I'm not going to worry about it.If I can make it through the jungles of Ecuador,Paris,Barcelona and in and out of many of Mexico's tourist areas without problems I can get through this.I'll just use a money belt.
As far as the US I've never once been robbed and I've been to New York,Los Angeles many times.I guess you only hear the bad stories and it makes you be on edge.

I agree with all the Madrid residents about crime in Madrid versus a comparable U.S. City. They don't Shoot,Stab,Rape or beat you here.....They just want your wallet! This should not deter anyone from coming and visiting Madrid, I think most of our posts were more of a "Educated Warning" to take extra care with your valuables and wallets. Madrid is a great city and if you watch yourself and your belongings, you should have a great time.

It really is a true shame what happened to esq above and to all others who have had similar experiences.

I wonder what's MY problem? I'm always super prepared (psychologically) that THIS NEXT trip to Madrid will be the one where someone will lift my wallet (which is soft-sided and always carried in my front pocket) while waiting for the metro or walking down crowded streets and it hasn't happened YET! This last trip makes my 10th (I think - I can't believe I've actually lost count) and standing in a huge crowd, looking UP at the annual, singing Cortelandia display would've been the perfect time but no.

MOST of the time, but not always, I'm going somewhere or doing something with a Spaniard. I don't really think this makes a lot of difference in the minds of the thieves but it might make them think twice. I know some Spaniards too whom have had their wallets taken or their mopeds stolen.

Not sure what I can say which hasn't already been said by someone above or before. Things happen - not to everyone, but they do happen. We can only attempt to minimize the risk but that's not to say we shouldn't experience life because of potential dangers. If I felt that way I never would've traveled through Perú where I spent 2 of the most wonderful weeks of my life. Of Perú, I'd read countless similiar stories about the dangers of pickpockets, kidnapping, machine-gun-toting policemen on every corner, etcetera, and I didn't have a single incident nor did I ever feel in danger of any kind.

En fin, be cautious but let's not be too fearful in life because it's the fear which controls us more than anything else.

Saludos, MadridMan

Being with a spaniard may make the difference MM

I'm 26 years-old and I have been living in Madrid for all my life. I've never been stolen nor even menaced with a knife or fire arm. I've never seen a robbery with a fire arm indeed. Most of my friends and family haven't been stolen either-

Living in a certain city gives yourself a certain natural sense of warning in that same city. Tourists are a preferred target because they are easily identifiable, they wear valuable objects and doesn't have that natural sense of warning to distinguish danger.

That is, the more you blend with locals, the safer you will be (and the better you will eat, the more you will know our culture,...).

Fernando

I'll just reiterate some stuff that everyone here has said. Although it's unfortunate that some of you have had bad experiences in Madrid, please don't let it ruin your view of the city. I've travelled all over Europe (including some pretty sketchy areas of Eastern Europe) and have never had an issue anywhere. However, I've had my purse stolen in Chicago (a city that I know like the back of my hand). I've also had friends that were robbed at knife-point in Milwaukee (a pretty small town compared to Madrid). Bottom line is that as long as you are aware of your surroundings and don't openly flaunt the fact that you're a tourist, you should be fine. My biggest suggestion that has always kind of been my mantra when travelling is to look at your map/guidebook/etc. before you leave your hostal/hotel for the day so that you have a general idea of where you are going and how to get there. And if you do have to pull out your map, do it discretely...don't go walking down the street with your nose buried deep in it, talking loudly about how you can't find a certain museo or parque. And never, ever carry all your money, credit cards, etc. with you. Take one card and/or enough cash for what you're planning to do for the day, and leave everything else in a hotel safe or locked suitcase, or carry it in your money belt.

Madridman,

I take the same precautions that you mention and then some. And unlike you, I always have my back to the wall when watching some spectacle, and have never been pick-pocketed or scammed by my own greed. But when the "police" come up to you and ask questions, I've never thought of blowing them off. Because of where I live, even Detroit, I haven't developed the cynicism that makes me distrust law enforcement. Excuuuuuuse my naivite.

I get the impression, when reading some posts here, that some feel that people who are stolen from are somehow responsible. Sorry if I don't look or speak Spannish well. Believe it or not, there was a time when this didn't matter.

And it's not fear that has dwindled my enthusiam for Spain. Losing money doesn't scare me so much. In the U.S., I can always make more. I'd just rather visit somewhere that isn't crawling with people who think they have a right to my possessions, because the law enforcement also feel that way and let them get away with it. I go on vacation to relax, not to be annoyed by criminals.

Give me those days when the Guadia was on every corner with machine guns. Then Spain was special.

Gazpacho, there is only one responsibility when someone is robbed or scammed: to the robber/scammer.

But the thing is that no matter how much police or how hard the laws are, there will always be people who rob/steal/scam. If someone disguises as a policeman and/or identifies himself as one, what can spanish police/spaniards do? Of course when these people is seen by true policemen or by a spaniard who suspect on them they are imprisoned.

For me, as a spaniard, it is a shame to hear of these things, but I think that no matter what I do, these things will always exist in a certain degree. What we can do in this board is give recommendations so people is warned before it is too late...

I was in the States for a month, and while I was there I was yelled by a policeman, I saw how policemen captured a suspect menacing him with a fire arm and almost driving on a pedestrian, and a group of policemen almost taking a poor roller who didn't know a street was closed. I had never seen such things in Spain, but they impressed me because I was not used to the police to behave in such way. In Spain policemen are not allowed by law to show their weapons unless they have been aimed by a fire arm, or if their lives or someone else's live is at risk.

Fernando

MM I used to think I was street smart. I grew up in nyc. I went to h.s. in brooklyn. I still got my passport stolen from my pocket during Semana Santa. This was in a crowd that was squeezed full of people. When I went to the police I filed a denuncia and the showed me to a room full of passports, wallets and bags. I saw passports from all over the world. These guys are good. It got the point where some of the girls in my program stopped carrying bags. They caried money in a little purse that they carried between their bosoms. But that was the only problem I had in spain.

I recognized myself from the events ESQ. described at Madrid’s Barajas airport. I had my traveling case, containing medications & toiletries, stolen right from under my nose at the airport ( no, I am not John Wayne stupid).

The worst part, though, was the indifference shown by Spanish police and personnel at the airport. I went to the airport “comisaria” (police station) to complain, as directed by unsympathetic airport personnel. I was told that there was a 3 – 4 hour wait to take my “declaracion”. I had to leave without even reporting the theft to the authorities! Besides, really, how hard can it be to catch these crooks at an airport?

Another friend had his backpack stolen at a Madrid park the year before, in broad daylight, only to be told by a police officer not to give chase, as it could be dangerous.

For whatever reason, Madrid has traditionally seemed to have a larger number of (admittedly) non-violent bandits than cities of comparable size and sophistication, even during Francos’s iron-fisted rule and going back to its bandit caves.

On the airplane back, I read with morbid glee that the Madrid apartment of Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos had been cleaned out by the crooks while the minister went out to eat lunch. At least they don’t show any favoritism!

To be honest one of the reasons my wifeand I can`t wait to get out of Spain has to do with the crime rate. We`ve been here (Barcelona) since October and have seen countless muggings (or hear them occurring at two in the morning in front of our building a tleast twice a week), pickpockets, and groups of young people menacing tourists in the streets/cibercafés. I happened to be at the US embassy and overheard a clerk tell a mugging victim that about 40 people a day go to the embassy for lost/stolen passports. that seems excessive to me, but a friend of mine who has been living here for 12 years says that that´s about right. I`ve seen so much that I almost don`t trust anyone here anymore. Supposedly it wasn`t bad years ago,but not anymore. I think its amazing that I felt safer living in paramilitarized zones in Colombia than I do here.
P.S. I don`t believe NY is as bad as it used to be. The 80´s were atrocious but I feel safer there as well.