Bambi Vincent

Bambi Vincent's thiefhunting takes her all over the world. Married to a professional pickpocket, together they track down criminals and get them to talk. Her husband, Bob Arno, is a stage pickpocket, who has stealthy skills that convince criminals to give up their secrets. With face-to-face access, Bambi interrogates, social engineers, and evaluates thieves, thugs, gangsters, and their goons.

These up-close criminal investigations subject Bambi to unknown and dangerous situations. She is neither fearless, nor a daredevil, but a plucky knowledge-seeker. Despite the risk in consorting with mobsters, she packs a variety of video cameras, some ingeniously hidden, in order to film the thieves' activities and document her thiefhunting pursuits.

After years of practice, she has a fine-honed ability to spot crooks before they strike, move into position, and expertly shoot with specialized video cameras. She uses her film and accumulated knowledge to teach the public how to avoid becoming victims, and train law enforcement to spot thieves.

Bambi writes about pickpockets, con artists, and security issues from a back-door perspective. But close encounters with thieves presents her with an odd and uncomfortable conundrum. Her subjects are often likable on a human level. Having knowledge of their deplorable profession, she struggles to find a balance in her association with them.

She studied art at San Jose State University, law at Santa Clara University, and crime on the streets of the world's favorite cities. She and Bob Arno met in 1984 on a bus in Mexico. They married the next year while living in the Bahamas and spend most of each year roaming the world. Together they savor the natural and cultural differences that make each place unique. Bambi writes the travel and thievery blog called Thiefhunters in Paradise at www.thiefhunters.com.

Bob Arno, a criminologist and stage pickpocket, recently matched his thievery skills against his criminal cohorts in Naples, Italy. National Geographic was there to film it all, resulting in the documentary "Pickpocket King," broadcast in late 2011.

While not studying the behavior of thieves in the streets, Bob can be seen picking pockets on the world's finest stages. As a criminologist, he appears frequently on television news and magazine shows to share his expertise. He gives presentations to police departments in America and abroad, and lectures to security and law enforcement professionals as well as to the public.