25.07.2023 - 16:57 / nytimes.com
You probably don’t know Monica Poli’s face, but you might recognize her voice. Deep, booming and coming from your phone during a late-night TikTok scroll.
“Attenzione, borseggiatrici! Attenzione, pickpocket!”
Ms. Poli, 57, who lives in Venice, has become prominent on social media for patrolling the streets of her hometown, calling out would-be pickpockets to tourists.
She is part of a group known as the Cittadini Non Distratti — the undistracted citizens — who wander the city shouting at people whom they believe to be thieves plucking wallets, passports and other items from the pockets of passers-by.
Sometimes Ms. Poli and her fellow amateur watchdogs will report these suspected pickpockets to the police. In 2019, The Economist reported that the group was responsible for a third of all pickpocket arrests made in Venice.
The civilian group has been active for decades but only recently joined TikTok and Instagram, where hundreds of thousands of people now follow along, thanks in large part to Ms. Poli’s unmistakable voice. Her shouts of “Attenzione, borseggiatrici! Attenzione, pickpocket!” have become a meme. (She has even been remixed, her voice front and center in a dance track.)
In a typical video, Ms. Poli films a crowded area, like the city’s train station. Then she begins shouting. In some clips, the suspected pickpockets can be seen fleeing from her lens. Others who have been seemingly caught in the act will hold up bags or hats to hide their faces.
If you’re watching these videos with headphones, you’ll want to turn the volume down: Ms. Poli has to be loud enough to get the attention of not only the supposed wrongdoers, but also tourists.
In a recent interview, Ms. Poli, a lifelong Venetian, discussed her sudden brush with internet fame and why she’s still out roaming the city’s streets after all these years. The conversation has been edited and condensed.
We are a group of about 50 persons. The first time we caught a pickpocket was in Venice about 30 years ago. I think it’s the first group in Italy. The oldest.
In Milan. I think there is one in Rome. In Spain, Barcelona.
We opened TikTok and Instagram to let the people of the world know that when you come to Venice, be careful.
Depends. Sometimes all day after work, because I work in the morning. I clean offices. After, I spend my time protecting the tourists. It can be three, four, five, six hours.
They stop in the station. The way they look at people, the way they look at bags. I have a sixth sense.
No. When I see them, I know they are pickpockets. It is so strange to say … I have something inside me and I recognize immediately.
This morning, I was on the bus to Venice. From the bus, I see two men and one woman in the street. I had never seen