I won't pretend to respond on behalf of moonrakerz, but as (s)he had supported my own comments and opinions on this matter, I have no hesitation into responding to you, flamingo.
Firstly, I want to express sympathy to all victims who have incurred losses as a consequence of that criminal's thefts of personal property on trains.
Secondly, I want to assure you that I fully accept your personal evidence, plus any other reported or anecdotal evidence you have of theft (whether it is actual, prosecuted or merely suspected) during rail travel.
However, there are two further factors for which I would need persuasive evidence before changing my view (as posted above). And they are both questions of proportion.
First, what is the proportionate degree of property theft on the railways (incurred by passengers while on board) in comparison to property theft in all circumstances? [No, I don't know the answer either, but my hunch is that thefts are so widespread that they are occurring in all manner of contexts - while at home, at work, at leisure, at cultural activities and in travel (incl pick pocketing) and during other transactions (incl identity theft), that evidence of one, welcome, prosecution on the railways doesn't help us with the question of proportionality. For all we know, there's more theft of propert from homes while the owners are on trains than there is from folks while they are on trains!.]
Second (and this was the point I, and I think moonrakerz made), how can we put the fear of property loss in an appropriate context to other fears?
The personal experience of just you and I are hardly statistically applicable across all rail travel, but perhaps we can use our experience to help us to look at the bigger picture (where useful evidence might be available - though maybe not!). Lets look at that broader context of hazards and risks which do apply to us all - and which will be statistically available to us? You'll have learned that I don't spend much money nor much anxiety on my possessions (much as I love them!); and that there are people and issues that I care about more.
Since I made my post above about people being more concerned about buying gadgets which help them retain ownership of other gadgets and property than they are about more vital life skills, I will add that in those few months I have incurred losses from two criminal thefts and been adjacent to one persons whose heart stopped beating. I also left my bag unattended on my EC train home tonight while I went to eat.
I make real choices that matter - and stand by my earlier post - my property can be stolen, people's hearts can be assisted to resume beating.
I have prioritised both of those, and its not been difficult.
Can you guess how I'm going to conclude this line of thought? . . .
People who have had property stolen might, and might not, die soon.
Dead people don't care about their stolen bags.
Its been a very easy choice of priority
)
hock:
