Pickpocket payoff

“I think you have something of mine. I’m gonna give you a choice,” the victim said to the pickpocket. “You can give me my wallet and I’ll forgive you, and even pay for your groceries,” or she’d call police.

The red-faced, red-handed pickpocket handed back her wallet, and the victim, Jessica Eaves, from Guthrie, Oklahoma, paid $27 for his groceries.

She calls it compassion. I call it positive reinforcement of criminal behavior.

“What I did that day should be the norm,” Jessica said.

I’m not so sure about that. Poor and hungry are not acceptable excuses for theft. I’ve interviewed hundreds of pickpockets and they all have excuses and sob stories at the ready. They all readily hand over the loot when confronted. A little embarrassment is way better than another arrest. They’re criminals. They lie.

On the other hand, I know many people who struggle to make ends meet. Only a small fraction of them resort to thievery. Stealing is not a solution to out-of-money.

Jessica is naive. A pickpocket payoff made her feel like a savior, but most likely, the thief will go on to victimize others. That’s what pickpockets do. They live on the hard-earned cash of people who work for their money. They steal until they’re arrested, and then they’re out of business for a few days or weeks.

Take “JD,” an American pickpocket. He was well-bred, but fell in with the wrong people. When he learned how easy it was to take money, he couldn’t imagine working for it. “I had good schooling. I chose my negative role. My grandfather was a minister of a Baptist church. He built it from his hands up so I was brought up with Christianity. One of my brothers has been in the military over 27 years, he’s a technician.”

JD “works” a town for a couple of weeks, and when the police start to catch on, he moves on to another town. That’s his M.O.

And when he’s caught red-handed? “You just give it back; sometimes literally hand it back, depends on the situation. So many times I’ve handed people their money and their wallet right back to them, you know, to keep them from making a big commotion. ‘Hey, you got my wallet, you got my money.’ ‘Here, sir, excuse me.’ And just get away from them. And people, now that they got their property back, they don’t be too concerned about trying to hold you. So that’s your exit to get away.”

Perhaps the man who stole Jessica’s wallet was special. Maybe it was the first time he’d ever stolen. Hopefully, Jessica changed his life.

I have my doubts. I certainly believe in compassion. But I do not believe in rewarding criminal behavior. And that’s what Jessica Eaves did.

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