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Comment by geff82 | Hacker News Reader

Recently, we were at a resort in Switzerland. Arguably one of the safest countries on earth. But: as we exited the swimming pool house, our umbrella was gone. I said „what an irony, the first time we have something stolen is in Switzerland“.

Two hours later, the umbrella was again where we had left it: someone must have borrowed it to protect themselves/their children from heavy rain. We understood why there were no cctvs anywhere: they were not needed.

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Thefts at train stations and bike thefts are very common in Switzerland.

Japan is by far much safer than any European country.

There's a saying that as soon as you leave your bike at a train station, it belongs to the public.

I usually joke, when someone has their bike stolen, that they have just gained membership in the local, involuntary bikesharing community, and thus can help themselves to a another bike from the bike parking.

Japan is quite safe, but has an organized crime problem.

Where does ‘organized crime’ intersect with Japan society at large if theft is low in Japan? Prostitution and gambling? I’d be surprised if you said drugs, because of the slippery slopes in drug addiction.

Yeah, Americans idealizing Euro countries or cultures, especially the nordic and germanic countries are really annoying. Please leave your bike unlocked at any major Swiss train station and see what happens. Or take a walk at night around Rosengård in Malmö and come back to tell if you actually felt safe there. It's always the same story: "I went to this upscale hotel where everyone is a wealthy tourist and travelled to the most commonly visited tourist spots and nobody stole my wallet / watch / umbrella. Amazing people." It's like those people have a psychological need for a fairytale country to exist where everyone is a "perfect" citizen and no harm has ever been done to anyone so they can daydream about living there. If you left a library unlocked in a wealthy NY or Boston neighborhood I'm sure that you'd get a pretty similar outcome like the one mentioned in the article. It's not a mystery that readers are usually domesticated and fairly educated people who won't steal books, even in the US.

>We understood why there were no cctvs anywhere: they were not needed

Most likely because CCTV cameras are a legal privacy concern for which you need a license so you're not allowed to install CCTV cameras everywhere you like just because you own the business. It's the same in Germany and Austria.

At my local gym there's a warning at the entrance saying that there's CCTV surveillance on the property and that by entering the premises you accept their surveillance rules and they also post the authorization number for their surveillance license.

When you pay $500 a night at a resort, your population is a tad different than taking the train/bus/tram.

I dare you to walk in Geneva/Lausanne/Zürich with your backpack opened, hell even close and walking like a tourist. or with a short sleeve shirts and an expensive watch (read Rolex+ pricing).

I've had a digital camera returned to me, which I've forgotten in the train in Zurich. Nigh impossible back home. I've done my share back and returned wallets and iphones to police officers.

Living in such good moral environment makes also newcomers better people.

We once visited the MAMCO museum, in Geneva, all on our own, opening every door, manually turning on the lights in every room we entered, etc. I think we stayed over an hour without meeting any staff or triggering any alarm.

It sounds a bit ambiguous, have you in the end triggered the alarm and had to run from the staff or have you made it out with your ill gotten gains?

The largest art robbery that never was.

In all seriousness, we just made our visit and left, like the people in the article. At some point we even backtracked to the entrance to check for opening hours. No one. No alarm. Only the two of us and a very nice contemporary art collection.

Anecdotal. The largest unsolved art robbery that ever was ( I think this is still true) was at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston.

Details here (Smithsonian)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-things-know-a...

Excerpt:

From start to finish, the biggest art heist in modern history lasted just 81 minutes. At 1:24 a.m. on March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers walked into Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They overpowered two unsuspecting night security guards, then duct-taped their victims to a pipe and a workbench in the museum basement.

“Gentlemen, this is a robbery,” the criminals announced.

The pair proceeded to remove 13 treasured artworks on display in the lavishly decorated gallery, smashing the protective glass of two Rembrandt paintings and cutting the canvases from their gilded frames. Just over an hour later, the thieves made off with a staggering collection of art that’s valued today at $500 million.

End excerpt.

FWIW, like many things, Isabella Steward Gardner is for sale on eBay.

DDG says:

Isabella Stewart Gardner - Isabella Stewart Gardner Sold Direct on eBay.

Thank you!

IMHO the problems usually occur when people don't feel like part of the community and being at a resort in CH should probably create some kind of sense of community as wouldn't be any outsiders since everyone there will be there because they want to be there(unlike places like Airports or roadside coffees where most people will be there because they needed the services in between the places they would like to be at).

Even in the most shitty neighbourhoods, the place can be quite safe for residents if there's no high churn rate.

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