"...the company gets paid if I die..."

Sounds like it is time to go job hunting...

Unless you are going to be regularly taking the subway at 2 am, I wouldn't worry too much. If you are going at odd hours, then don't go alone. If you have to go alone, then just act casual but stay alert and if it looks like you are getting marked then just keep your cool and think it through.

If I were going anywhere hot, I would be looking for seasoned South African vets. Reed Security group had a sterling rep in Iraq. They'd be my goto agency if I ever needed to worry about that sort of thing again.

Hope this doesn't add too much fuel to the fire but check out this link for some insights on Paris (and mind you, that article was written a while ago, before the great riots last year):
http://www.realfighting.com/1102/FredPerrinART.html

Geezez, I just don't get it. The world is so quick to criticize our lax attitude toward gun control, and yet articles like this get published. I thought France had a very stringent gun control program, and yet it seems people there are as well armed as some of the neighborhoods in Baghdad were, or south central LA!!!

Look this cuts both ways. Going to another city in another country anywhere in the world isn't gonna be that much different from some of the places right here in our own country. If anyone thinks Paris has somehow cornered the market on violent crime, then come visit me here in NYC sometime and I will have the cabbie take you places that will turn you white and straighten your short and curlys right out.

So I will repeat it one more time, whenever you are going somewhere new in the world, have the right mindset, do a little advance planning, make some good contacts, and don't be stupid, foolish or insulting.

I don't wanna hear about how belligerent a country we are anymore for a while. London, Glasgow, and Belfast certainly aren't paragons of virtue and brotherly love these days anymore than Detroit, Chicago and Houston are. The whole world is a bloody violent place to be in. Like Rocky says, this world will beat you to your knees and keep you there if you let it. You can't step in the ring and expect to not get hit. That's just the way it goes. You gotta be willing to get in there, take what's coming, put up your best defense, and get your licks in when the opportunity comes.

There is no tapping out on the street. That, my friends, is life.

You know how "they" say, that dogs smell fear? Well so do thugs, they smell it & more importantly they see it in your eyes.I lived in the Bronx for like 4 years (cheap rent) & I never had a problem.I roamed the streets at all hours of the night & never felt that my life was at danger. Twice I was almost robbed, once at gunpoint the other at knifepoint.Both times they looked into my eyes, saw no fear and left me alone.The guys with the gun knew me from around the neighborhood & the ones with the knife robbed my 2 friends that I was with and let me be.What I do is, where ever I am, I act like I belong.I also carry myself in a way that shows that i'm not a "mark", I look everyone in the eyes. One thing i've learned is, young guys think that you are being disrespectful if you ignore them as you pass them on a sidwalk.It's like it's been written here before, just blend in, & don't look like you don't belong. If you do these things, you should be fine.

No problemo, amigo !

"Demonstrators" mainly set cars on fire. I guess you won't be coming with your car. See ? No problemo !

I used quotation marks, because I'm wondering... if you look at the numbers of cars sold by Renault and Peugeot (french main car manufacturers) last year, you can see a definite decline. So... may be those apparent "demonstrations" are in fact secretly sponsored by these car manufacturers .... just to boost their sales ...

Side note to subway systems and being a foreigner in them.

I had my pocket picked (wallet stolen) in mexico city's metro.

Then I remember somebody saying "that's why I carry my wallet in the front pocket".

I'll be darned if my wallet was picked less han a week later from the front pocket, and I didn't feel a thing.

Carry an el cheapo dummy wallet with maybe the metro map and a couple euros, and keep anything valuable in a belt wallet. Not a wallet with a string that goes around your waste, but a thin single compartment zipper wallet with a belt loop that goes on your belt and tucks in your pants.

And if you cannot enter the subway car with at least 1 or two feet of personal space, you are probably being attempted to be pick pocketed. If there are a ton of people pushing to get on the car, you are probably being pick pocketed. Do not try to be the first on the car, rather hang back and let ohters in first...

Sounds like my daily commute on the 2/3 in Manhattan.

1. Keep wallet in vest pocket in leather jacket; pocket has a zipper.

2. Wallet is checkbook size, not back pocket size.

3. If not wearing jacket, then wallet in zipped up SA attache.

4. So tall that thieves have ergonomic issues trying to reach vest pockets.

Last year I was walking along busy downtown route with SA attache slung as backpack. Walked past a big window and saw the reflection of someone behind me with hand in top of backpack. Whatever he was after, he was having too much trouble reaching up so high to fish around for it without me noticing. Unfortunately for him, not only did I catch him in the act, but so did the plain clothes detective across the street. Funny how quick the crowd opened up to give us some confrontational space, just before the cop got there with cuffs in one hand and radio in the other. Stupid kid went to hoosgow and I didn't even have to testify, since the cop saw the whole shlemeegle.

Yet another alternative I have is a smaller messenger bag that I can throw over a shoulder that secures my goods when I travel. In any event, except for the one case of dumba$$ cited above, I've never had anyone else even try to pick my pockets here. I routinely carry between $20 and $200 in my front pocket loose, and even after pulling the wad in and out in front of everyone, nobody ever makes a try for it. I wouldn't recommend being this reckless to the average person; for me I think it is that my presence is intimidating enough that most just figure it isn't worth the risk.

A friend of mine used to work for a company in CA that had its offices on one side of the street and its parking lot on the other. Both were just a block or so away from the rescue mission/homeless shelter.

When my friend had to leave work late (after dark) and alone occasionally, she would leave the building in the mode of someone seriously p***ed off, talking to herself (cussing), walking stiff and angry. A couple of times, a guy or two would start heading in her direction, read her body language, and they would ease off in some other direction.

Body language is probably quite universal, and many troublesome sorts may think that attacking someone who is already angry and upset may not be a smart move.

When I last lived in Las Vegas (14 yrs ago), there was an article in the newspaper that mentioned in one weekend, plainclothes police caught 116 pickpockets working the airport. They didn't catch the good ones. Nor did they catch the pickpockets working the buses, casinos, malls and sidewalks.

One guy I met had his wife sew a velcro closure inside his favorite jacket pocket. It made so much noise when he opened it, that he knew no one was stupid enough to try to get into it.

Sue

Precisely the point, exude a little attitude, but keep it measured, reserved even. Don't go looking for trouble, and don't make it easy for the thieves.

Sounds like your friend would've fit right in here in New York, at least the parts I travel in.