A have-a-go heroine councillor has earned the nickname "Lady Pickpocket" for her vigilante efforts against thieves preying on tourists in Venice.

Monica Poli, a Northern League politician, dedicates her time to patrolling crowded areas searching for petty criminals.

Her crime prevention work has yielded remarkable results this year - with police retrieving some 900 stolen wallets and purses, sufficient to fill 15 bin bags, thanks in part to her interventions.

The self-appointed guardian films her confrontations with suspected thieves using her mobile phone.

She alerts potential victims by shouting warnings in both Italian and English, spooking the criminals who then flee before they can steal from tourists.

Poli has shared footage of brazen pickpockets in the Italian tourist hotspot

In a recent patrol, Poli captured footage of a smartly-dressed young woman attempting to rob a tourist crossing the Rialto Bridge.

The thief used a map to conceal her movements whilst unfastening the victim's handbag, but failed when her target walked faster.

"What are you doing?" Poli challenged the pickpocket in Italian, prompting an angry scowl from the criminal who attempted to conceal her identity.

Another encounter saw the councillor confront three men at a ferry terminal. "Pickpocket, watch out thieves," she warned passengers in English while filming.

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"Off the jetty, thief, get off the jetty," she then shouted in Italian as the suspects scattered, with onlookers applauding her intervention.

But the pickpockets' ages have presented significant legal problems.

Police have said organised gangs deliberately employ children aged 12 and 13 knowing they fall below Italy's threshold for criminal responsibility.

"This is a real problem for us in the city, the age of these criminals because they are so young the police can do nothing but let them go," Poli explained.

Legislative changes have also made things more complicated.

The 2022 Cartabia reform, introduced by Italian ex-Justice Minister Marta Cartabia, altered procedures for minor offences to reduce court backlogs.

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Under these new rules, victims must file formal complaints and attend trials for prosecutions to proceed.

When the charges involve foreign tourists, cases typically collapse as visitors rarely return to testify.

Venice's deputy police chief Gianni Franzoi has revealed that criminal gangs have evolved from primarily Romani adults in the early 2000s to younger perpetrators - particularly girls from camps outside Venice.

"They are very accomplished and know that they can act with impunity because of their age," Franzoi blasted.