A snatcher choosing between two people on a street doesn't run a background check. He makes a snap judgment, and almost all of it is non-verbal. Researchers who studied this found that the difference between the person who gets targeted and the one who is left alone often comes down to how you carry yourself — your posture, your gait, your eyes. Street crime, whether it's a chain being snatched, a purse grabbed, groping, or armed robbery, often turns on these silent signals. The good news is that all five are within your control.
1. Your posture sets the tone
Stand and walk with your spine straight and your chest open. We treat good posture as something we save for a job interview or a date, but it matters most on an ordinary street. When you slouch — shoulders rolled forward, head dipped, lost in thoughts about work — you read as submissive. A slouched body says, without a word, that this is someone who can be dominated quickly. An erect, settled posture says the opposite. It is the single fastest way to look like someone who isn't worth the trouble.
2. Watch your overall body language
Body language here means your hands, your legs, your neck, your eyes, your face. The aim is to look alert and present, not vacant. Don't walk staring at the ground. Hold eye contact with people as they pass — and notice the difference between contact and a stare. If someone walks by, you glance, you register them, and you move on. That is eye contact. If you lock on and keep looking as they go, that is staring, and it reads as either threat or fixation. Neither helps you. Move your neck, let your hands swing naturally. Stay relaxed and aware without becoming the cartoon character who marches down the road performing confidence.
3. Your walking pace
Pace should be medium — neither rushed nor drifting. Walk very fast and you signal that you are in a hurry, distracted, not bothered about your surroundings. Walk very slowly and you signal the opposite: you have nowhere to be, you are simply ambling, you are easy to approach. Both extremes give a criminal an opening. A simple test: compare your pace to the people around you. If you're noticeably quicker or slower than the flow, adjust.
4. The length of your stride
Closely linked to pace is stride — the distance between one step and the next. Very short, mincing steps tend to come with low confidence. Very long strides come with rushing. Naturally, taller people take longer strides and shorter people take smaller ones, so this isn't a fixed measurement. But within your own frame, aim for a steady, even stride that matches a confident, unhurried walk.
5. Situational awareness
This is the one most of us fail at now. Earphones in, eyes on the phone, deep in a call — and we've switched off the senses that keep us safe. When you're absorbed in a podcast or a song, you stop noticing what's around you, and you broadcast that you've checked out of your environment. People reassure themselves with the idea that being on a call means they can shout for help. In reality, the person who looks up, scans the street and is visibly aware is far less likely to be picked in the first place. If you're alone, or the road is poorly lit or empty, put the phone away and keep your attention on the world around you.
Carry yourself like someone who is paying attention
None of this guarantees safety, and none of it is about living in fear. It's about understanding that your body is constantly communicating, and that a criminal making a fast decision reads those signals before anything else. Straight posture, alert and easy body language, a medium pace, an even stride, and genuine awareness of your surroundings — together they say you are present, confident and not an easy mark. That quiet message is often enough to make someone choose differently.