Here is what I saw while visiting Edinburgh Scotland.
I was walking down a very crowded sidewalk on a main street in the center of Edinburgh.
We were elbow to elbow, just walking along with the flow of all the other people.
A very fit young man, about 17 or 18 years old, was picking his way through the crowd, coming toward us in the opposite direction.
He was moving toward us at a very fast walking rate.
Dodging, side stepping and dancing through the crowd as he moved against the main flow of pedestrians on the sidewalk.
He bumped head on into the lady just in front of me, almost knocking her back into me.
During this distraction, he grabbed her purse and continued quickly on his way against the flow of the crowd I was in.
As he came by me there was a tug-of-war between him and the lady over the purse.
He had the purse....she had a firm grip on the strap.
To keep from being pulled off her feet by this young thug, as they fought over possession of the purse, she released her hold on the strap.
He proceeded to run through the crowd, quickly rounded a nearby corner and jumped on a waiting motorcycle, which was parked at the curb with the motor running.
By the time I figured out what had just happened, and got to the corner; the bike, the purse and the thief were long gone!
The whole thing took about 10 seconds!

Here is my story.
Years ago I had some rental property. The tenants moved out in a rush one night owing me a good sum in back rent. While cleaning out the place, after they left, I found a box full of Hotel and Motel keys; about 50 in all. You know, the type with a large plastic fob attached with the room number and address embossed on it. I turned the box over to the police and asked them what was going on. They said the guy was no doubt renting rooms and not returning the keys so he could steal from future occupants.
This gave him the wherewith all to enter these rooms at any time in the future; to steal items. If it was occupied when he entered, he would simply apologize profusely to the occupants; say something disparaging about the dumb front desk clerk giving him the wrong key and leave. If the room was not occupied, he could pick up anything he wanted; locking the door on his way out. In some cases he might watch the place until the occupants left, then enter the room and steal what ever he wanted.
It seems we live in perilous times.