Theft of a Golden Mug in Poland

Hi. I've learned of a situation which has developed, and I'm curious of what actions can be taken to deal with the issue. In Australia it would be no problem, but in Poland I wouldn't be sure what actions would be acceptable. Here goes (short short version):

* Set in a small town (18,000)
* A friends Grandmothers' ornamental golden mug was stolen by a local "penniless" petty thief
* This thief posed for a few days to help her with everyday tasks (i.e. to gain trust)
* He tricked the grandmother into borrowing the mug
* He sold the golden mug (apparently)
* He doesn't show his face in that area of town anymore

So, I told my friend that if I were in his situation, I would hunt down the guy. But my friend said he has a car and that the thief knows many people in the slums. So naturally my friend is worried that they'll bust his windows or something.

If I were there, I wouldn't know what my viable options are? Police won't do anything as they're no proof. What can be done?

Nothing. Like in most countries, it'll be impossible to do much about it - there's no proof that the grandmother didn't agree to it, and if he was coming/going from her place freely, it's going to be very hard to prove that anything was actually stolen.

My advice? Keep out of it. In a small town, it's only going to make matters worse if he tries to solve things the "old fashioned way" - unless he has good friends who will back him up.

Play Hitman 1 or 2 for a while?

I live on the edge of a small village...some people who had been round my place having coffee came one night and helped themselves to some power tools from my workshop...

I knew instantly who had done it , and passed to the Police not only the names of the thieves , but also their addresses....

The cops came , took fingerprints and all that stuff , but eventually wrote to me to say nothing could be done...

Then some of my friends in the motorcycle club got to hear about it.... A dozen of the biggest and ugliest of them came with me to talk to the bandits , they got the crap beaten out of them , problem solved....

Not had anything stolen since....

Good. As the system favors criminals, sometimes justice demands that we take matters into our own hands.

Its just the way they do things in the villages...

Nobody in the village was hostile to me because of what my friends did , and even the Police did not bother about it...

one of the bandits did not realise that his beating was the end of the matter as far as we were concerned and ran to the Police whining that he feared that this biker gang were going to kill him....

When the cops asked why the bikers had beaten him he told them that he had stolen from one of them...

The cops just laughed and said he was an idiot who deserved to get beaten....

I know this because one of my friends is a Policewoman in the town...

I actually agree with this attitude in this situation, not that I condone violence but with some people it seems to be the only thing they understand.

Wildrover has really got a grasp on Polish countryside ways.
I'd wait for his Russian experiences from him as an eye-witness. Remember about me, Wildie and tell stories!

In many ways , villages in Poland are a bit like the wild west....

You have to let people know you won,t take any sh1t or you will just become a full time victim for every scumbag in the area...

Even more so if you live alone and appear to be a rich stranger in town....

Exactly.

Here are a few photos from an old manual on teaching respect in the countryside:

Kazik, in our minds, we all map out what we will do if we are victims, but when push comes to shove, you got to stick your hands down your trousers and be a man. Your friend has to wake up and realize that he is now a mark. both his family and him are a soft touch in the village, the longer it goes on, the higher the possibility it will happen again. Now we have Wildy's stories of being under the wing of the locals, or the other alternative of direct action. Personally, if I lived in a small village and someone stole from my grandmother, I would deal with it outside of the law.

Too Dated. Not a viable option.

So one option is to retaliate in quantity. Could end up in a law suite..then again, Poland. In Oz you gotta be careful cuz everyone dobs in everyone else, or cam-records everything. In Poland perhaps this option is acceptable, but still need to be careful.


Wild West attitude. not politically correct.


Sami Swoi. Love it!


This is probably most effective. But you know how it is with these situations, the Police won't do anything to help you but will do everything to bust you. I've been in a situation where I apprehended a arsonist. The police came and they we're gonna arrest us for intervening and for using force against the arsonist. We basically pinned him down to the ground.

IF you are a scrawny fellow, then you got no chance in Poland. Is that what it comes down to?

Stuff politically correct.... This is Poland...

Its a village,they dont do PC if it gets in the way.
Thats pretty much how people would handle things in my neck of the woods too. ( UK)
Dont worry too much,the Police tend to know these creeps and will rarely,in small communities take action against someone who takes reasonable retaliatory action.

The other point is well put too, if nothing is done you become a mark,a soft touch,yes,its all very John Wayne,but in the sticks nowt much changes.

Brain over brawn.

Population of 14,000 isn't exactly a village though. And yes wildrover, I don't care for political correctness.

Oh yes,dont get me wrong,it doesnt have to be a physical thing you do,but you do have to do something.And my "village" is about that size too......"smallish ,semi isolated country community" might be better descriptions :)

Polish people are not stupid , i don,t think anyone is going to make a fuss about a thief who got caught and got his face punched in...

Of course there are other ways to deal with it....

If you are smart , there are a thousand ways to make somebodies life a misery without them ever knowing who did it....

If this guy is a well known thief , he is never going to know which of his victims is causing him problems...

Petty thief who has no money.

Me thinks simplest option is to punch him in the face, though its awfully unlike anything I would do.

Best option. When I will finally get to Poland, I won't know anyone, except for a few distant relatives. It will be my responsibility to network with people. When I was at school, I became friends with like 97% of all people. Those 3% were the slum-type druggoes, who wouldn't dare touch me. So in Poland, and particularly in smaller communities, its important to become known in such a way that people won't even consider stealing from you or your friends or relatives.

Kaazik, you have to grow up to Polish reality...

You're probably right.

It's gonna be a culture shock.

You have missed that scene with hand-grenades ;-)

In the last photo.

The latest theft case involving Poles is in London. 2 Poles are being detained for suspected looting and shoplifting. Link? It's in Polish so I'm not going to post it but it's at onet.pl for whoever is interested.