David Luckham’s “The Power of Events” explains that many complex events are in the real world, such as the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. A somewhat less dramatic experience on the Rome Metro this week showed how even smaller scale complex events can be very scary!
Context: Rome Termini station.
This is the main railway terminus, and also the junction for the 2 Rome Metro lines. Ergo its likely to be the most crowded place in Rome’s transit network, and therefore the biggest magnet for pickpocket gangs. My mistake was that I had associated the threat with the railway station, not the Metro line, and with transit to the train, rather than the boarding process… all times below are estimates.
Subcontext: Boarding the Metro train.
Event 1: “Pusher” pushes passenger onto the train, @ time T.
This was strange: the young lady acting like one of the platform agents you hear about in Tokyo, pushing the embarking crowd like a rugby player in a scrum but for no apparent reason as there was plenty of time to board the train, and only 8-9 people waiting to get on at this particular door.
Event 2: “Blocker” blocks passenger from boarding @ T+2 seconds.
This was also strange, but seemingly unrelated. Some guy ahead of “Pusher” turned around on alighting the train and blocked me from getting past, moving to obstruct me 2 or 3 times. It’s not unknown for drunks or druggies to take public transit systems, so on pushing forcibly past I gave him a dirty look but thought no more of it. Seemed like his hands were in his pockets.
Event 3: “Pusher” by the train door, jumps out as the door closes @ T+5 seconds.
That was odd: having pushed onto the train so vigorously, “Pusher” now hopped off, just as the door started to close.
By now you will have correctly guessed the above were all related to my bumbag / fannypack [use the term of your taste] being expertly unzipped and emptied of my wallet. The normal end-result for such complex events is a trip to a police station, calls to banks to cancel credit cards, dismissal of my perceived street-savviness, and other hassles. However…
Event 4: Event detection. Shouting and cursing @ T+6 seconds.
Something odd about events 1-3 caused me to check my bumbag/fannypack just as the door was closing, only to find the zip open and the wallet gone…
Event 5: Carriage door closure halted / re-opened @ T + 7 seconds.
I believe it was “Blocker” who re-opened the door for me to chase “Pusher”, saying “look, there she goes” or somesuch – but my wife believes it was another passenger who realised what was going on (and understood my English exclamations!). “Blocker” certainly had a strong motivation to see me leave and thence avoid a journey in an enclosed Metro carriage with his angry victim.
Event 6: “Pusher” observed with an accomplice ducking into the platform exit 4 m / yds away @ T + 8 seconds.
Annoyingly, later I realise I could have grabbed “Blocker” as I exited the train; on the other hand (1) my concern was primarily to avoid theft, (2) I have no idea if these gangs run armed or not (which would not have been a good outcome for me), and (3) any likely struggle on the platform while apprehending “Blocker” would likely have resulted in “Pusher” escaping with my wallet. It did not occur to me that this “chase Pusher” thing could have been a feint.
Event 7: Catch up with “Pusher” and accomplice @ T + 11 seconds.
Rounding the platform exit in 3 steps, I catch up with “Pusher” and accomplice in another 2 steps, and shout at them to halt. Amazingly they are not running before or after I catch up – obviously they don’t want to draw attention to themselves. “Pusher” shrugs a denial and glances back to the platform exit… where my wallet lies dropped by the wall, contents intact.
Event 8: Retrieve wallet @ T + 13 seconds.
Later a Metro security assistant told me they knew who “Blocker” was – indeed they probably know most of the gangs. And my thanks to the Italians who stopped to help when confronting “Pusher”.
The above “excitement” made me wonder about “threat awareness” for us the common citizenry, or even simple informational alerts that could be used to overcome my apparent lack of preparedness for the above events. Could recent crime reports be overlayed on Google Maps or my phone’s Sat Nav? Could the Metro system detect the above strange behavior with sufficient discrimination via video processing, or maybe use face recognition to spot the arrival of “Pusher” and “Blocker” in stations? Who knows…
Disclaimer: I would not want the description of the above events to discourage visitors to Rome in any way . It is a beautiful city, and highly recommended – expecially for history and archaeology buffs.