policemen are offering Iphones for sale to people…. It´s all possible I guess.
On Sant Jordi my home was broken into. The door crowbared in. They stole all of my money, but not electronics. The police man was very professional, but the police woman he was with was not, while he was taking notes, she was asking me questions. Such as where I kept my jewlery that wasnt robbed, and about why I didnt have an alarm on my house, and what I will do with my home when I move. Like an idiot I was shaken up and responding to her questions… How shady. :/
While they were at my home a call was recieved that another home had been broken into and 200,000 Euros of jewelry had been stolen, again the man took it seriously, and the woman went on to comment how that was a lie and who could own 200,000 euros of jewelry.
It would be great to be able to report her to someone, anyone, but I am sure the police here cover there own.