(Credit: Shutterstock)
During the first weekend of ACL 2018, the Austin Police Department (APD) received over twenty reports of thefts at the festival. A majority of these were handled as “thefts from person” cases, commonly referred to as pick pocketing. In almost all of the cases, the item stolen was a cell phone.
The Austin Police Department encourages festivalgoers to do the following:
- Pay attention to your surroundings, especially in crowds
- Keep your phone and ID/credit cards/cash in separate places on your person
- Phones sticking out of back pockets or backpacks are not secure
- Keep property in a defensible location (front pocket, stylish fanny pack) or leave it at home (yeah, right!)
- Record serial number information for your device and keep it separate
- Notify on-site security/APD immediately for assistance
- Utilize APD’s online reporting site, http://austintexas.gov/department/ireportaustincom or 311 (non-emergency to report a theft
- If you see something, say something
Anyone with information about these thefts is asked to call Region IV Detectives at 512-974-8100.
