In Rome and Buenos Aires, it's way more than just tourists who are the targets of pickpockets. Lots of locals get hit too.
Originally Posted by
Perche
Not correct. You are far more likely to get pickpocketed in a major city in the USA than in Italy.
In Italy and elsewhere, thieves have made off with US Secret Service protectees' personal belongings even as the thefts were being done in the presence of the US Secret Service personal security detail assigned to the protectees. Those are just facts.
Getting pick-pocketed in Rome or Florence is not less likely than to get pickpocketed in Washington, DC, or Salt Lake City. There are reasons that thieving patterns in major US cities are different than thieving patterns in major Italian cities, and you even indicate such by bringing up armed robbery using guns in the US. But the issue is about pickpockets using sleight of hand rather than weapons.
That pickpocketing in major Italian cities is a more common problem than in major US cities does not mean Italy is more dangerous than the US. The US has far more serious crime problems than Italy, as crime patterns and risks related to such are not the same in major US cities as in major Italian cities. There are multiple reasons for the differences, but when it comes to pickpockets, some cities in Italy have dens of such thieves in a way that say Washington, DC, and SLC do not. But pickpocketing problems are definitely not unique to Italy. And there are far greater dangers than pickpocketing, even as those dangers tend to be greater in the US than in Italy.