I hold just the tiniest bit of pity for Toronto Police Constable Marco Ricciardi, who sounded like he just wanted to be helpful when he made international headlines for his advice at a town hall on how to prevent violence during home invasions: leave your car keys by the front door. “They’re breaking into your home to steal your car,” he said in February. “They don’t want anything else.”
This is the type of realpolitik advice that no one wants to hear, but many quietly take to heart anyway. Indeed, women don’t want to be told they should stagger their keys between their fingers when walking home alone at night – they want to be able to take a walk without worrying about getting attacked – but many fish their keys out of their purse anyway, just in case.
